Big Developments on the Budget
By Anthony WrightHealth Access
Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg both released a unified "California Jobs Budget," which will serve as their basis for negotiations with the Governor and legislative Republicans.
The overall architecture seeks to solve a $17.9 billion deficit with $8.3 billion in cuts, $4.1 billion in federal funds, and other solutions including $4.5 billion in revenues. The revenues include:
* closing an oil severance tax loophole ($600 million in the budget year, $1.2 billion annually),
* delays the implementation of new corporate tax breaks agreed to in last year's budget showdown ($2.1 billion in the budget year; the delay would be for two years--voters will have their says about repealing the tax breaks outright under Prop 24 this November),
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