California Budget Deficit | featured news

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers failed on Wednesday night to agree to balance the state's budget by closing a $26.3 billion deficit, but officials said talks would continue.

President Obama, Governor Schwarzenegger and other esteemed politicos may routinely distance themselves from the potential windfall that would accompany legalizing and taxing cannabis, but amid California's latest and deepest financial crisis the state Board of Equalization has tagged a whopping revenue figure to such a notion.

Legislative leaders emerged from late-night budget negotiations Tuesday to announce they were closing in on a final agreement on how to address the state's $26.3-billion deficit.

Bank of America and other big institutions plan to enforce a cutoff, making it harder to cash vouchers. To protect IOU holders from third-party speculators, the SEC defines the vouchers as securities.

A pro-marijuana group is launching another television bid to legalize pot in California — this time with the pitch that legalizing and taxing the drug could help solve the state's massive budget deficit.

California's lawmakers failed to agree on a balanced budget by the start of its new fiscal year on Wednesday morning, clearing the way to suspend payments owed to the state's vendors and local agencies, who instead will get "IOU" notes promising payment.

California lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger duel over ways to cut into a $24.3 billion budget deficit or face having to issue promissory notes to cover the state's bills.

California's controller said on Wednesday that he would have to issue IOUs in a week if lawmakers can't quickly solve a $24 billion budget deficit, and the state's treasurer plans to tap a reserve fund to meet debt service costs.

The White House on Tuesday dashed hopes that the federal government would help California overcome a mammoth budget crisis that has brought the state dangerously close to an economic meltdown, saying the state will have to solve the problem on its own.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to let California government come to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep the state afloat if he and the Legislature do not close the yawning budget gap in coming weeks.