Wilson Signs a Budget 7 Weeks Past Deadline

SACRAMENTO — Seven weeks after the start of the new fiscal year, Gov. Pete Wilson finally signed a $68-billion state budget Monday that is probably headed into history as a showcase example of government gridlock.

The new budget reflects a heated California economy that has sent billions of unexpected dollars into state coffers this year. But it also bears the scars of an increasingly partisan Capitol in which legislators were unable to agree on many of their highest priorities--so they scrapped them until next year.

Wilson, during his signing ceremony Monday, chose to highlight the one part of the budget that avoided the skirmishes and benefited from the state’s economic prosperity--education. Because its funding levels are preset by law, schools are awash with cash for new programs as well as a major effort to reduce overcrowded classrooms.

“It took far longer to get that budget than it should have and I think we all regret any inconvenience,” Wilson told an audience of nearly 500 parents, teachers and students at a suburban Sacramento elementary school. “But however tardy, this budget honors the commitment . . . to assure [a] brighter future for . . . California’s children.”

Despite Monday’s celebration over new education spending, the day also signaled that some significant battles are imminent.

Wilson used his line-item veto authority to blue-pencil about $314 million from the budget--much of it to anger, punish or pressure Democrats.

“This is bad governing,” said Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica). “It was unnecessary. He was not balancing a budget. And it was so blatantly political. I just think he’s a bully.”

Wilson said about $203 million of that vetoed money was being held hostage and will be restored if legislators yield in coming weeks to his demands for a statewide test to measure the performance of California public school students.

Last week, just after the budget agreement won passage in the Legislature, Wilson threatened to veto the entire plan because Democrats had modified his testing proposal. Instead of an outright veto, Wilson decided to sign the budget and hold some key expenditures in a sort of unallocated limbo.

*

About $153 million of the money he set aside temporarily is intended for cost-of-living adjustments and enrollment growth spending for schools. The rest is for a series of projects to help schools and the environment.

Wilson was blunt about his purpose for choosing veto targets based on the pressure they will place on Democrats to accommodate his testing plan.

“The purpose--as was well understood--is simply to secure the votes that we need,” he told reporters at a news conference Monday. “It is an urgency measure. We want this to go into effect immediately, so I think this will help.”

His plan was called hypocritical, however, by Senate President Pro Tem Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward). “I find it ironic that at the very moment the governor is cheerfully taking credit for his class-size reduction efforts, he still has no qualms about holding our schoolchildren hostage.”

Wilson repeated his position Monday that the tests are needed to measure whether some of the major changes underway in California schools are helping to improve student learning.

The disagreement with legislators erupted when Democrats rejected Wilson’s order that the test be given only in English. They also rejected the governor’s attempt to use the tests for evaluating individual teachers.

On Monday, Wilson also targeted a variety of large and small budget items that Democrats hold dear. He issued permanent vetoes to $111 million worth of items--from a commuter train in Sacramento to a Science Center in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park and trail or park construction in San Diego, Bellflower, Glendale, San Francisco and elsewhere.

Kuehl complained that Wilson was blue-penciling projects in districts represented by Democrats. For example, she said the governor cut $500,000 requested by a Democrat to clean up abandoned vessels in his San Francisco Peninsula district but left untouched the same amount intended for a Republican in the East Bay.

The largest chunk of permanently vetoed money came from Democrat-sponsored plans for legal and illegal immigrants. About $27 million in cuts would have provided prenatal care to undocumented mothers, assistance to legal immigrants who are elderly and poor or children who are disabled. It would also provide training for immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship.

The cuts surprised Sen. Richard G. Polanco (D-Los Angeles), who shared the stage with Wilson on Monday to boast about increased education spending at John Ehrhardt Elementary School. When told afterward about the cuts, he complained they were “very inappropriate.”

Wilson actually signed the official budget document in private early Monday so the state controller could rush overdue payments to a number of California nursing homes that have been without funding since the fiscal year began July 1.

*

His signature ended a process that began nearly eight months ago when the governor introduced his budget proposal. Since then, legislators have engaged in name-calling, posturing and finally an exasperating meltdown that ended hopes for Wilson to achieve his income tax cut plan and for Democrats to assist almost 100,000 legal immigrants who will lose federal food stamps next month.

Instead, the governor and frustrated Democratic leaders in the Legislature agreed to pay a $1.36-billion debt that was ordered by the state Supreme Court. The obligation dates back to the state’s recession when legislators dipped into a workers pension fund to help balance a 1991 budget shortfall.

Times staff writer Eric Bailey contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

What the Budget Means to You

The 1997-98 state budget will have a direct effect on millions of Californians.

If you:

* Have children in kindergarten through third grade, they will qualify for attending a class with 20 pupils or fewer--part of the class size reduction measures initiated last year.

* Drive a car, your vehicle registration fees will increase from $27 to $28. The additional vehicle licensing fee, varying depending on age and value of vehicle, remains the same. Fees for transferring title of a vehicle increase by $2 this year, with further increases of $2 or $1 over the next two years.

* Pay residential rent, once again you will not be permitted to take a tax break that is on the books but has been suspended since 1992. That was the last year that the renter tax credit--$60 a year for singles, $120 for couples--was allowed.

* Are a student at a community college or one of the University of California or California State University campuses, your fees will not increase in the fall.

* Receive a welfare grant for a family of three and live in an urban area, your benefit will continue at $565 per month, but prepare to be dropped from the rolls in the future and look for a job. The date benefits expire depends on county options and your fitness to work, but in no case will benefits last more than five years, except for children.

* Are a parent leaving the welfare rolls to enter the work force, or are a parent already working at a low-paid job, you will be entitled government-paid child care.

* Are a poor legal immigrant, you will lose your federal food stamp benefits, but your children will qualify for state food stamps. Likewise, the elderly who are ineligible for federal aid will continue receiving food stamps under the state program.

* Have a son or daughter in public school in kindergarten through high school, an extra day will be added to the child’s school year, making the total at least 173 days.

* Attend a high school targeted for special technology grants, you will have access to new or improved classroom computer equipment. State funds for the upgrade, at the rate of $300 per student, will be allocated to 200 high schools, which are as yet undesignated.