A deal has been reached between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders of California to avert the governor's planned veto of the state budget and to allow the state to begin paying its bills again in billions of dollars, according to media reports Friday.
The legislative leaders agreed to the governor's demand for tighter restrictions on legislators' access to the state's fund reserved for emergency. They also gave up on a proposal for raising 1.6 billion dollars by way of increasing tax withholdings from the state residents' paychecks.
The leaders revealed that they now would get the money by increasing penalties on those corporations for late tax payment instead.
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) and Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto announced that the legislators were ready to move on the agreement with Schwarzenegger after the haggling in Schwarzenegger's office Thursday afternoon. The Senate would have a vote on Friday.
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) also declared the measure will pass the Assembly on Friday. "Hopefully this will bring an end to the 80-plus days of pain," Bass said as quoted by media.
Since start of the fiscal year on July 1, the state of California has failed to pay billions of dollars to government service providers including schools, hospitals, healthcare clinics, nursing homes and other organs.
More than 800 bills that lawmakers passed this year hang in the balance. Earlier in the week, when sounding his veto threat on the budget, the governor also threatened that if the legislators were to override him, he would fight back by rejecting most of the legislation.
Source:Xinhua
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