After 45 days without a state budget, Californians wondered how long they could continue to get by in their truly and surreally cashless society. Weariness turned to anxiety when a federal appeals court ruled that the state had no legal authority to continue to pay out scrip for state medical insurance, known as Medi-Cal, to doctors and hospitals that care for the needy.
Responding to that new pressure and the exhaustion of weeks of closed-door negotiations, Republican Governor Pete Wilson last Friday offered up a new budget proposal that scaled back some previous demands but kept severe cuts in education and...