Failing to achieve the necessary two-thirds approval on a Democratic-crafted proposal to revise the 2008-09 state budget, legislators closed the book on the Special Session called by the Governor to address a projected $11 billion shortfall in the state spending plan adopted in September. The matter now gets passed to the newly-elected legislature that takes office Dec. 1.

The legislature's proposal calls for a cut of $156 million to the State Transit Assistance (STA) Program, a 51-percent reduction from the $306 million allocated in the September budget. That $306 million itself represented a diversion of 84 percent of available transit funding to cover non-transit holes in the General Fund.

If enacted, the plan would result in a total 2008-09 diversion of more than $1.8 billion in revenues created by voters through a series of statewide initiatives specifically for public transit funding.

The Governor's plan released Nov. 6 called for a $230 million cut to the STA (from September's allocation of $306 million), and the complete elimination of the program beginning in 2009-10. The legislative plan retains the program at an annual level of $150 million. The STA is the only ongoing source of state funding for local public transportation operations.