State Budget Watch

On the state’s 58th day without a budget, these were the key developments in Sacramento:

The problem

Legislators and Gov. Pete Wilson need to bridge a $10.7-billion gap between anticipated revenues and the amount it would take to continue all programs at their current levels, rebuild a reserve for emergencies and erase last year’s deficit. The state is short of cash and, without a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, cannot borrow money to pay its bills. Instead, claims are being paid with IOUs known as registered warrants.

IOUs

Issued Thursday: 75,168, with a value of $24.64 million

Since July 1: 1.37 million, with a total value of $2.91 billion.

Interest costs to date: $8.78 million. Interest paid out so far: $2.69 million.

Bank of America has collected the largest single amount in interest from redeemed IOUs: $1.08 million.

Gov. Pete Wilson

Took no budget-related action.

The Legislature

Private negotiations continued. Meanwhile, the Senate voted 22 to 5 to grant an estimated $13-million tax break to California magazine publishers. The bill would repeal the newly imposed sales tax on magazine subscriptions. The levy was imposed to help balance last year’s budget. But Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco) said the tax works to the competitive disadvantage of California magazine publishers because publishers in other states do not have to pay the California levy. Repeal of the tax would apply only to subscriptions and not to newsstand sales.