After a three-month impasse, the California Legislature has approved a budget package that addresses the state's massive deficit with billions of dollars in new taxes and program cuts. There are billions of dollars in cuts to schools, healthcare institutions, higher education and programs for the poor.
If signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who helped devise the package, the plan also would raise personal income taxes and the state sales tax, although a 12-cent-per-gallon increase in gasoline taxes was eliminated in the final hours. The gas tax would be replaced with federal economic stimulus money.