09.09.08: Senate Rejects Republican Budget Proposal
By David Walrath
The Senate rejected a Republican borrow and spend get-out-of-town budget that included using school lottery funds to bond a one-time $1.9 billion for schools. The proposal was to dedicate $140 million per year for the next 40 years from the school share of the state lottery in order to secure a one-time fund to maintain school funding in 2008-09 at the same level as 2007-08. SSDA opposed this proposal in testimony before the Assembly Budget Committee last week. We continue to oppose this proposal in its current form. All it does is provide short-term relief at the cost of a long-term Proposition 98 on-going funding reduction.
The rejection actually moves the negotiation process forward. The rumor now is that there will be an effort to develop and pass a compromise budget by the end of this week.
