Huff Dissatisfied with Legislature's Deadline Budget

The state Legislature passed a budget Wednesday with a party-line vote, clearing a deadline that would have docked legislative pay.

According to a report in the Sacramento Bee, the budget approved Wednesday closes a $9.6 billion gap through cuts to higher education and courts and would cut redevelopment agencies.

The bill also asks Republicans to provide a two-thirds majority vote for a quarter-cent increase to the sales tax and a $12 increase to the vehicle tax, per vehicle. According to an NPR report, the budget proposal anticipates that $500 million would be generated by the vehicle tax to support local law enforcement programs.

The Associated Press reported that lawmakers felt particular pressure to pass a budget Wednesday as they stood to lose $261 in daily pay and $142 in payments for daily expenses if a budget was not passed by midnight. The June 15 deadline was set by a voter initiative in 2010.

Sen. Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar), who leads budget negotiations for Republicans in the Senate, said the vote and process left out Republican input.

Huff said on the floor of the Senate that the budget bill should have included job creation, pension reform, a cap in state spending, and reform of "California's burdensome regulatory climate."

Gov. Brown still has 12 days to sign or veto the budget, which does not include the temporary tax extensions that he had planned to put to voters in a June special election.

Huff and Sen. Bill Emmerson (R-Hemet) issued a joint statement in April stating that Republicans would agree to put tax extensions to the voters if pension reform was also put out to a vote.

Both and  officials have expressed support of the tax extensions, which Walnut Assistant Superintendent Jack LeBrun said could keep the district from making further cuts to the budget for 2011-2012.

More on the state budget:

A guide to Gov. Brown's revised budget is available online.