A crowd of legislative leaders and tourists looked on as Governor Schwarzenegger signed the 131 billion dollar budget under the Capitol Rotunda:

“We put politics aside here and we were driven by one overwhelming desire to do what is best for the people of California.”

Schwarzenegger used his line item veto power to eliminate 112 million dollars in spending on things like air pollution cleanup, court interpreters, and local trauma care.  Alluding to the earlier cooperation on a major public works bond measure, Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez said the tone is very different at the Capitol these days:

“I think there’s a certain level of polticial maturity by the legislative leadership and the Governor that’s being expressed and has been expressed for the last several months.”

Nunez noted he’s especially pleased to have the budget done on time, since he’s now headed to Germany to watch the World Cup.