Could pressure to pass a budget mount with the return of furloughs and the threat of IOUs in the coming weeks?
Roughly 144,000 state workers will be forced to take an unpaid day off Friday as a result of yesterday's state Supreme Court decision to issue a stay of a lower court's ruling that blocked the new furlough order.
Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order, the thrice monthly furloughs will continue until a budget is signed.
Another development to watch? Controller John Chiang reiterated yesterday his warnings that the state will soon be out of cash and have to issue IOUs to pay its bills.
Chiang has been saying this for some time now, though he said the writing of the pay-you-later notes could come in as soon as two weeks.
For those counting, today is Day 50 of the fiscal year -- seven weeks have passed since the July 1 deadline for having a spending plan in place.
But we're willing to bet that the chances of a budget breakthrough today are slim to none. (Don't forget to track the budget signing bets of other readers' in the Capitol Alert budget pool.)
There are no planned meetings between the four legislative leaders and Schwarzenegger today. In fact, as Bee colleague Kevin Yamamura tweeted yesterday, the "Big Five" haven't met since mid-June, and the four legislative leaders haven't gotten together for budget talks at all this month.
In lieu of budget action, lawmakers continue to express their outrage about the sky-high pay and pensions for officials in the city of Bell.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez are holding a news conference at 11 a.m. in the Capitol's room 317 to introduce a package of bills aimed at preventing situations like the one in Bell from flying under the radar.
No fewer than six other lawmakers are scheduled to be on hand.
Also under the dome, both houses will meet for 9 a.m. floor sessions to continue to plow through the end-of-session bill file.
HOUSE 2010: Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, is hosting a town hall in Elk Grove. Lungren is facing an election challenge from Democrat Ami Bera of Elk Grove. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Wackford Community and Aquatic Center.
SENATE 2010: GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina continues her campaign tour on jobs and the economy with a speech at the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce.
CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, turns 39 today.
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