A California Republican provided the final vote necessary to end the impasse over a state budget proposal today. Republican lawmakers had been almost unanimously against the budget plan because of its drastic increase in taxes. One Senator changed his mind after several changes were made, including removing a gas-tax increase from the proposal. The session that finally ended in the proposal passing lasted 45 and a half hours. California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is expected to sign the budget by this weekend. For public workers in California, that means two less state holidays, changes in overtime, and multiple furloughs ? all of which will contribute to savings of $1.4 billion.
See "California Senate, Assembly Send Budget to Schwarzenegger", Stu Woo, The Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2009