California lawmakers passed a $92 billion budget Friday to keep their paychecks coming, but they left welfare cuts and other difficult issues unresolved with Gov. Jerry Brown.

◼ link - Judy Lin/The Associated Press via Times-Standard

Democratic lawmakers in the Senate passed the main budget bill that outlines state spending on a 23-16 vote without Republican support. Majority Democrats in the Assembly also passed the measure, 50-25.

The budget and a handful of companion bills were sent to Brown well before midnight, when a constitutional deadline would have cut off lawmakers' pay. But Democrats did not take up any of the contentious bills needed to implement the spending plan because they refuse to make deeper cuts to the state's welfare-to-work program and other social services for the poor.

That leaves more negotiations to come, since the Democratic governor wants welfare reform and a larger reserve to help pull the state out of its projected $15.7 billion deficit. And the whole package hinges on voters approving an initiative in November to raise taxes.

Republicans called the plan incomplete and urged Brown to veto the budget bill.
”Today we are voting on half a dozen budget-related bills when there are at least 29 needed to balance the budget,” said Sen. Bill Emmerson, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. “Despite the spin, this budget is full of borrowing and gimmicks.”

...Brown did not indicate Friday whether he would sign or veto the bill. Democrats would need Republican support to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.