Nunez Sets Conditions for Budget Re-Negotiations

Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) is back in town and fired up, calling the Republicans' actions "political hostage-taking". Brian has audio up on Calitics from Nunzez today. The Speaker made it very clear that if the Assembly was to re-open budget negotiations, many of the concessions that the Democrats made would be rescinded, as a condition of coming back to the table. Nunez also reminded folks what the Republicans have been up to in his absence.

The demands on the things that were important to the Senate Republicans changed from time to time. There seems to be no interest in compromise and clearly the lack of an effective exit strategy for the Senate Republicans.

Nunez stated that he is not interested in re-opening the negotiations, but if there is no budget by August 20th, he would set conditions for actually coming back to the table. The five month delay in the cost of living adjustments for the SSI program would have to be added back in. That program aids the blind, disable and elderly. He would also require that they restore at least a substantial amount of the $1.3 billion taken from transportation funding.

He made it very clear that the Democrats would "not consider any cuts whatsoever to the education programs or to the health and human services safety net." Nor will they "entertain discussions of reforms to CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) of any kind". The Republicans to tie the hands of Jerry Brown's ability to go after greenhouse gas emissions under the ability granted to him in CEQA. Arnold has also announced his opposition to including that in the budget negotiations.

The Speaker points out the hypocrisy of the Republicans demanding tax cuts, at the same time they are arguing for a zero operating deficit, saying they are "mutually inconsistent". He also notes that 82 out of the 120 members of the state legislature are already supporting the legislature. That is 68% of the legislature.

The assertion by some in the Senate Republican quarters that by simply getting the Assembly to reconvene, some how magically we would have a budget in California, is totally false. It is a farce. It is not true. It is not going to happen. And even if did, we would not agree to any further cuts, deeper than what we did not like but agreed to in the budget compromise that passed through the Assembly 2.5 weeks ago.

If the Republicans want to come back to the table, they will need to give up some of the things they earned during the original negotiation. The Assembly Democrats will not agree to anything that cuts things further than what they previously agreed to. Not exactly, fertile territory for the Republicans to accomplish what they want. He is taking a welcomed hard line.

From the AP article linked earlier:

"They're shooting themselves in the foot," Nunez, D-Los Angeles, said in a telephone interview. "Why would I agree to any budget that is worse for Democrats than the budget that we closed on? I just couldn't do that."