SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Legislative leaders in Sacramento have spent the holiday weekend behind closed doors talking about a potential budget compromise. Some at the Capitol are optimistic a deal could be reached this week.
The Legislature has been in recess throughout the extended holiday weekend, but some lawmakers have stayed in Sacramento with the hope of negotiating a compromise that will fill California's budget deficit, which has grown to more than 26 billion dollars.
San Francisco State Senator Mark Leno said Governor Schwarzenegger nixed a plan that would have prevented the state from having to issue IOUs last week.
KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports
Leno says he refuses to gut the state's safety net.
"Now he has to realize, 'Well, guess what we're not going to eliminate those programs,'" he said. "Now we have to figure out a way to deal with a deeper hole because the measures we could have passed last week can no longer be dealt with because we're now in a new fiscal year."
In his weekly address on Saturday, Governor Schwarzenegger said California needs major budget reform.
"We must change the way California does business," he said. "We must streamline government and rule out the fraud and abuse and we must stop promising people programs and services that we know we can't afford."
The state senate is scheduled to reconvene Monday at noon.
(ewi)
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