SACRAMENTO — In a Capitol where groundbreaking achievements have been trumped by money woes in recent years, state officials are now hoping to broaden their ambitions to more than paying the state's bills, without breaking the bank. At their disposal is an unusual new resource: time.
That may be the only upside of the fiscal crisis. After lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came together on a spending plan in February -- instead of at the end of a hot Sacramento summer -- they now see in the eight months ahead the potential to solidify the state's fragile water supply, to improve foster care and to make gains on clean energy.
Prison costs, education and jobs also top the list of issues lawmakers hope to pick up that were largely swept aside as Republicans and Democrats argued over the budget.
"I ran for the Senate and I ran to be the leader not just to deal with crises but to actually help set a positive agenda," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who has dealt with little but crises since taking his post last year. "My view is, if we can resolve a $41-billion budget deficit, we can do just about anything."
In many areas, the Democrats who control the Legislature can pass new policy themselves -- with the blessing of Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican. But they will need a deal with GOP lawmakers to approve a ballot measure to borrow money for the state's water system.
How much may be achieved rests heavily on voters. The budget -- already $8 billion out of balance, according to new projections -- will completely unravel if Californians reject ballot measures in the May 19 special election that would allow the state to divert money from programs for mental health and preschool programs, to borrow against the lottery, and more.
So lawmakers say they are pinning their ambitions to things that don't cost much. The Senate is placing any bill that costs more than $50,000 a year in a "suspense file," where most -- without much suspense, despite the name -- will die.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said she would seek changes to the state's foster care program that could bring more federal funding to California. One idea she is advancing would provide federal aid for grandparents and other relatives of foster care youth who are ineligible to receive financial aid for taking the children into their homes. Another proposal would seek federal money to help young people who now leave the foster care system at age 18, until they turn 21.
