From today's Sacramento Bee (excerpt):Gov. Jerry Brown's prospects of reaching a budget deal by his deadline this week dimmed markedly Monday when a quintet of Republicans with whom he'd been negotiating declared an impasse. The GOP senators for the first time released a list of demands – covering pensions, spending restrictions and education reforms, among other things – and said the Democratic governor and his legislative allies were unable to fulfill them.
"We accepted your invitation to bring you our ideas on important structural reforms and willingly took to heart your admonition 'to get out of our comfort zone,' " the Republican senators state in a letter to the Democratic governor. "Although it is clear that you engaged in our conversations seriously, it appears we have reached an impasse in our discussions about how to move the state forward."
Brown needs at least two Republican votes in each house to achieve a two-thirds majority necessary to ask voters to extend for five years sales, income and vehicle tax increases imposed in 2009. He had set a deadline this week in order to schedule a June 7 election, less than a month before the new fiscal year arrives July 1...
Full article at http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/08/3457308/republicans-declare-impasse-in.html
Actually, the Brown deadline is soft - which is a plus and a minus. He originally said he wanted a deal in 60 days from the date he made the budget proposal. There is an administrative limit to get something on the ballot. Ballots have to be printed, etc. But in the past, it has proven to be flexible. On the other hand, when there is not a real deadline - when nothing really changes when the deadline slips - you lose negotiating pressure. Union contracts are often settled at midnight of the contract expiration date because at that point the union can strike and management can impose terms, i.e., something real happens.
In short, it's not over 'til it's over. And to inspire the negotiators, we have:
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