Capri & Clay - Even though the legislature had a week off for spring break, April was extremely busy in Sacramento with the deadline for policy committees to hear all fiscal bills that were introduced in the house of origin. May 7th is the last day for policy committees to hear and report non-fiscal bills. May 28th will be the last day for fiscal committees to meet and we should have a better idea then as to how many bills will continue to move through the legislative process versus how many remain in fiscal committee due to cost constraints on the state.

We have heard from the Controller’s office that revenues for April were down from previous reports. According to the Controller’s information, the State has collected $6.9 billion in the month of April, which is short of the projected $10.2 billion by the Governor’s office. Not surprising, the state remains in a fiscal crisis and as in years past, we anticipate a long summer of budget negotiations.

Other news is that the Assembly and Senate finally approved the nomination of Abel Maldonado for Lieutenant Governor. He was sworn into the position late last week. This means there is a vacant seat in the Senate, which could also effect the summer budget negotiations.