Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders announce budget deal

◼ California will close its projected $15.7 billion budget deficit by restructuring the state's welfare program, streamlining health insurance for low-income children, and reducing child care coverage and college aid, as part of a deal Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic leaders announced Thursday. - AP

The governor and lawmakers provided only broad outlines of the cuts and few hard dollar figures, but Brown said the deal met his demand for permanent welfare reform and is enough that he now is willing to sign the main budget bill Democratic legislators sent him last week.

Even with the changes, the state's new spending plan still relies heavily on voters in November approving Brown's initiative to raise the state sales tax and increase the income tax on people who earn the most. If that ballot measure fails, automatic cuts would be triggered; among other things, public school years would be cut by as much as three weeks.

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