(09-21) 16:55 PDT -- Even as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a spending bill this week to end the state's record-long budget impasse, officials say a crisis of equal magnitude looms next year because of the weakened economy, uncertainties about the use of future lottery revenue and political gridlock among state legislators.

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign the state budget this morning, his office said. That would make the budget law 85 days after the fiscal year began, a record in state tardiness.
Schwarzenegger is expected to veto line items amounting to millions of dollars in spending.

The high command of the California Teachers Association is holding an emergency meeting Monday to craft new political strategies that may include a ballot initiative and a freeze on spending for Democrats. The action follows the passage of the tardy 2008-09 state budget that provided public schools with some $3 billion less than had been sought.

The eroding sense of community of the past thirty years, driven at least in part by the reaction to immigration, ended not only the collegiality but drove those additional barriers to democratic government and majority rule into the constitution. One of their major side effects, if not indeed the intent, was to check the growing power of California's new majorities. Voters who don't like gridlock and ugly budgets have an easy way to end them.

PROPOSAL: The 1.3 million poor Californians who are also blind, disabled or elderly will not receive cost-of-living adjustments from the state in their supplemental security income checks, but will receive a bump from the feds. Funds sent to counties to administer programs including food stamps, in-home support service workers and CalWORKS welfare assistance will be trimmed.