Professional Engineers in California Government v. Schwarzenegger

Opinion

GEORGE, C. J.

On December 1, 2008—faced with (1) a large current state budget deficit that was projected to grow to more than $40 billion by the *999end of the 2009-2010 fiscal year, and (2) the very serious prospect that by as early as February 2009 the state would run out of cash to pay its ordinary expenses—the Governor of California declared a fiscal emergency, called the Legislature into special session, and submitted to the Legislature a comprehensive plan to address the budget problem. The Governor’s budget plan included, among many other cost-saving features, two proposed statutory…