California legislators met Monday to reconsider a proposal to close the state's $42 billion deficit after aborting a vote late Sunday night because they failed to find one last Republican vote needed during a marathon weekend session.Darrell Steinberg, the Democrat state senate leader, expressed confidence that another Republican senator would join two Republicans who have committed to vote with the Democratic majority in approving a budget that would raise taxes and cut spending. The three Republican votes were needed to reach the two-thirds majority that California requires from both houses of its legislature to approve budgets and tax increases.
Voting was scheduled to begin Monday mid-afternoon and go on for hours --possibly into the night. The state assembly was expected to pass the budget with at least three GOP assembly members voting with the Democratic majority. Senate leaders, along with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, met individually with Republican senators over the weekend in hopes of persuading one to be the final vote.
The budget put up to vote during the long-weekend session outlined spending for the next 17 months. In addition to the revenue increases, it proposed cutting $15 billion in spending, including $8.6 billion from education and $1.4 billion from payroll costs, to be achieved in part by furloughing 200,000 state workers at least one day a month. The plan also called for $11 billion in borrowing and $700 million in tax breaks for large corporations.
Much is riding on Monday's vote for Gov. Schwarzenegger, who hammered out the budget in closed-door negotiations with Democratic and Republican leaders of both houses. Gov. Schwarzenegger "understands this is going to be a very difficult vote that's going to require real courage and leadership from our state legislators," said Aaron McLear, the governor's spokesman.