Politics & Government

School District's Lifeline Halts Talks in Capitol

Gov. Jerry Brown halts budget talks, saying Republicans refuse to put the tax extension to a vote of the public unless he agrees to "an ever changing list of collateral demands."

An issue that caused Temecula school officials to butt heads sent budget negotiations screeching to a halt in Sacramento.

Gov. Jerry Brown halted negotiations because Republicans refused to put a proposed tax extention on an upcoming ballot, he announced Tuesday.

Democrats approved placing it on the ballot, but Republicans in Sacramento dug in their heels.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The governor was frustrated, he said. "Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican Party regarding our state’s massive deficit."

The approved a resolution supporting putting the tax extensions on the ballot earlier this month, but only after much debate.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The school board president, Allen Pulsipher, called an early draft of the resolution "partisan," and edited it extensively.

Trustee Kristi Rutz-Robbins and Vince O'Neal objected to the revisions, saying the school board's job was to look out for the good of the students. After negotiations, they agreed to cut out almost everything in the resolution except for a sentence saying they support putting the measure on the ballot.

Without the tax extension, the district will have to make $9 million worth of cuts to next year's budget, according to Superintendent Timothy Ritter.

On March 24, Brown signed several bills that would reduce the state’s budget by $11 billion. He hoped to get support from the legislature for another $12.5 billion in spending cuts and $12 billion in temporary tax extensions.

“The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California," Brown's said in a statement to the media. "Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people. 

“Each and every Republican legislator I’ve spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever-changing list of collateral demands.”

Some of those demands would render the budget reforms pointless, the governor wrote in a letter to Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton on Friday.

“…I was surprised and frankly disappointed that you came today with a very long list of demands (53 separate proposals), many of which are new and have nothing to do with the budget… your list of demands—if met— would undermine my entire budget proposal by undoing major elements and extending the taxes for only 18 months," Brown wrote.

In halting negotiations, Brown said he plans to focus his efforts in the coming weeks on speaking with Californians to find  “honest and real solutions” to the budget crisis.

A full copy of the letter sent to Dutton is in the PDF file under the photo to the right.


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