Speaker Bass Blasts Guv Over Failed Budget
Governator too concerned about his legacy, speaker says
By JESSICA GREENE
Updated 1:15 PM PST, Mon, Jul 6, 2009
California Assembly Speaker Karen Bass thinks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is spending too much time worrying about himself rather than focusing on fixing the state's budget problem.
The Los Angeles Democrat said she might even boycott meetings with the governor and other top legislators in protest.
"I think that the first priority is fixing the budget and it seems as though the governor's concern is fixing his legacy." Bass told reporters last week.
Schwarzenegger is pushing for reforms to state programs that he says are fraudulent or wasteful as California faces a $26.3 billion deficit. He was meeting with district attorneys on Monday to discuss California's in-home supportive services program, one of several he has targeted as wasteful.
Schwarzenegger wants changes to the in-home program and other health and welfare services as part of a budget-balancing deal with legislative leaders.
But Bass says the governor's push for reforms is holding up negotiations over closing the one-year shortfall. She said there could have been a budget deal days ago if the governor had said yes to the package of budget solutions Democrats sent to his desk. That package solved the $19.5-billion deficit, established a reserve and did not include taxes, her office maintains.
Last week, California began issuing IOUs instead of payments to some vendors and Schwarzenegger ordered some 235,000 state employees to take a third day off a month without pay.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC San Diego
First Published: Jul 6, 2009 12:44 PM PST
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