Wilson Targets Welfare as Budget Negotiations Drag On

Gov. Pete Wilson, digging his heels in deeper during negotiations over solving the $14.3-billion state budget deficit, Friday reminded Democrats that reductions in grants to welfare mothers remain at the top of his priority list.

The Republican chief executive issued the reminder to the top Democratic and GOP leaders of the Legislature during a five-hour session on the deficit, their eighth such face-to-face conference.

“I think it’s going well, but it takes lots of time,” Wilson told reporters.

The day closed without Wilson and the Legislature meeting an informal June 1 deadline for enacting a new state budget, one of several unofficial deadlines that have come and gone. The participants agreed to meet again today, one month before the start of the new fiscal year.

The governor and legislators said they had nothing to report on the substance of the discussions.

However, sources close to the participants said talks included the size of a proposed emergency reserve fund, scaling down the margin required for local voters to pass general obligation bond issues from two-thirds to a simple majority, and devising a “trigger” that would cut back on state spending when revenues fall below certain levels.

Wilson wants assurance that if the trigger is squeezed, the cuts will not skip over the financing of trial courts, regional centers for the developmentally disabled and renters’ tax credits, said a source close to the negotiations.

Shortly after taking office, Wilson endorsed easing the vote requirement to pass local general obligation bond issues, a position long favored by Democrats. But the proposal before negotiators was stiffly opposed by Assembly GOP Leader Ross Johnson of La Habra, especially on the issue of local parks development, the source said.

The source said that Democratic negotiators favor a $1.1-billion budget reserve for unforeseen emergencies, while the governor wants at least $1.4 billion.

Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said Senate passage of a $995-million personal income and business tax bill “came up” at the negotiating session, but Roberti provided no details. Approval of the bill by Senate Democrats and a lone independent over Wilson’s opposition had the effect of turning the heat up a notch on Wilson to accept an income tax increase as part of an overall tax-and-cut budget solution.