George Skelton: Sacramento lawmakers aren't fooling anyone with California's budget charade
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Legislature has passed another so-called on-time state budget. Wink, wink. It's barely a half-baked budget.
Voters in 2010 passed a ballot measure that required lawmakers to adopt an annual budget by June 15 or they wouldn't be paid.
Ever since, they've followed the letter of the law, but not the spirit. On party-line votes, they've passed the broad outline of a budget before their deadline, but without the needed details on many disputed items.
In the Capitol, it's dubbed the "paycheck" budget.
The negotiated nitty-gritty comes later
