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V it THE BUDGET STORY - SOME PRESS QUOTES Editorials, Columns, Opeds, Letters to the Editor The Sacramento Bee, 4/27103, Daniel Weintraub: A roadmap to a balanced budget for this state. "The good news is that the two parties are not as far apart as they think they are. When you take the most Republican - friendly ideas proposed by Demo- crats and combine them with Democrat- friendly mea- sures floated by Republicans, the vague outlines of a compromise begin to take shape. The Orange County Register, 4127103, Lawmak- ers in limbo, so budget languishes. For several reasons, they can't or won't make key decisions, and a late document will only make matters worse. 'With 49 days to figure out how to dose a $31 billion gap, the Legislature is all but paralyzed. As lawmakers sit in angst, advocates say they can ill afford to stand by and watch, and so they are stirring into greater activity than usual. The. lawmakers remain immobile despite wide- spread acknowledgement that the longer legislators watt, the more serious pain they inflict on the citizenry they represent.' "The state dug this hole over several years. It can't climb out in one... Begin with the spending cuts already put on the table by Gov. Gray Davis." The San Jose Mercury News, 4/27103, Legisla- ture still skirting huge deficit. "The budget proposal that Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson put forward last week wasn't the most visionary document ever ad- vanced in the Capitol. But at least it tried to cover $5.9 billion of the state's budget gap.' News Stories The Los Angeles Times, 4/28103, Signs Hint at Budget Deal — Some suggest the time is right to revive Democrat Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson's plan, which was rejected earlier. GOP might accept it. "With only a week left before legislative inaction costs taxpayers $656 million in potential revenue, Senate leaders said they would try to revive the budget plan drawn up by Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson (D- Culver City). "'I'm hopeful we are able to reach some kind of agreement that makes sense to the overwhelming majority of the Senate,' Republican leader Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga said Friday. 'I'm not into predic- tions, but it is not inconceivable we could have votes on the Senate floor next week.'" San Francisco Chronicle, 4/27103, State's income tax receipts coming up short — Tax short- fall projected to deepen California deficit. "Income tax collections for April are running $3 billion below the state's already low expectations, worsening an already enormous budget shortfall of as much as $34.6 billion. Gov. Gray Davis predicted the state would receive income tax receipts of $6.3 billion this month. Actual collections through April 25 totaled only $3.1 billion." Riverside Press Enterprise, 4/28/03, Lawmakers looking to modify Prop 13. 'Almost 25 years since Proposition 13 passed in June 1978, a score of Demo- cratic lawmakers are chipping away at one of its most sacred tenets, the two-thirds majority needed for voters to pass new local taxes. "Emboldened by the passage of Proposition 39, which lowered the two-thirds majority needed to pass local school bonds to 55 percent, they want to extend the same consideration to transit and highways, police and sheriffs' departments and local infrastructure from sewers to parks to subsidies for cheaper housing." The San Jose Mercury News, 4/29/03, How to break the budget deadlock – Majority Rule is the Process Almost Everywhere Except California; an Initiative Could Fix That. "To judge by recent bud- gets, California's two-thirds requirement functions less like a wall against recklessness and more like an open door for partisan gamesmanship and evasion of respon- sibility. To make a better budget, make it easier to pass one.' The Contra Costa Times, 4129/03, Lawmakers ready to trim $6 billion. "Assembly leaders are close to an agreement on plans that could cut about $6 billion from the state's record deficit, including a savings of $650 million in pension financing. "Guiding legislators this week is next Monday's deadline for action on Gov. Gray Davis' plan to use bond financing instead of cash for making $2.2 billion in pension payments that come due this year and next. If lawmakers do not meet the deadline, the state will lose the chance to include October's $650 million pension payment as part of the program." PAGE 6 /PRIORITY FOCUS Visit the League's Official Web Site-- www.cacities.org