An agreement between Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders on a rainy-day fund Thursday came uncharacteristically early in the state’s annual budget-making process, with none of the public rancor that seemed likely only recently.
Republican lawmakers, who had been all but ignored by Brown on budget matters since early 2011, had the numbers to block any reserve proposal. Even within Brown’s own Democratic Party, it was just last week that Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg balked publicly at taking up the reserve account measure apart from broader budget talks.
But on Thursday, following several weeks of private negotiations, Brown and the legislative leaders of both parties announced an agreement on a proposal to set aside 1.5 percent of total general fund revenue every year, plus revenue from capital-gains taxes when the economy is especially robust.
http://www.sacbee.com/2014/05/08/6390920/jerry-brown-california-lawmakers.html