SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers have struck a bipartisan deal to put a $3.6-billion patch over the state's budget hole by borrowing from state pension funds and cutting government services.
Even as legislators reported progress, however, Gov. Gray Davis warned that a more comprehensive effort to close the rest of the state's $35-billion budget gap cannot work without new taxes. That plan depends on additional state borrowing, and investment banking firms will not lend California more money without a new source of revenue dedicated to paying off bonds, Davis said.
The governor and top state officials, all Democrats, are focusing on a half-percent sales-tax increase as the revenue source.
Republicans dispute Davis' claim and oppose a tax increase.
The agreement on the $3.6 billion, which is expected to be approved in both houses of the Legislature by Monday, is the first significant reduction in the state budget gap in two months. It comes one day after Republicans opened the door to agreement by conceding that spending cuts alone would not solve the impasse.
In exchange for their votes on the borrowing plan, Republicans negotiated about $1.8 billion in program cuts, some affecting spending in the current fiscal year, some reducing projected spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Included are a $328-million cut in K-12 education spending and $317 million in cuts to health-care programs.
Under the agreement, instead of using general fund money to make the yearly contribution to the state employees' pension fund, the state would sell bonds to generate the required amount. That would require paying interest to bondholders in the years ahead, increasing the overall cost. But for this year, it would free up general fund money to help fill the budget gap.
The deal comes with no time to spare. If it is not approved by Monday, the state will lose out on more than a third of the expected savings because not enough time would exist to float the bonds before the first payments to the pension fund are due.
The pension bonds were originally proposed by Davis in January. But the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office warned that they were bad fiscal policy, and Republicans said they would support them only if Democrats offered significant cuts to government programs in exchange.
"No one in our caucus likes" pension bonds, said Assembly Republican Leader Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, "but it's something that we believe we can do and it's the right thing to do. We were delighted that we were able to take this first step."
