John Chiang, the Democratic controller in Sacramento, has put a hold on pay for state lawmakers today citing some bad math that went in to the spending plan his party sent to Governor Brown last week. In a statement today, Chiang's office found that much of the budget was "miscalculated, miscounted or unfinished," and told legislators they'll be going without pay until a balanced budget is sent to Gov. Brown. According to the Controller's office, the submitted plan will spend $89.75 billion, but is still $1.85 billion short in revenues.
The Governor, for his part, vetoed the budget last week for similar reasons, noting it did not meet requirements set forth by Prop 58 (the Balanced Budget Act). The current plan was stitched together from additional cuts and risky votes like suspending Prop 98 after Brown failed to secure enough Republican votes to put new sales and vehicle taxes up for a special tax election.
[SacBee]