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STATE CONTROLLER CHIANG: WILL NOT PAY LEGISLATORS UNTIL BUDGET IS PASSED
Chiang Says June 15th Budget Approved by Legislature But Vetoed by Governor Brown Was “Incomplete and Unbalanced”
SACRAMENTO, CALIF (CDCAN) [Last Updated 06/21/211 11:59 AM] - State Controller John Chiang today announced today that he will not issue paychecks or reimbursements for travel and living expenses to members of the California Legislature because the Legislature failed to pass a State Budget by the June 15th State constitutional deadline. Each member of the Legislature will permanently forfeit their pay, travel and living expenses from June 16th and each day that follows until a budget – presumably one that meets the standard of the State Controller being “complete and balanced” is passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor. They will not receive that lost pay back even when a budget plan is finally passed.
A copy of the Controller’s 1 page analysis of the budget plan is attached to this CDCAN Report, saved as a document titled: “20110621-StateController-Prop25Budget Analysis Sheet.pdf” [CDCAN Note: Persons who are blind or sight impaired should be able to read the document using a screen reading device because it was saved as a document.]
There is no agreement in sight between legislative Republicans and the Governor on the extension of the 2009 temporary tax increases that are set to expire June 30, 2011. Both houses met briefly on Monday, but took no action on the State budget.
The legislative Democrats last week (one June 15th), frustrated at the stalemate, passed a budget plan on a majority vote in both the Assembly and State Senate that did not include the tax extensions – but did raise some revenues and fees under a procedure that they claim did not require 2/3rds votes. Republicans – and the Governor – questioned the legality of raising those fees and taxes in the budget plan in that way.
The action by Chiang is sure to add pressure to the budget fight – and anger Legislative Democratic leaders who feel they met the requirements of Proposition 25 last week. It is not clear at this point whether Chiang’s action today helps the Governor by putting pressure on the Republicans whose votes he needs to pass his budget plan that includes tax extensions – or if it adds more pressure on legislative Democrats to possibly give in on certain Republican demands.
Chiang Says Budget Plan Passed June 15th “Simply Did Not Add Up”
“My office’s careful review of the recently-passed budget found components that were miscalculated, miscounted or unfinished. The numbers simply did not add up, and the Legislature will forfeit their pay until a balanced budget is sent to the Governor,” said Chiang, the state constitutionally elected official whose office is responsible for cutting the state paychecks and reimbursements. Chiang is a Democrat.
Chiang said he was taking the action under the requirements of Proposition 25, passed by voters last November which allowed for the passage of a State budget plan by a majority vote – and imposed penalties including loss of pay and travel and living expenses for each day a budget was not passed by the State constitutional deadline of June 15th. The proposition does not require that the Governor has to approve the budget plan.
While the Legislature – controlled by Democrats in both the Assembly and State Seante – did pass what they say was a balanced 2011-2012 State Budget, which Governor Brown ended up vetoing the next day, Controller Chiang said the plan was “incomplete and unbalanced” and failed to meet the requirements of Proposition 25 and Proposition 58.
Chiang said that his analysis of the State budget vetoed last week shows the spending plan was incomplete and unbalanced. His analysis sought to determine whether the budget met the requirements of Proposition 25 and Proposition 58, which forfeit Legislative pay if a balanced budget is not passed by June 15.
Chiang Says His Job Is To Be “Honest Broker In the Numbers”
· Nothing in the Constitution or state law gives the State Controller the authority to judge the honesty, legitimacy or viability of a budget.
· The Controller can only determine whether the expected revenues will equal or exceed planned expenditures in the budget, as required by Article 4, Section 12(g) of the Constitution: “. . .the Legislature may not send to the Governor for consideration, nor may the Governor sign into law, a budget bill that would appropriate from the General Fund, for that fiscal year, a total amount that. . .exceeds General Fund revenues for that fiscal year estimated as of the date of the budget bill's passage. That estimate of General Fund revenues shall be set forth in the budget bill passed by the Legislature.”
· “While the vetoed budget contains solutions of questionable achievability and some to which I am personally opposed, current law provides no authority for my office to second-guess them in my enforcement of Proposition 25,”said Chiang. “My job is not to substitute my policy judgment for that of the Legislature and the Governor, rather it is to be the honest-broker of the numbers.”
· Using this standard, the Controller’s analysis found that the recently-vetoed budget committed the State to $89.75 billion in spending, but only provided $87.9 billion in revenues, leaving an imbalance of $1.85 billion.
· The largest problem, according to the Controller, involved the guaranteed level of education funding under Proposition 98. The June 15 budget underfunded education by more than $1.3 billion. Underfunding is not possible without suspending Proposition 98, which would require a supermajority (2/3) vote of the Legislature.
· Chiang said that the budget also counted on $320 million in hospital fees, $103 million in taxes on managed-care plans, and $300 million in vehicle registration charges. However, the Legislature never passed the bills necessary to collect or spend those funds as part of the State budget.
