Table of Contents:

1. LEGISLATURE APPROVES BUDGET, GOVERNOR TO SIGN
2. Higher Education in the Budget
3. LEONARD ASSUMES LEADERSHIP POST; NAMES TEAM
4. LEGISLATURE TAKES ABBREVIATED RECESS

LEGISLATURE APPROVES BUDGET, GOVERNOR TO SIGN

With the Legislature's approval of the state budget this week, the second-longest budget stalemate in California history neared its end. It is likely that Governor Pete Wilson will sign the budget (and accompanying trailer bills) on Monday, after what is expected to be liberal use of his "blue pencil."

In floor sessions which were somewhat anti-climactic, the State Senate approved the budget by a vote of 30-6 (27 votes required for passage) on Monday afternoon, and the Assembly followed suit early Tuesday morning by a vote of 58-15 (54 votes required for passage). Arguing in support of the bill in the Senate, Senator Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), co-chair of the Budget Conference Committee, called it a "good budget," and one which enriched education dramatically, preserved higher education, enhanced environmental programs, and reformed welfare. Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) said the budget was one "that is necessary and has some good things in it," while Assembly Minority Leader Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) said "nobody got everything they wanted…it is a conservative budget, we paid our debts, we protected education, and there are no bells and whistles."

The last act in the budget drama occurred as budget trailer bills (which contain the statutory changes necessary to implement the budget) were being debated, when Governor Wilson threatened to veto the entire budget if the Legislature did not agree to include his version of a plan for a standardized test of reading and math skills at the state's elementary schools. After a day of negotiations, the two sides reached agreement on most of the testing issues and agreed to resolve those remaining when the Legislature returns from its brief summer recess on August 25. After the talks, Governor Wilson said "I intend to sign the budget and withhold certain portions as an incentive [referring to his line-item veto power]. You can assume I will withhold enough to secure the attention of the people we need."

In a statement released late Tuesday night, Governor Wilson called the budget "a pretty good product under the circumstances," and said that having paid off the judgment to the PERS system was the "correct thing to do as it frees us in the future from the costs that we would have otherwise suffered."

Higher Education in the Budget

As we reported in last week's Legislative Report, the only change to the CSU budget in the version sent to the governor was the deletion of the $15.5 million augmentation for our Integrated Technology Strategy. The budget does contain the following items pertaining to higher education (source: Assembly Budget Committee):

CSU/UC Student Fee "Buy-Out." Provides $30.4 million for the CSU and $37 million for the University of California to avoid a ten percent student fee increase.

CSU/UC Outreach Programs. Provides an additional $3 million to expand student academic outreach programs. These funds propose to expand existing outreach programs and develop new collaborative outreach programs with K-12 schools.

Increase Cal Grant Program. Provides a total of $10 million for the Cal Grant Program. Of these funds, $5 million are targeted specifically to increase the award amount for students who choose to attend private, independent universities and colleges. The other $5 million will first equalize the number of Cal Grant A and B awards, and thereafter increase the number of new awards.

UC Tenth Campus. Provides $5 million to the University of California to establish the start-up funding base for the proposed tenth campus in the Central Valley.

CSU & UC Employee Compensation Increase. Provides $154.7 million to increase faculty and staff salaries at both the UC and CSU. This includes $96.9 million for the UC and $57.8 million for CSU to increase their respective employee's salaries.

We will report on the Governor's vetoes in the budget, as well as any numerical adjustments or additional information, in the next issue of the Legislative Report.

LEONARD ASSUMES LEADERSHIP POST; NAMES TEAM

Upon the completion of this week's budget deliberations, Assembly Member Bill Leonard (R-Rancho Cucamonga) succeeded Assembly Member Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) as Assembly Minority Leader. Mr. Leonard was elected to the post in July by the Republican Caucus, with the understanding that he would assume the post after the budget was completed.

Assembly Member Leonard announced the following members as his leadership team:

Assistant Leader: Roy Ashburn (Bakersfield)

Assistant: Tom Bordonaro (San Luis Obispo)

Assistant Leader: Bruce Thompson (Temecula)

Caucus Chair: Lynne Leach (Walnut Creek)

Caucus Whip: Dick Ackerman (Fullerton)

Caucus Whip: George Runner (Lancaster)

Assembly Member Leonard appointed the following members to the Assembly Rules Committee:

Vice Chair: Fred Aguiar (Chino)

Jim Battin (Palm Desert)

Brett Granlund (Yucaipa)

Keith Olberg (Victorville)

Alternate: Steve Kuykendall (Long Beach)

LEGISLATURE TAKES ABBREVIATED RECESS

After passing the budget early Tuesday morning and the budget trailer bills later that day, the Legislature adjourned for a brief summer recess, and will return to Sacramento on Monday, August 25.

The summer recess was originally scheduled to begin on July 18 with the Legislature returning to work on August 18.



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