Capitol Alert

Republican Peter Tateishi has beaten Barbara Ortega for the right to butt heads with Democrat Ken Cooley in the November election for the 8th Assembly District seat.

Tateishi's lead over Ortega for second place had grown from 657 after precinct counts to 2,612 votes on Friday as officials tallied write-ins, provisionals and other ballots received on election day.

With fewer than 5,700 such ballots remaining to be counted in Sacramento County, and with only a portion of those from the 8th Assembly District, Ortega conceded defeat to Tateishi late Friday through a campaign aide.

"Given the number of votes that are left to count, we don't think that she can make up the difference," said Cristina Rivera, spokeswoman for Ortega's campaign.

"So she's willing to concede that Peter is the top Republican vote getter, but she's very happy with the campaign that she ran ... She has no regrets," Rivera said.

Cooley, the only Democrat in the race, finished an easy first by garnering 42.8 percent of votes cast. Tateishi collected 23.5 percent, followed by Ortega, 20.1 percent. The remainder were split among three other candidates.

Both Cooley, a state Senate aide, and Tateishi, chief of staff to Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River, said Friday that they look forward to their looming showdown in November.

The 8th Assembly District extends from Citrus Heights to the Sacramento County line south of Wilton.

On a mostly party-line vote, both houses of the Legislature sent Gov. Jerry Brown a $92.1 billion spending plan Friday without a deal on welfare cuts.

Lawmakers faced a Friday deadline to pass the budget in order to avoid losing their pay and expense money. It marked the second budget lawmakers passed using their new majority-vote authority under Proposition 25, rather than the supermajority vote required prior to 2011.

While lawmakers sent Brown the main budget bill, Assembly Bill 1464, they did not send him the bulk of more than two dozen "trailer" bills that actually explain how to cut programs and raise revenues to carry out the expenditures. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that is because legislative Democrats and Brown still must resolve "small but important differences."

Democrats believe that they satisfied the Proposition 25 requirement by sending AB 1464 alone. Last year, Controller John Chiang cited their failure to pass all of the revenue-related trailer bills by the June 15 deadline as one reason to dock their pay, but his power to interpret their budget was curtailed by a Sacramento Superior Court decision in April.

Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said Brown would sign the main budget bill and all related bills before the July 1 start of the next fiscal year.

The Democrats' budget relies on cuts to courts, counties and state workers, along with an $8.5 billion November tax hike on sales and high-income earners. It also includes funds from now-defunct redevelopment agencies, borrowing from special funds and extending cuts to in-home care, child care and welfare job training.

As lawmakers prepare to approve a budget bill today, Senate Democratic leader Darrell Steinberg released a video address defending the plan, but noted that "there are small but important differences to resolve in the coming days" with Gov. Jerry Brown.

"This budget is a sober one," Steinberg said. "Democrats are on the verge of eliminating the stubborn structural deficit and we are going to get it done, with or without Republican votes."

Approving the budget bill today -- even without the accompanying legislation to resolve the differences with Brown -- allows lawmakers to continue to collect paychecks under Proposition 25.

The Sacramento Democrat defended the spending plan against criticism that it relies on one-time fixes to bridge a predicted $15.7 billion gap.

"More deep cuts in our view would be punitive, especially when there are other options that don't carry as much risk to children, to our economy and to people's lives," Steinberg said.

Dan Walters questions claims that the budget up for a vote today is really gimmick-free.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Dan Walters Daily: Dan isn't so sure the state budget under discussion is as gimmick-free as its authors say.

You could put some money on the likelihood that the Legislature will pass the budget bill today, an action that will ensure lawmakers continue to be paid.

Here's the operative language from Proposition 25 that's driving the process:

(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this Constitution, including subdivision (c) of this section, Section 4 of this article, and Sections 4 and 8 of Article III, in any year in which the budget bill is not passed by the Legislature by midnight on June 15, there shall be no appropriation from the current budget or future budget to pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or living expenses for Members of the Legislature during any regular or special session for the period from midnight on June 15 until the day that the budget bill is presented to the Governor. No salary or reimbursement for travel or living expenses forfeited pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid retroactively.

That doesn't mean, however, that Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have made a budget deal. They're still haggling over issues ranging from CalWorks to county funds. Those talks could continue into next week.

Pay or work schedule changes for state workers are also still up in the air.

SEIU Local 1000 is waiting for a response from the Brown administration to a proposal to that includes flexible furloughs. Legislative leaders would clearly prefer not to get involved.

CAKE and CANDLES: Happy birthday to Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, who was born on this date in 1965.