If no budget is passed by the end of the month, then hundreds of thousands of California state employees will receive $6.55 an hour instead of their regular pay.
Republicans in the assembly blocked a budget yesterday because it would have raised taxes for businesses and the wealthy. While such actions are utterly predictable from Republicans and some of the squabbling is political maneuvering, the real problem (which won’t go away soon) is that California is facing a gigantic budget shortfall due to the collapsing real estate market.
Politicians in both parties are blaming each other, but none of that will provide a solution. Possible short-term fixes include borrowing against future lottery revenue (even though such money is supposed to go to schools) but that just mortgages the future and is no real answer at all.