PolitiCal

February 19, 2010 | 6:04 pm

Democrats are preparing to move their $5-billion deficit reduction package to the governor’s desk as soon as Monday, with floor votes scheduled in both the Senate and Assembly.

A linchpin of the plan is a raid of public transit money. It includes a provision for local governments to make up the gap by raising fuel taxes on their own. The proposal also calls for a delay in certain tax breaks for large corporations that were passed as part of last year’s budget compromise.

Many of the proposals can be passed by a simple majority vote and will not need Republican support. Other provisions, like Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $200-million proposal to create a new property tax to pay for emergency response services, would need support from two-thirds of the members of each house before going to the governor’s desk.

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