Calif. lawmakers pass $156 billion budget
By David Siders and Jeremy B. White, Sacramento Bee
California lawmakers approved a $156.4 billion state budget Sunday, rushing to pass legislation less than six hours before the constitutional deadline.
The spending plan, a compromise between Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature’s Democratic majority, includes more money for high-speed rail, Medi-Cal and welfare-to-work, and an expansion of child care and preschool for poor children.
It also begins to pay down an estimated shortfall of more than $74 billion in the teachers’ pension fund and puts about $1.6 billion into a special rainy-day account.
The budget’s passage resolves months of budget negotiations at the Capitol, a process that has become less rancorous as the state’s financial condition has improved. The Father’s Day vote came just before the midnight deadline by which lawmakers must pass a budget to avoid losing pay.
