Schwarzenegger: no more legislation until we have a budget

Gov. Schwarzenegger told reporters today that he is not signing any more legislation until there is a budget. With hordes of last minute bills, many of them pet legislator projects, needing to get wrapped up before the end of the summer session, this is not going to be received well.

Locally, if Schwarzenegger is a man of his word, and a budget does not get done in the next two days, the half-cent sales tax measure will miss the August 8 county deadline to get on the ballot. That would be the sad end of a measure that has been tortured to no end by political infighting on every level of government.

It could also spell trouble for SB 1350, the tunneling bill, but that bill is not under the same pressure to get done that the sales tax measure is.

And, btw, for the record, I resisted the urge to go for the expected Schwarzenegger jab for a post title (i.e. "Governor terminates all bills until budget is passed.")