Gavin Newsom and top Democrats are deciding California’s budget behind closed doors

By Alexei Koseff (CALMATTERS) – After legislative leaders failed to reach an agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom about how to close California’s projected multibillion-dollar deficit, the Legislature passed a placeholder state budget today, just ahead of a mandatory deadline. With only a few weeks left until the start of the new fiscal year on July 1, both sides refuse to publicly discuss what specific issues are holding up a deal. Newsom’s office did not respond to an inquiry about remaining differences with the Legislature that still need to be worked out. Representatives for Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, who are in charge of negotiating with the governor, declined to make them available to the media today after their members approved a spending plan that almost certainly will not be the actual budget. “There’s a shared set of priorities,” Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat who leads the Assembly budget committee, told reporters following the vote. “It’s more about what are the most effective solutions, what are the programs and services that we think are the best way to go forward versus others.” His counterpart on the Senate budget committee — Sen. Scott Wiener, a...