California ends 7-week budget impasse

California lawmakers on Tuesday ended a budget impasse that had dragged on for nearly two months, agreeing to a $145 billion plan that eliminates a persistent deficit and addresses many concerns of holdout Republicans.

The deal ends a stalemate that has lasted more than seven weeks beyond the July 1 start of the fiscal year. At one point last month, the Senate president locked members in the chamber overnight when a budget bill failed to generate enough support.

"I'll state the obvious: Thank God this is over," Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, a Democrat, said after the vote. "I'm still perplexed why it took so long."

The agreement will free up billions of dollars in payments to a variety of social service agencies that rely on state funding, as well as to community colleges and some education programs.

The deal allows the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to move forward on a policy agenda that includes health care changes and a proposal to overhaul California's massive water-delivery system of reservoirs, pumps and canals.

The budget plan, which had passed the Assembly last month, was approved 27-12 in the Senate with two Republican votes, just meeting the required two-thirds majority. California is one of just three states _ along with Arkansas and Rhode Island _ that requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass its budget.

The plan now goes to the governor, who has said he supports it.

Pressure intensified to reach a budget deal after lawmakers returned Monday from their summer recess. They have just four weeks remaining in this year's legislative session, forcing them to act quickly on hundreds of bills.

The final deal came together after legislative leaders from both parties agreed on the core budget plan and on a variety of separate demands sought by Republicans. Some of those demands were included in separate bills that were voted on simultaneously with the budget on Tuesday.

The most contentious issue appeared to have little to do with the state budget itself. It arose after Attorney General Jerry Brown, the state's former Democratic governor, threatened legal action against cities and counties that failed to compensate for increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by local growth.

Republicans have said Brown's actions would stifle growth throughout California.

An agreement struck Tuesday in the Legislature would impose a moratorium on global warming-related lawsuits. That measure, an amendment to the budget bill but voted on separately, attempts to limit legal challenges against transportation and flood-control projects funded with bond money voters approved in November.

Under the amendment, such projects do not have to account for their greenhouse gas emissions under the California Environmental Quality Act until January of 2010.

Brown said it was never his intention to interfere with the bond money approved last year by voters. He blamed Republicans for spreading misconceptions and false information about his lawsuit against San Bernardino County.

This summer's deadlock was California's third-longest budget impasse during the past 30 years, eclipsed only by stalemates in 1992 and 2002.