Prometheus 6   

As California Borrows Time, Other States Adopt Short-Term Budgets
By JOHN M. BRODER

… For the 17th time in the past 25 years, California's Legislature failed to pass a budget by the constitutional deadline of June 30. Lawmakers and statewide elected officials will receive no paychecks until a budget is signed into law, and some payments for community colleges, local street repairs and the university systems will be delayed. The state will continue to operate as long as it can on a dwindling balance of $5 billion from the June sale of revenue anticipation notes, a pool that will run dry sometime in August, budget officials said.

California's problem remained the most intractable in the nation as other states staggered across their budget deadlines with stopgap solutions, short-term spending plans and continued debate over the most contentious budget items.

Legislatures in New Hampshire and Oregon passed short-term budgets, while the governors of Massachusetts and North Carolina signed last-minute budgets on Monday, the last day of the fiscal year. Gov. John G. Rowland of Connecticut signed an executive order on Monday to keep the state government operating for a week.

Even though the final details of several state budgets have yet to be completed, it is clear that spending at the state level will fall in absolute terms for the first time in 20 years, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.

"That is a very, very unusual occurrence and it shows that the fiscal crisis is much worse than we anticipated," said Scott Pattison, executive director of the group.