Two days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders hammered out a budget deal, the state Legislature on Thursday passed a $117.5 billion state budget with lopsided majority votes and little debate.
The budget increases school funding by $3 billion over last year, spends $1.3 billion more than anticipated on traffic congestion relief projects and returns $1.2 billion in car taxes to local governments one year ahead of schedule.
Schwarzenegger is expected to sign the budget early next week, about 10 days after the fiscal year began on July 1.
