Gov. Jerry Brown declares budget talks ‘halted’

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Gov. Jerry Brown said in statement that he has given up trying to get the GOP votes needed for his budget package. Brown’s statement comes after lawmakers approved billions of dollars in program cuts the governor proposed, but fell short of the votes needed to bring before voters Brown’s plan to extend temporary tax increases that are set to expire this year.

Brown’s statement:

‘Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican Party regarding our state’s massive deficit.

The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our Constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people.

Each and every Republican legislator I’ve spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever-changing list of collateral demands.

Let me be clear: I support pension reform, regulatory reform and a spending cap and offered specific and detailed proposals for each of these during our discussions. While we made significant progress on these reform issues, the Republicans continued to insist on including demands that would materially undermine any semblance of a balanced budget. In fact, they sought to worsen the state’s problem by creating a $4-billion hole in the budget.

One glaring example is the taxation of multinational corporations. My budget plan requires that gigantic corporations be treated the same as individual taxpayers and not be allowed to choose their preferred tax rate.

This is the so-called single sales factor. The Republicans demand that out-of-state corporations that keep jobs out of California be given a billion-dollar tax break that will come from our schoolchildren, public safety and our universities. This I am not willing to do.

Much is at stake, and in the coming weeks I will focus my efforts on speaking directly to Californians and coming up with honest and real solutions to our budget crisis.’

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento