Schwarzenegger’s proposal for plugging budget shortfall stalls

Reporting from Sacramento —  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal for plugging a multibillion-dollar budget shortfall stalled Thursday after lawmakers held hearings but said they would not act before Jerry Brown takes over as governor next month.

The Democrats who chair the Senate and Assembly budget committees each held brief hearings during which they criticized the lame-duck governor’s plan. They then adjourned without scheduling any more meetings on his proposal this month. Brown will be inaugurated Jan. 3.

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Bob Blumenfield (D-Woodland Hills) said the governor’s ideas were “recycled from old white papers” rejected by lawmakers.

“It really looked like a ‘get out of town’ proposal for him,” Blumenfield said. “The proposal is not going to be acted on any further.”

Sen. Mark Leno (D- San Francisco), who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, also dismissed Schwarzenegger’s plan.

“We’ve seen it all before,” he said. “It makes perfect sense that we would work with the incoming governor rather than the outgoing governor.”

Schwarzenegger called the Legislature into special session Monday to address a budget deficit that some experts project at $6.1 billion in the current fiscal year and an additional $19.4 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The governor says the shortfall may end up smaller because of an improving economy. Still, he has proposed cutting $9.9 billion from the deficit by eliminating the state’s main welfare and child-care programs and cutting cash grants for the elderly and disabled, among other moves.

“We’re pleased that his special session is forcing the Legislature to start working on the deficit,” said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor. “If nothing else, they started the process.”

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com