Special Session Sought to Deal With Budget

Worried about a new and growing budget shortfall, a conservative Republican lawmaker on Tuesday called for a special legislative session to cut spending and taxes in hopes of stimulating an economic recovery.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks, a persistent critic of the Administration, said the recent tax increases were “a tragic blunder.”

A Wilson Administration spokeswoman disputed the lawmaker’s facts and said it is “too early to panic” about the state’s fiscal condition.

McClintock voted against the $55.7-billion budget and opposed all of the more than $7 billion in tax increases that helped balance it. The maverick GOP lawmaker said at the time that the higher taxes would slow California’s recovery from the recession. He said numbers show that the state is worse off than it was at this time a year ago, a predicament that eventually led to the record $14.3-billion budget gap. On Tuesday, McClintock cited a state Commission on Finance report showing that tax receipts since July, when the new taxes took effect, were about $300 million less than had been expected. He said revenues were running $100 million below projections a year ago.

He also said information from the state controller’s office showed that state spending already was $880 million above projections. But a spokesman for Controller Gray Davis said those numbers have been revised, and that spending is in line with expectations.

The state Department of Finance, on which the controller relies for his budget projections, said the state spent about $60 million more in July and August than had been anticipated.

“It’s not time to panic or ask for special sessions,” said Cynthia Katz, a spokeswoman for the department.

But McClintock is not the only one seeking urgent action on the budget. Assemblyman Steve Peace (D-La Mesa) called last week for the Legislature and the governor to suspend the sales tax increase in November and December. Peace said he hoped the tax cut would boost holiday season retail sales.

Responding to both appeals, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said Tuesday that he would welcome a special session to address the budget issues.

McClintock’s request, Brown said through a spokesman, “was a reasonable one and the governor ought to respond positively.”