In addition to the multibillion-dollar education cuts, the Assembly package would defer $3.6 billion owed to schools, universities and transportation programs. It also would shift $350 million away from local redevelopment agencies and borrow $360 million from the state lottery. Voters in May rejected a proposal to borrow substantially more from the lottery.
Also on Thursday, the governor rejected a tentative deal his prisons chief struck last month with a court-appointed receiver in long-running federal lawsuits brought by inmates seeking better healthcare. The deal would have required the state to spend nearly $2 billion constructing prison medical facilities. "We cannot agree to spend $2 billion on state-of-the-art medical facilities for prisoners while we are cutting billions of dollars from schools and healthcare programs for children and seniors," Schwarzenegger said.
The governor's decision sets up a potential confrontation with federal judges who have sharply criticized his administration for moving too slowly. The judges have linked inmate healthcare problems to prison overcrowding and have said they intend to relieve it by ordering the release of about 50,000 inmates.
Another federal judge, meanwhile, ordered the governor and lawmakers not to implement a planned $2 per hour wage cut for the state's hundreds of thousands of in-home healthcare workers. The administration has been tangling with the Service Employees International Union, which represents most such workers, over the wage cut, which was approved in February and is scheduled to take effect next week.
The union appealed to the White House and federal officials, who temporarily threatened to rescind billions of dollars in stimulus money if the state did not reverse the $98.1-million cut. The White House later rescinded the threat, saying it was issued unintentionally on a draft document not meant to be circulated.
But U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken ruled Thursday that the wage cut violates federal law, and she issued an injunction prohibiting the state from putting it into effect.
California Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said the state will ask for a stay of the judge's order as soon as possible.
"We fully expect this to be overturned on appeal," he said.
As the state's financial problems intensified, Wall Street slapped California with another downgrade of its credit, the first of what financial experts expect could be several this summer.
Fitch Ratings lowered the state's bond rating from A to A- and warned that further downgrades may come. Fitch said the reduction reflected a belief that "the state's finances will continue to be strained through fiscal year 2010 and beyond, regardless of any likely outcome to the current budget impasse."
--
evan.halper@latimes.com
shane.goldmacher @latimes.com
Times staff writer Michael Rothfeld contributed to this report.
