They are at it again out there on the left side of the country!!!

Republican Senator crosses party lines so Senate can pass budget
By JESSICA BRICE Associated Press Writer
Published 6:30 p.m. PDT Saturday, June 29, 2002
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The State Senate passed a California budget Saturday after a lone Republican Sen. crossed over party lines and voted for the state spending plan.

It marks the end of weeks of partisan bickering in the Senate over tax hikes and spending cuts needed to fill a $23.6 billion budget hole.

Sen. Maurice Johannessen, R-Redding, voted for the budget and a bill that included a $3.6 billion tax hike. Both passed the Senate by a hair with the minimum requirement of 27 votes.



Johannessen urged his Republican colleagues to vote for the proposal, calling it "the best budget we can possibly put out."

"I consider myself a conservative Republican, but I have a responsibility to those who cannot talk here," Johannessen said. "I am not here to do anything but to do right by the California people."

The tax increase package will boost vehicle license fees and includes a 63-cent-per-pack hike on cigarettes, 13 cents higher than what Gov. Gray Davis proposed.

The package also includes a two-year suspension of a law that allows businesses to deduct their net operating losses against future income, expected to generate $1.2 billion in revenue. Following the suspension, businesses would be allowed to claim 80 percent of the losses, compared to the 65 percent they are currently allowed to claim.

Senate Republicans blasted the tax increases, saying it will only hurt California's economy and urged Assembly Republicans to turn down the plan.

"This is the second largest tax increase ever imposed on the people of California," said Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Northridge. "I think it deserves at least a moment of pause and reflect on what we are about to do."

A new version of a school transfer bill was also approved, which will cut education spending by more than $400 million in the coming fiscal year to be shifted to the next year. Republicans wanted that money guaranteed for the 2003-04 fiscal year to equalize funding for school districts.

The State Assembly is set to take up the budget on Sunday, a day before the fiscal year starts. They need at least four Republicans to vote for the budget to get the two-thirds majority needed, but Republicans maintain they will not buy into a plan that raises taxes.

The state's fiscal year starts July 1, but lawmakers have missed that deadline in the past, including last year. The state has started a new fiscal year 13 times during the last 24 years without a new budget in place.

<small>[ June 30, 2002, 06:13 AM: Message edited by: rickheel ]</small>

By the way, when did we get a 63 cent piece??? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" />

Rav?