(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) 27 June 2011 – Gov. Jerry Brown, Assembly Speaker John Perez, and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced during a Monday afternoon “media availability” at the Capitol that they had reached a budget agreement that will not require a single Republican vote to enact.

The measure, which the governor reminded reporters needs to be fully vetted and approved by both houses, relies on $4 billion in new revenues  that the governor says are “already in hand” and other higher-than-earlier projected revenues that could bring in another $4 billion in the coming year, the governor said.

During the 12 minute and 52 second availability, the governor said the budget agreement is balanced and provides “triggers” that would cut education and other vital public services by an additional $2.6 billion if the revenues do not come through.

The governor commended Democratic lawmakers in both houses for making the additional cuts necessary – tough cuts – that balanced the budget for this year. These cuts, he said, included further reductions of $650 million each for the University of California and the California State University systems.

“It’s a good budget, the governor declared,” but it’s not the budget I started with in January or that the Democratic leadership wanted that requires new revenues.”

The governor said it was the best budget he could get “given the fact I can’t get any Republican support” for his proposed extension of some expiring state taxes.

The governor cautioned that the state still has a “wall of debt hanging out there,” and he said this structural deficit is a direct result of former-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to cut the Vehicle License Fee (VLF) and then “back-fill” local government money with state funds.

The governor said he would be looking “seriously at a ballot measure to generate revenue to create financial stability,” an option that was available last March but was rejected by Republicans.

Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg stated that the “agreement [is on] a budget that is balanced and to the greatest extent possible protects education, jobs, and the California economy.” He recounted that Democrats had cut more than $12 billion from the original budget, in addition to $2.6 billion in additional cuts that could come as a result of the trigger.

“Earlier this year, the governor asked Democrats and Republicans to get out of their comfort zones…for Democrats, that meant having to make vital cuts in vital programs,” the Pro Tem said.

He charged that Republican lawmakers had abdicated their responsibility by not helping forge a budget solution.  He said that if their behavior of the past six months should continue, the Democrats would continue to show their willingness and ability to take charge.

“Republican legislators stonewalled the process…for months and as a result we will not be having a special election this year,” Assembly Speaker Perez told reporters.  He anticipates trying to put a revenue measure on the November 2012 ballot measure so that the state can secure the funds to close the structural deficit and pay down the “wall of debt” that has plagued the state for more than a decade.

Democrats passed a budget that will not cause massive layoffs or compromise the state’s economic recovery, the speaker stated.

“There was not a willingness to sign on to the extensions, no matter what we did,” the governor emphasized during a brief question and answer session with reporters.  He noted that he came to the conclusion last night after receiving a text message from a Republican that made it clear that it was impossible to secure the two GOP votes needed in each house to move a budget with the tax extensions.

The governor said the Republicans evidenced “almost a religious reluctance to deal with the state budget in a way that involves new revenues.”  He said despite his proposals to make changes to public pensions, implement a spending cap, and relax state environmental regulations, the Republicans would not provide the four votes needed to move a budget with tax extension language, language that required a two-thirds majority.

The governor warned that the trigger cuts, should they become necessary because  of “over-optimism” about revenues,  would reduce the school year and do other further damage to public education.