The Assembly Budget Committee has taken two actions intended to clean up parts of this year’s California spending plan.
First, the committee approved more than 850 million dollars of internal borrowing to avoid a cash crunch. The State Controller warned lawmakers today that without that action, the state would run out of money in early March.
The Budget Committee’s chairman, Democrat Bob Blumenfield, said, "The state can now stay solvent through mid-April when tax returns come in. We’re not in crisis mode like previous years. Nobody’s talking about issuing IOU’s or anything radical to that effect.”
Republican Vice-Chair Jim Nielsen said, "Such cash flow measures have historically been necessary."
The committee also restored about 250 million dollars in school bus funding that was eliminated as part of the budget’s mid-year trigger cuts. That money will instead be cut evenly from all school districts, instead of just the districts that rely heavily on home-to-school transportation.
