State Republicans see opportunity amid crisis
California has a huge deficit, a looming cash crisis, an angry public and pressure to raise taxes -- and in this dismal state of affairs, the state's minority Republicans see opportunity.
GOP lawmakers hope to use their leverage over the state budget, which cannot pass without some of their votes, to roll back landmark policies implemented by Democrats and the governor. Among them are curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, regulations banning the dirtiest diesel engines and rules dictating when employers must provide lunch breaks for workers.
None of those laws has any direct connection to the state budget; changing them will do nothing to close California's $15.2-billion deficit. And the Democrats who control the Legislature already have rejected Republican proposals to delay or eliminate the laws through the regular legislative process.
But as pressure mounts on lawmakers to resolve the budget crisis, the GOP'S renewed requests could get some traction. Republican clout grows along with the state's financial problems -- at least during the summer budget season.
"We think the budget is an appropriate place to talk about these issues," said Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster). "We are setting them on the table for discussion."
Runner acknowledges that the proposals won't help balance the books in the coming fiscal year, but he argues that they would stimulate the economy and thus generate cash for the state over time.
"They are reasonable issues to bring up" now, he said.
Lawmakers are making little progress in those negotiations. Legislators did not meet their June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a budget, and they are saying publicly that a spending plan is unlikely to be in place by the July 1 start of the fiscal year.
The state will run out of cash in September, according to the state treasurer, and finance officials say that borrowing to remain solvent will be extremely tough without a budget in place by July. Securing a loan takes time, and lenders look for an enacted budget as assurance that the state will have enough cash to repay them.
Democrats, meanwhile, are calling for as much as $11.5 billion in new taxes -- though they have not specified what they want to tax. Republicans say cuts in government services and programs are the way to go -- though they, too, mostly demur when it comes to specifics.
