Schwarzenegger Pushes Plan on Local Coffers

After a collapse in state budget negotiations late last week over funding for cities and counties, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed to revive his plan Saturday to protect their revenues.

One of the last sticking points in reaching agreement on the $103-billion state budget, the local government provisions have rocked the Capitol for several days and sent city officials across California into a frenzy of last-minute opposition.

The governor is pressuring lawmakers to support a plan under which cities and counties would accept $2.6 billion in cuts over the next two years in exchange for an amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit such cuts in the future.

His latest push for that plan comes days after he walked away from a compromise with Democrats that would give the Legislature more flexibility in how it provides assistance to local government. The governor abandoned the compromise after local leaders rebelled against it, triggering a meltdown in the Legislature. Legislative leaders threw up their hands, and lawmakers headed home for the weekend.

“We are all here today calling on the legislators, and to tell them to go back to Sacramento and to vote for our local government agreement so that the people have their budget,” Schwarzenegger said at a rally before a few dozen police and firefighters Saturday at L.A. City Fire Station 88 in Sherman Oaks, where the governor also filmed scenes for his 2002 movie “Collateral Damage.”

“We were at the home stretch, we were very close to have a deal and a budget, but suddenly the legislators shut down and left Sacramento and went back home.”

The governor demanded an immediate floor vote on the deal he and local leaders had worked out.

Senate President John Burton (D-San Francisco) downplayed Schwarzenegger’s appearances, saying the governor hammering lawmakers at public rallies “doesn’t faze me.”

“Bring it on if you want,” Burton said. “We’ll just let the cards read for themselves. I believe the negotiations with the Legislature and the governor can be done pretty quickly.” He said he had been speaking with the governor and his chief of staff by telephone and believed a budget deal could be reached soon.

The deal the city and county leaders are pushing is simple. It begins with them accepting $1.3 billion in cuts for each of the next two years.

In return, the governor and lawmakers would support a constitutional amendment that would protect their share of the state budget from ever again being cut.

Democrats say that plan is full of problems: It would make it nearly impossible for lawmakers to borrow from cities and counties during a fiscal crisis; it would lock into the Constitution a system that forces local governments to become overly dependent on sales tax, leading too many to become overly reliant on “big box” retail stores, leading to sprawl; and it would give cities and counties priority in the state budget over education, social services and most every government program.

“It gives local government more protection than schools,” Burton said.

Burton called on the local leaders to return to the negotiating table.

He cautioned them not to take their chances on an initiative they have on the November ballot that would prohibit the state from taking any money away from cities and counties ever again.

“The polls show it is going in the dumpster,” Burton said. “If they want to come to the table, good. If they don’t, let them take their chances.”

Standing alongside the governor in Los Angeles on Saturday, however, several big-city mayors said they saw no reason to give in to any Democratic demands.

“We had a deal,” said Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn. “We want that deal to go through.”

Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown said local governments were not the Legislature’s “personal piggy bank.”