Saldaña Frustrated With Budget Deadlock

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 26, 2008 at 11:30 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The California Legislature did nothing about the state's massive budget gap Tuesday. And a San Diego legislator says she's frustrated with the budget stalemate in Sacramento. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce ha

The California Legislature did nothing about the state's massive budget gap Tuesday. And a San Diego legislator says she's frustrated with the budget stalemate in Sacramento. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has the story.

A last-gasp effort to ease a projected $27.8 billion shortfall over 19 months ended as both houses, voting largely along party lines, killed a Democratic package of tax hikes and budget cuts.

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San Diego Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña says the state's two-thirds requirement to pass a budget bill is part of the problem.

Saldaña :I think what the Governor was counting as far as the budget vote yesterday was that people would have a change of heart. And he did, the Governor did sit down and talk with more legislators - especially with the republicans. But he just can't move his own party, he can't get any votes.

Saldaña says it's been the most frustrating and aggravating legislative session in the four years she's served in the Assembly.

The lame-duck Legislature's failure to act leaves the budget problem to the next class of lawmakers, which takes over Monday.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

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Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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