May revise when the Legislative Analyst projected still
A DEAL IS
more revenue than Davis had assumed in his revision.
REACHED
Governor Davis was anxious to bring in a budget deal on time—in principle even by June 15, the date the
The legislature did not quite meet the June 15 deadline
legislature is supposed to be finished with it. Such
but seemed close to reaching a deal with Republicans,
a timely enactment would be seen as a change from the
a few of whose votes were needed to reach the
notable delays that had characterized the Wilson era.
required constitutional two-thirds supermajority.
As Chart 2 shows, Pete Wilson had only one on-time
Essentially, Republicans bargained for further tax cuts
budget; his predecesso—George Deukmejian—had
at the margin, such as adding truckers to the car tax
experienced only two major delays, both in times of
cut, and for a credit for research and development for
budget crisis. With the threat of a car tax initiative and
business. The budget was enacted on June 16, one day
with pressure from legislative Republicans in mind,
after the official deadline but well before the start of
Davis agreed to a reduction in the car tax. That cut was
the new fiscal year on July 1. However, it took until
later to figure in the 2003 recall when he temporarily
June 30 for the governor to sign off on the budget and
reversed it.
announce various line-item vetoes totaling over a half
Chart 2: Days of Budget Delay Beyond June 30 Until Signing
2003-04 (Dav is) 2002-03 (Dav is) 2001-02 (Dav is) 2000-01 (Dav is) 1999-00 (Dav is) 1998-99 (W ilso n ) 1997-98 (W ilso n ) 1996-97 (W ilso n ) 1995-96 (W ilso n ) 1994-95 (W ilso n ) 1993-94 (W ilso n ) 1992-93 (W ilso n ) 1991-92 (W ilso n ) 1990-91 (Deukmejia n ) 1989-90 (Deukmejia n ) 1988-89 (Deukmejia n ) 1987-88 (Deukmejia n ) 1986-87 (Deukmejia n ) 1985-86 (Deukmejia n ) 1984-85 (Deukmejia n ) 1983-84 (Deukmejia n ) 0
130
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70