Brown gambling on budget plan

Forget about an early deal - Gov. Brown told reporters this morning that a budget would be predicated on voters approving a 5-year tax extension. But that wouldn't happen until June. And if the extension is turned down (certainly a possibility, given previous votes) Brown could be forced to roughly double the $12.5 billion in cuts now being planned. "That will be very painful, but this is the world we live in," he said. "If we don't have the taxes, it's going to be extremely difficult, even Draconian." There are limits to how much can be cut in several areas, especially health services, because of federal mandates. That limits the areas available for cutting. AP's Judy Lin is tweeting that Republican Assemblyman Jim Nielsen calls tax extension a "nonstarter." Here's a link to Brown's budget summary,

By the way, Brown said he had plenty of security.