Budget Hardball

Voters back in 2010 allowed the legislature to enact a "budget" by a simple majority under Proposition 25 but seemingly imposed a penalty to get the job done by June 15. If the deadline were missed, legislators would not be paid for each day beyond the deadline. However, under court ruling, it is the legislature that decides what a "budget" is. So all the legislature has to do is pass something. And it certainly doesn't have to be a budget that is acceptable to the governor. It appears that the legislature plans to send the governor its version of the budget by the deadline and then negotiate with him with no worries about a penalty.*

The governor could veto the budget in its entirety. He could accept it but impose line-item vetoes. Or he could just go along with it. If there is a no budget on July 1 problems begin to arise which worsen over time. Vetoes can be overridden by a two thirds vote - which the Democrats have if they all want to confront the governor. They may not all want to do so, however.

As we have noted in prior blog posts, even though the state has lost tax revenue and had to spend money on the coronavirus crisis, it still has a lot of cash, including a one-time $9.5 billion infusion from the federal government. The current situation is thus unlike 2009 when the state ran out of cash to pay bills and issued IOUs.**
====
*https://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2020/06/the-budget-deadline-nears/
**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2020/06/message-from-controller-likely-favors.html