Arnold Presses For Budget Passage

Without directly attacking Democratic leaders, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized the Legislature's majority party Monday for leaving the Capitol without an agreement on the overdue state budget.

The governor called on voters to tell their lawmakers to approve his budget — now almost three weeks late.

"We will get this budget done no matter what," Schwarzenegger said after speaking to lunchtime diners at a pair of restaurants just outside of Sacramento.

The popular GOP governor's proposed $103 billion spending plan ran into problems within his own party, which were resolved, then hit a major snag with Democrats over a proposal to reform local government financing.

Mayors and county officials agreed in May to accept $2.6 billion in cuts over the next two years in exchange for the governor's support for a constitutional amendment that would permanently protect cities, counties and special districts from future state raids on their treasuries.

On Thursday, Democrats offered an alternative plan that would give some protections on state raids but still leave lawmakers authority to make cuts in fiscal emergencies.

Local government and Republican lawmakers both rejected the Democratic plan and called on Democratic party leaders to allow a vote on the original plan. Instead, the Assembly and the Senate closed down for the holiday and lawmakers were sent home.

Schwarzenegger said Monday that he wanted a vote Friday on his original proposal. "And they all split, last Friday, they all disappeared," he complained. "There was no vote, so how do we now know who is against it and who is for it?"

State Sen. John Burton said Democrats did not like the plan.

The governor "said he wanted to have an up or down vote," said Burton, a Democrat. "Well, you want to know something, I want to be a ... millionaire and I ain't."