(Sacramento) -- Led by Assembly Budget Chairman... (more) Added: February 15, 2008 (Sacramento) -- Led by Assembly Budget Chairman John Laird the State Assembly today approved nearly $1 billion in immediate emergency spending cuts and other funding solutions to ease the state's budget deficit. The Assembly passed six bills this morning that freeze funds to schools, cut payments to doctors who care for the poor, and keeps the state from spending hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent funds on a wide range of projects for the rest of the year. A bill that would have closed a tax loophole for the owners of yachts, RVs and private planes was defeated because Republican lawmakers refused to vote for it. Assembly Budget Chair Laird says the spending cuts and other spending solutions will ensure the state doesn't run out of cash this summer. However, he says the ongoing budget crisis in 2008/09 will be more difficult to solve and will require a balance between spending cuts and new...