The June 15 budget deadline

Looking five decades back in time to its beginnings

ACA 9 of 1970, by Assemblymember Robert Crown (D-Alameda), created the Legislature’s June 15 constitutional budget deadline. ACA 9 was approved as Proposition 3 at the November 1970 election (one of 20 statewide propositions on that ballot).

The June 15 deadline emerged from the bitter 1969 budget dispute between the Legislature and Governor Ronald Reagan.  For three days, the state had no enacted budget after the 1968-69 fiscal year ended on June 30, 1969. “It was the first time this ever had happened,” The Sacramento Bee reported, noting the “chaos” and “fiscal crisis.” Reagan rebuked minority Assembly Democrats and their caucus leader, Jess Unruh, blasting them for attempting to add $75 million to the education budget. Frustrated by deadlock, Reagan mused that the Constitution should be amended to allow a simple majority vote for the budget, rather than the two-thirds majority then required.

ACA 9 introduced the June 15 deadline and a new, early January deadline for governors to make their annual budget proposals. The measure aimed to enhance the ability of the Legislature to start reviewing the budget earlier in the year and then pass a legislative budget bill early enough to minimize the prospect of there being no budget in place on July 1. ACA 9 aimed to empower legislators to stand up for their principles against a forceful governor.

ACA 9 took effect in 1972. That year’s state budget passed both houses on June 15. In the Bee, Governor Reagan’s press secretary “said the governor probably will act toward the end of the 12-day period” for the Governor to sign a bill “after a thorough review of the budget items.” Reagan signed the budget on June 22, vetoing some spending. This led to later disputes with legislative Democrats, who attempted to override some of the cuts.

Amended in 2010 as part of Proposition 25 (the majority-vote budget measure), the June 15 deadline still requires the Legislature to pass a budget bill by that date, giving governors 12 days thereafter to consider how they will react to the bill. In recent years, state budget agreements between legislators and governors often have emerged, in whole or in part, during the 12-day period after June 15. An enacted state budget has been in place on or before July 1 in each year since the passage of Proposition 25.