by Calculated Risk on 7/11/2009 01:41:00 PM

From the SF Gate: State leaders talking again - budget woes go on

California's fiscal crisis continued unabated Friday with most major banks refusing to cash the state's IOUs starting today, the state controller delaying $4 billion in payments to public schools ...

State Controller John Chiang and state Superintendent of Instruction Jack O'Connell said $4 billion in payments to local school districts that were supposed to go out on Friday will be delayed until July 30. The move will conserve cash for the state, which has been issuing IOUs since July 2. ...

As of Friday morning, the state controller had mailed 101,930 IOUs covering more than $389 million in payments, said Hallye Jordan, a spokeswoman for Chiang.

And despite a plea from state Treasurer Bill Lockyer that banks extend their Friday deadline to accept the IOUs, most refused to do so.

Citibank agreed to a one-week extension, while Bank of the West said it will accept IOUs until further notice. The banks that rejected extension requests include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Union Bank ...

And Felix Salmon has a nice chart on who gets paid cash, and who gets IOUs: California: The haves and have-nots

And from Controller John Chiang yesterday: Controller Releases Year-End Cash Figures

“California continues to pay for its history of unbalanced budgets. The State spent $10.4 billion more than it collected last year alone, and is now without enough cash to cover all of its payment obligations,” said Chiang.

“Our major sources of revenue have continued their trend downward, leaving no viable option but to craft a new budget that recognizes California’s recovery has yet to begin.”

Personal income taxes in June were $987 million below (-18.0%) estimates in the May Revision, and sales taxes were short by $154 million (-5.8%). Corporate taxes were $1.31 billion above estimates (41.2%). Corporate taxes in May and June were boosted by a surge of payments from corporate taxpayers hoping to avoid a new State penalty.

The State started the fiscal year with a $1.45 billion cash deficit, which grew to $11.9 billion on June 30, 2009. Borrowed money from special funds provided enough cash to fund State operations through June 30. The Controller faced a large cash shortfall at the end of July, forcing his office to begin issuing registered warrants or “IOUs” to any General Fund payment that was not protected by the State Constitution, federal law, or court decision. Without IOUs, the State would have run out of cash and begun missing those protected payments at the end of July.

While updated cash projections show that IOUs will preserve enough cash to make those protected payments through September, the cash shortfall in October will endanger the State’s ability to make those payments.

Many other states have serious budget problems too.