When it comes to California's budget, nothing is easy. Even in the good years, when revenue comes in as expected or better, the process of passing a state budget still involves pressures from special interests, fierce ideological disagreements, senseless delays that impact real Californians, and a seeming inability to look beyond the year immediately in front of our faces.
Every year, an agreement on the budget is finally reached, but it almost always relies on temporary solutions and gimmicks that allow legislators to get out of town but do not actually solve our budget problems.
This year, the problem was historic. We faced a $42 billion hole over the next 17 months. The pressures were equally intense, with protests, petitions and special interests even threatening legislators with censure and recall.
Read the full article on Sacbee.com