With no budget agreement in sight, California is set to begin a new fiscal year Thursday with a looming $19.1 billion deficit -- and with lawmakers set to leave Sacramento the following day for a monthlong summer recess.
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Monday that they expect lawmakers to continue working during the recess - but not necessarily in Sacramento.
"Until we have a budget, I expect members to work -- the question is where," Steinberg said.
Steinberg said that budget negotiations are best served by having a "finite number of members who are (in Sacramento) and directly engaged," while colleagues are free "to be in their districts, talking to their constituents about what's at stake."
July typically is a slow time in the Capitol, except for budget negotiations, because of a lull between the deadline for legislative policy committees to decide which bills to send to the floor and the date that a roll-call vote decides their fate.
Steinberg noted that lawmakers would earn per diem of $142 per day, throughout the budget impasse, if they were required to stay in Sacramento during the recess from July 2 to Aug. 2.
"It's a little bit of a Catch 22," the Sacramento Democrat said.
Pérez said he, too, plans to allow legislators to work in their districts during the recess, provided they can return to the Capitol on short notice if a budget deal is struck.
"My inclination is not to take a recess, but to allow people to return and work in their districts, on call to the speaker, and bring them back as we have pieces of the budget solution for them to work on," Pérez said.
"I see no value in keeping them waiting here while that work is being done," he said.
Failure to pass a budget by the start of a new fiscal year, July 1, does not force legislators or their aides to forfeit pay. Pay checks would be withheld, however, until a budget deal is struck.
Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Monday that they expect lawmakers to continue working during the recess - but not necessarily in Sacramento.
"Until we have a budget, I expect members to work -- the question is where," Steinberg said.
Steinberg said that budget negotiations are best served by having a "finite number of members who are (in Sacramento) and directly engaged," while colleagues are free "to be in their districts, talking to their constituents about what's at stake."
July typically is a slow time in the Capitol, except for budget negotiations, because of a lull between the deadline for legislative policy committees to decide which bills to send to the floor and the date that a roll-call vote decides their fate.
Steinberg noted that lawmakers would earn per diem of $142 per day, throughout the budget impasse, if they were required to stay in Sacramento during the recess from July 2 to Aug. 2.
"It's a little bit of a Catch 22," the Sacramento Democrat said.
Pérez said he, too, plans to allow legislators to work in their districts during the recess, provided they can return to the Capitol on short notice if a budget deal is struck.
"My inclination is not to take a recess, but to allow people to return and work in their districts, on call to the speaker, and bring them back as we have pieces of the budget solution for them to work on," Pérez said.
"I see no value in keeping them waiting here while that work is being done," he said.
Failure to pass a budget by the start of a new fiscal year, July 1, does not force legislators or their aides to forfeit pay. Pay checks would be withheld, however, until a budget deal is struck.
No comments:
Post a Comment