This week the California Legislature is meeting its constitutional obligation to pass a budget by June 15. This timely exercise of civic responsibility would be impressive except for two things: the budget isn’t real, and the only purpose of passing it is to prevent the legislators’ pay from being cut off.

Before a ballot measure imposed that potential penalty in 2010, lawmakers missed the deadline regularly, in part because the budget had to pass with a two-thirds vote. But the same ballot measure changed the vote requirement to a simple majority, and now the annual budget bill passes on the deadline without any difficulty.

However, the ballot measure never said the budget has to pass any test of sincerity, and the annual budget that passes on June 15 is as phony as a three-dollar bill. The lawmakers’ vote keeps the paychecks coming, and then the real budget is hammered out behind closed doors. Since no votes are needed from the minority party, Republican lawmakers are not even in the room. The final deal is negotiated by the governor, legislative leaders, and anyone in a position to influence them.

This year, the unfinished details of the budget include what to do about refunding some of the state’s unprecedented surplus to Californians suffering from skyrocketing gas prices and surging inflation. The governor has proposed sending money to the owners of DMV-registered vehicles. Legislative leaders don’t like that idea and want to send payments to middle- and low-income Californians and their dependents.

Republicans have proposed simply suspending the gas tax. That relief would be fast, easy and inexpensive to implement, and Democrats say it’s out of the question.

It’s easy to see why. Politicians perceive that voters will be happy to receive government payments, but they’d likely be enraged when a temporarily cut tax goes back up again.

So the fight is still ahead over how much money will be sent to Californians and who will receive it. There won’t be any committee hearings or public debate. The final negotiated deal will be “amended” into a piece of blank legislation passed earlier and called a “budget trailer bill.” By the time you find out what’s in it, the deal will already have been sent to the governor for his signature.

That’s how it’s done in Sacramento.

This year’s budget negotiations will take place in the context of both a record surplus and the prospect of a recession that could drastically reduce state revenues. Budget negotiators also face the constitutional restraints of the Gann limit, which mandates the return of excess revenues, as defined, to the taxpayers.

There are many areas of disagreement still to be worked out.

Newsom’s press office put out a statement saying the governor wants to spend $3.5 billion more than the Legislature “to help millions more people meet everyday costs,” and also wants a budget “that pays down more of the state’s long-term debts and puts more money into state reserves.”

For their part, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, released a joint statement saying, “We look forward to working with the governor in the coming days to ensure we have a responsible budget in place for the start of the fiscal year that delivers prosperity and strengthens the future.”

Details to come, eventually.

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