After months of meetings and recent days of long negotiations, the 2009-2010 California state budget was passed by the California Legislature and has been signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger today. What seemed like a daily soap opera unfolded to get us to this point including a Senate Republican Caucus coup ousting its leader, state worker furloughs battled in court, the single longest Senate floor session in California history (45.5 hours), and warnings of 20,000 state worker layoffs.

In the early morning of Thursday, February 19, three Republican Senators joined all Democrats in the Senate to support the budget package, while seven Republican Assembly Members joined all Democrats in the Assembly to pass the budget, with the required 2/3rds majority.

The total shortfall projected in the Governor's January budget is $39.56 billion ($41.7 billion assuming a $2.1 billion reserve). With a combination of deep expenditure reductions and new revenues, it is believed that this 17- month budget will help solve California’s $39.56 billion fiscal shortfall.

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