San Rafael, CA - Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) has taken an oath not to shave the scratchy stubble on his face until the 2007-2008 budget bill is passed by California State Senate. The budget impasse, which has lasted 6 ½  weeks, has caused state employees and vendors to receive IOU’s instead of checks, and prevented the state from making hundreds of millions in payments to community colleges, school districts, preschools, day care centers and other social service providers around the state.   

After weeks of negotiations involving legislative leaders from both houses, the State Assembly passed a $145 billion budget bill on July 19th that includes hundreds of million in cuts requested by Republicans, and which creates a $1.3 billion reserve – the largest in state history.  Governor Schwarzenneger praised this bipartisan compromise, but was mystified when 14 Republican Senators reneged on the deal, plunging the state into financial limbo by refusing to vote for the budget bill. 

California is one of just three states to require a two-thirds vote of the legislature to pass the budget.  The others are Arkansas and Rhode Island.  A “yes” vote from just one of the holdout Republican senators would secure the 27 senate votes needed to pass the budget.

With the Governor and a growing number of Californians wondering what it will take to get that last Republican vote, Assembly Member Huffman suggests that his “Budget Beard” just might do the trick.  “There’s no rational explanation for their behavior, so maybe something irrational like this will get through to them,” said Huffman, who called his Budget Beard a “lighthearted way to make a very serious point.” 

Huffman points to the serious harm being caused to health clinics, small businesses who work with the state, and agencies that provide essential services for children. “It’s wrong for 14 hardliners – some of whom have never voted for a budget in their legislative careers -- to cause so much suffering simply because they didn’t get everything they wanted in the bi-partisan deal that is supported by the Governor and the vast majority of legislators in both houses.”

Huffman is hoping at least one of Senate holdouts will break ranks and vote for the budget in the broader interests of the state.  “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.  “Plus, they won’t have to see me walking the halls of the Capitol with this scraggly beard.”