Gov. Jerry Brown told Democratic lawmakers Tuesday that he was preparing an alternative to his budget proposal and would present it to Democratic leaders as early as Wednesday.

Brown’s statements were confirmed by multiple lawmakers who attended closed-door meetings with the governor and his senior aides Tuesday. Brown spokesman Gil Duran said the administration had no immediate comment.

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, described Brown as “fairly circumspect” about this alternative proposal, which is expected to include deeper cuts to state programs in place of the higher vehicle, sales and income taxes Brown originally proposed.

Leno said Brown is planning to present the new budget blueprint to Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) on Wednesday.

Democrats said Brown did not specify whether the alternative plan would require any Republican support, but Brown described it as “a vote people could live with,” said Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles).

But all signs point to Brown seeking an alternative that does not require GOP votes. Brown met with Senate and Assembly Democrats on Tuesday. He did not meet with the two Republican caucuses.

The citizens commission charged with drawing new political boundaries for seats in California's House of Representatives, state Legislature and Board of Equalization has extended until June 28 the time it will accept written testimony on its first round of proposed maps.

People have until June 28 to submit written comments to the Citizens Redistricting Commission via email to votersfirstact@crc.ca.gov; via U.S. mail to 901 P Street, Suite 154A, Sacramento, CA 95814; or via fax to (916) 651-5711.

The first draft maps were released June 10 and a series of public meetings throughout the state to gather response to them began June 16.

Earlier this week, the commission pushed its date to release the next round of proposed maps from July 7 to July 12 to allow more time to gather and consider public comments about the first draft maps.

Additional information can be found at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov.

-- Jean Merl

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) said Tuesday that the state controller’s decision to dock lawmakers' pay was “wrong” and would swing the balance of power in budget talks toward Republicans.

“I continue to maintain that the Legislature met our constitutional duties in passing the budget last week,” Perez said of the plan approved by lawmakers last week and swiftly vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

But state Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, said Tuesday the plan did not meet the voter-approved threshold of passing a balanced budget by June 15, the constitutional deadline.

“The numbers simply did not add up," he said in a statement.

Perez said Chiang's decision to reject the Democratic budget plan is "in effect, allowing legislative Republicans to control the budget process and I believe that’s a very unfortunate outcome."

Chiang said that while he had no authority to judge the “honesty” of a budget, it is his job to “to be the honest broker of the numbers” and he said the Democrats’ plan had an imbalance of $1.85 billion.

Perez, in a written statement, said that “in the coming days” Democrats would “be taking additional budget action informed by the controller’s analysis.”

The new fiscal year begins July 1.

RELATED:

Controller says he won’t pay legislators

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Photo: Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles), left, talks with Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) at the Capitol on Monday. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press

California lawmakers must forfeit their pay as of mid-June because the budget they passed last week -- which Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed less than 24 hours later -– was not balanced, the state controller said Tuesday.

Since last week, Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, has been pondering whether to pay lawmakers. They passed budget legislation on June 15, meeting their constitutional deadline for only the second time in a quarter-century, but their plan relied heavily on accounting schemes to paper over the state's deficit. In his veto message, Brown said he could not sign such a plan.

Chiang, who issues the state's paychecks, said Tuesday that it wasn't sufficient to keep their pay coming. 

Voters approved a law last fall that empowered legislators to pass a budget with a simple majority vote but also threatened to strip them of pay for every day the blueprint is late. The measure makes no mention of approving a balanced budget, but other laws on the books dictate that state budgets be balanced.

Chiang's decision is widely expected to spur a lawsuit, and lawmakers had begun questioning his authority over their pay even before he made his decision.

Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said Monday that docking lawmakers' pay would be a "dangerous" precedent. Steinberg, a lawyer, said it would throw out of whack the balance of power between the branches of government.

Governors and finance officials should not have the power to control the pay of 120 independently elected lawmakers simply because they don't like what those lawmakers produce, he said.

RELATED:

Jerry Brown vetoes Democratic budget plan

California Democrats pass budget with taxes, cuts and tricks

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Photo: Controller John Chiang speaks on a panel during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on May 3. Credit: Jonathan Alcorn / Bloomberg

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has filed a federal complaint over the YouTube video that has stirred up her congressional race against Republican Craig Huey.

Hahn, a Los Angeles City Council member, and Huey are competing to replace retired Rep. Jane Harman in the Southern California coastal district. The election is July 12.

Read more about it the controversial video targeting Janice Hahn here.

One of the nation’s leading credit-rating agencies said Friday that Gov. Jerry Brown’s historic veto of the budget plan approved by Democrats would not have an immediate, negative impact on California’s beleaguered credit rating. 

Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services said in a Friday bulletin that “although the governor's veto risks a protracted budget negotiation process that we believe could stress the state's cash position, it is not clear to us that the budget package he vetoed would have averted cash problems.”

The state is not of out the woods with the credit-rating agencies yet. The possibility of “protracted budget negotiations” could “continue to exert downward pressure on the state’s credit rating,” the bulletin said.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

He may not be governor anymore, but Arnold Schwarzenegger's poll numbers continue to slide.

A new Field Poll released Friday found three of four California voters surveyed have a negative image of Schwarzenegger in the wake of revelations he fathered a boy 14 years ago with a former household staff member.

That’s lower than at anytime during his two terms in office.

Perhaps most striking is the poll found the former Republican governor’s 75% unfavorable rating knows no political, geographical or demographic bounds.

Read more about Schwarzenegger's Field Poll numbers.

