Long Session Still Short of Budget Deal

A marathon Senate session that stretched into Friday morning ended without progress toward a deal on the state budget.

The Senate was locked down until close to 3 a.m. Friday in a show of resolve by the dominant Democrats to do their part to pass a budget as the new fiscal year began. But with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Assembly leaders -- who must sign off on any budget agreement -- out of town, the effort was futile.

For more than two weeks, Republicans in both houses have declined to vote in favor of a $116.6-billion budget that closely resembles the one Schwarzenegger proposed, saying the state cannot afford the roughly $1 billion in spending the Democrats added.

After a night of mostly milling about with little to do -- interrupted by the occasional flurry of long-winded floor speeches -- the Senate adjourned soon after the last news reporters left the chambers. Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman of Irvine called the session “a waste of everybody’s time.”

Democrats expressed no regrets. Senate Leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) noted that his caucus had met most of the Republicans’ demands on the budget, agreeing to a spending plan with no new taxes and without $3 billion that Democrats say local schools are owed. It is time to close the deal, Perata said.

“We were here, we did our job,” he said, “and we are going to continue to do it.”