Posted on 12/09/2010 4:09:54 AM PST by Zakeet
California voters could be presented with a tough choice by summer under a proposal that Gov.-elect Jerry Brown is considering: Approve new taxes or other revenue in a special election, or live with far fewer government services.
Brown is holding talks with small groups of lawmakers and influential interest groups about how to put that decision before the public. He won't discuss his plans publicly, but people involved in the private discussions expect him to propose a special election after enacting a dire austerity budget in the spring.
State Senate minority leader Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga), who met with Brown this week, said the governor-elect told Republican senators he wants to "rip the Band-Aid off next year" and hinted that a special election was part of the plan.
[Snip]
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mark Leno (D- San Francisco), who said he has had informal discussions with Brown, said a special election "would have to be next June," in time for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
"We are looking at a $25-billion deficit," Leno said. "Voters need to understand what damage would be done if it were resolved with cuts alone."
A summer election would require the Legislature to pass a budget by about March, Leno said months before lawmakers typically reach a consensus on spending.
That plan would probably be marked by extreme austerity measures that voters would have to live with if they did not approve a tax increase or some other way of raising revenue, Leno said.
[Snip]
Brown noted that the budget shortfall, projected over the next 18 months, is larger than annual state spending on prisons, welfare and the University of California and California State University systems combined.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Our inept Rat-infested legislature can't do their job, so we are going to punt back to the voters ... where you can either raise taxes or cut services ... but you can't touch pension payouts for union members
I suspect Mitch Daniels is looking at this as an opportunity to pick off some of the top departments in the universities in the California university systems. Sure they got winter in Indiana, but the school buildings are still open, still heated, still paying salaries.
One does hope he makes sure to demand Secret level security clearances though.
And so the Sun sets on Never-neverland...
I rather suspect that this is just teeing things up for a run at demanding a federal bailout - no doubt that would be handled as a “dire emergency” for which the lame-duck Congress would be called back into session to hand out more “free” money to the socialists and unions that’ve ruined California.
In 2010, CA veered hard left while FL elected more conservatives from top to bottom.
The next few years will make the two states an interesting study in contrasts.
“The previous legislature spent us into a hole and we will have to dig us out. “
“Uhhh....that analogy doesn’t make any sense and you are the previous legislature”
As long as they have ink in their printers they have money.
Don’t worry. They will just raise taxes on the rich. The common people won’t notice a thing! :)
JERRY: You should just do it like a Band-Aid. One motion! Right off!
The unions own California. As long as that is true nothing will be done that will fix the problem.
They can tax 100% of the income (until everyone that produces anything moves) but it will not be enough.
As my tag line says, money is not the problem, it is spending.
It would be interesting to see how many jobs flee the state of California if they raise marginal tax brackets with the “rich” being demonized.The states whipping the “rich” is not the same as the Feds whipping the “rich”.Arizona and Idaho who are right next door stand to benefit by such as California’s productive citizens move those jobs to those states. If I were Governor Brewer of Arizona I would offer to pay for the California referendum to raise taxes. I would characterize it as stimulus funds spent to create Arizona jobs.
We've even had some of the "entertainment industry" move into Northern Virginia, particularly the high tech and cutting edge part that doesn't need live actors.
Jobs may or may not follow capital so you guys could end up with just more unemployed people.
Regarding the major investors, they can keep an estate in CA overlooking the ocean, and as long as they restrict their visiting they will owe nothing more than property taxes.
I think I’m going to enjoy watching Brown destroy himself. Brings back the image of the Buddhist monk in 1963 Saigon pouring gasoline on himself and striking a match.
http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Burning_Monk
I seem to recall that many times over the last few decades (ever since the famous Prop 13, which is the first big referendum I remember), CA voters have attempted to limit how much money the politicians can extort from them. Then they elect far left “representatives” to whom it’s a game to spend on every little thing they can think of, then complain that there isn’t enough revenue to cover “vital services” and use that as an excuse to find another way to tax that the voters haven’t already shut off.
CA doesn’t need a bailout, and the Fed doesn’t have the money for it anyway. We’re beginning to see inflation already from all the stimulus and bailouts so far; how much will it accelerate with more bailouts? Let the state of CA keep giving out IOUs, and then, let’s wait and see if the union rank-and-file members keep voting for far left liberals when they figure out that the promises of generous pay, benefits, and pensions can’t be kept. CA is in dire need of sanity. Probably having potential voters show valid IDs to register and vote wouldn’t hurt, either.
ONLY in math and the hard sciences. I wouldn't want any Cal. humanities, soft science or liberal arts academics within 100 miles of Indiana.
Nuclear physics might be iffy. That field has been infiltrated with hard core commies for decades.
So, you think ol'Jer Brown is going to KEEP WELFARE and SHUT DOWN THE UNIVERSITIES?
Now that the Dems completely control the Kalifornia government, from top to bottom, who will the people blame when it finally collapses in a cloud of IOU’s?..................
The entertainment industry has been dying in CA for decades.
Directors have been doing more and more pics outside the state for a long time. The unions are probably the main reason.
Now, with computer animation, the new TRON being just the latest example, they don’t even need actors, and the programming can be done in India for pennies on the dollar................
I know several electronic 3D artists ~ and they are 20 somethings, or in their early 30s and already have 20 years experience in the use of computers and computer applications, and are trained in all traditional art techniques as well.
There's nothing coming out of India like that. Nothing coming out of other places either. America has the lead.
We should begin exporting TV advertising to foreign countries soon, and if you take a good look at what's going on with cable TV, the actors are disappearing.
Brown hasn’t even taken office and they’re planning big tax increases. While I do feel for the Conservatives still living in California, I don’t feel sorry for the majority of voters who elected Brown. Looks like they will get exactly what they deserve.
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