-- Mike Anton

Photo: Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) sent Gov. Jerry Brown another political hot potato just hours after Brown vetoed the budget plan pushed by Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Pérez (D-Los Angeles).

Steinberg ordered a bill making it easier for farmworkers to unionize to be sent to Brown on Thursday. The measure was passed by both legislative houses earlier this year, but until now, Steinberg has delayed sending it to the governor, who has not said publicly whether he will sign the bill.

Representatives from the United Farm Workers, the sponsors of the legislation, brought former UFW leader Cesar Chavez's chair to Steinberg's office Thursday, and urged Brown to sit in the chair and sign the bill. Brown, who was in Los Angeles on Thursday, said he has been researching the issue and will study the bill closely once it is on his desk.

Brown has 12 days to sign or veto the measure. Brown often mentions his personal relationship with Chavez in public speeches, but has refused to answer definitively whether he will sign the bill. He was asked about the measure again at a news conference Thursday, and again, Brown demurred. A veto could further aggravate relations between Brown and legislative Democrats, who bristled at Brown's veto of the state budget Thursday.

Steinberg, who is the author of the farmworker measure, expressed anger and disappointment at Brown's decision to veto the budget plan passed by Democrats. He has lobbied Brown for weeks on the farmworker unionization measure, but his spokesman Nathan Barankin said the governor has not indicated whether the bill will be signed or vetoed.

--Anthony York

Gov. Jerry Brown said Thursday that he vetoed a rare on-time state budget passed by his fellow Democrats because the proposal as a whole did not meet his expectations for a spending blueprint.

Brown, speaking to reporters in Los Angeles, said that he ultimately may support elements of the budget plan, but refused to answer questions about specific things he liked in the plan passed Wednesday.

“We’re going to get something better. You can be sure of that,” Brown said. He did say that the idea of making online purchases subject to sales tax “a common sense idea.”

Still unanswered is whether lawmakers met their constitutional obligation to pass a balanced budget by June 15. Failure to do so would result in lawmakers’ pay being forfeited until a budget is in place.

Brown declined to give his opinion on the matter. He said he planned to call state Controller John Chiang on Thursday afternoon, and that a decision on whether to pay lawmakers was “really the controller’s call.”

After Brown spoke in Los Angeles, Chiang released a statement saying he would "move quickly to complete our analysis of whether the budget bills passed Wednesday meet the constitutional definition, or fall short."

He reiterated that his office would be required under Proposition 25 to forfeit lawmakers' pay if it is determined that requirements were not met.

“We are awaiting the final budget bill language before we begin our examination," Chiang said. 

Brown said he told Democratic leaders of his intention to veto the budget at a meeting in the Capitol late Wednesday. He derided the Democratic plan as being full of “legally questionable maneuvers” and said the plan “adds to our wall of debt.”

Brown said his action marks “the first time in history a state budget has been vetoed.” But Brown made it clear that he placed the blame for the budget delay squarely on Republicans -– four of whom would be needed to pass Brown’s plan, which includes a fall referendum on higher sales, vehicle and income taxes.

“I hold the Republicans responsible for this,” he said. “We had a plan that was balanced and they blocked it.”

The governor first announced his veto in a press release Thursday.

"Unfortunately, the budget I have received is not a balanced solution," his statement said. "It continues big deficits for years to come and adds billions of dollars of new debt. It also contains legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings. Finally, it is not financeable and therefore will not allow us to meet our obligations as they occur."

The plan was pushed through Wednesday by Democrats under new authority to pass a budget on a majority vote.  It returned to old strategies that have contributed to chronic deficits in the state, with provisions to hike car registration fees and local sales tax rates and force online retailers, such as Amazon.com, to collect sales tax.

The plan would also cut more deeply into higher education, the courts and local law enforcement.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) on Wednesday called the approved budget “not perfect” but still worthy of Brown’s signature.

After Brown’s veto, Steinberg said, “we are deeply dismayed by the governor's decision," calling it “apparently part of some elaborate strategy to force a confrontation."

RELATED:

Jerry Brown vetoes Democratic budget plan

California Democrats pass budget with taxes, cuts and tricks

Skirmish breaks out on Assembly floor during budget debate 

--Anthony York

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown leaves the podium Thursday at a news conference announcing that he vetoed the state budget passed by lawmakers on Wednesday. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles) expressed disappointment in the leadership of Gov. Jerry Brown, a fellow Democrat, after Thursday morning's veto of the budget package lawmakers sent him less than 24 hours earlier. It was a new tone for the legislative leaders, who until Thursday have avoided criticizing Brown.

"We are deeply dismayed by the governor's decision," Steinberg said. It "is apparently part of some elaborate strategy to force a confrontation."

Steinberg said the reality of the situation is that the governor's budget plan relies on GOP votes that Brown has tried and failed to secure for six months. He said it was time to move on. He demanded that Brown make clear how he plans to balance the budget if Republicans continue to stand firm into the new fiscal year, which starts July 1.

Perez concurred. "Over the last six months we have moved heaven and Earth to pass the governor's plan," he said. "When he failed to get the needed Republican votes we did the most responsible thing we could do.... Yesterday's budget was the best hope California had for economic recovery.... We stand by the actions we took."

"Quite frankly, his action is dismaying," he said.

RELATED:

Jerry Brown vetoes Democratic budget plan

California Democrats pass budget with taxes, cuts and tricks

Skirmish breaks out on Assembly floor during budget debate 

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento

Photo:  Assembly Speaker John Perez, left, and Senate President  Darrell Steinberg, center, talk with Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton on the floor of the Senate in Sacramento on Wednesday. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press