GOP ATTEMPT TO BALANCE BUDGET IS GOING NOWHERE

Republican legislative leaders waited until the 61st day of the fiscal
year before presenting their version of the state budget. Now it's
clear they've been silent for good reason: It stands no chance of passage.

The plan does not advance the hope of ending the longest budget
stalemate in state history. But credit GOP legislators: They promised
a balanced budget without a tax increase -- regardless of the impacts
of cuts -- and they delivered.

To replace the $4 billion a year that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would
raise with a temporary 1 percent increase in the sales tax,
Republicans would borrow money -- the approach that has gotten the
state in trouble in the first place. They would issue a $2 billion
bond against future proceeds of an expanded lottery operation. They'd
do so without going to voters, as Schwarzenegger proposed, which is
probably illegal.

They would also generally hit the usual subjects: children, the
elderly and immigrants. They'd reduce benefits for welfare recipients
and cut payments for college financial aid (at the same time fees are
going up by 10 percent), drug abuse treatment and foster care. They'd
increase reporting requirements for poor kids receiving medical care
- -- an indirect way to discourage participation. And they slash the
hourly pay, back to the minimum wage, of aides who care for the sick
and the elderly in their homes. In high-cost counties like Santa
Clara, it would be nearly impossible to find care providers at that
rate.

The Republican plan also would pilfer more of cities' redevelopment
money set aside for low-income housing -- $350 million, with a hunk of
that coming from San Jose -- than Schwarzenegger proposed.

Republicans would build back $140 million to an already bloated prison
budget. They'd eliminate an early release program for nonviolent
offenders -- a sensible reform aimed at relieving prison crowding.

The Republicans have some good ideas, too, like paring $1 million in
furnishings for the controller and putting off a museum expansion. But
they're minuscule compared with the hardship of cuts and the burden of
future debt.

It's inaccurate to describe the Republican and Democratic budgets as
bookends, with Schwarzenegger's budget midway in between. The
Republican budget is off the shelf -- an exercise in obstinacy based
on anti-tax ideology that is the main obstacle to compromise.