Calif. DAs Brace for the Worst After Budget Propositions Fail

California prosecutors fear the governor will borrow from a special half-cent property sales tax that helps fund their operations to make up a budget deficit that didn’t get any help from state voters on Tuesday.

After voters rejected ballot referenda allowing higher taxes and borrowing measures, district attorneys “were bracing for disaster,” according to the Daily Journal (sub. req.).

The article quotes San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, president of the California District Attorneys Association. "All of us are going to have to feel the pain,” she said.

California has the authority to borrow about 8 percent of local tax funding from cities and counties, according to the story. Prosecutors fear a half-cent property sales tax that makes up as much as 40 percent of their budgets will be tapped.