Free Republic

A lawsuit would limit the information on the website of a pension reform group, preventing the listing of names such as Bruce Malkenhorst, a city of Vernon retiree with a $499,675 annual pension. The suit filed by a retired Contra Costa Deputy Sheriff, Donna Irwin, would allow the disclosure of the amounts of individual public employee pensions. But the recipient could not be named.

SACRAMENTO – Anti-tax Republican legislators, blamed for what will soon be a record two-month state budget deadlock, answered their critics yesterday, proposing an alternative budget balanced without a general tax increase. The Republican plan replaces a one-cent sales tax increase backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate Democrats with $2 billion in lottery-backed bonds, $1.5 billion in spending cuts, and $1.5 billion in new tax revenue. The Republican plan, unlikely to quickly end the deadlock, was criticized for making painful spending cuts and failing to end years of state deficit spending. “We believe our plan is the responsible way to...

SACRAMENTO – Seven years of deficits have left the state budget so far out of balance that a Republican legislative leader is saying that closing a huge budget gap with cuts alone is unworkable. Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto said he remains staunchly opposed to tax increases and is now proposing that the state borrow – possibly from funds for local government, transportation and other programs – and quickly repay the loans with money from bonds backed by the lottery. “What we would like to do is see the state get its spending in line with its revenue,”...

But work on Schwarzenegger's agenda may be overshadowed next year by his failure to resolve the issue that helped bring him into office four years ago in a historic recall election – a chronic budget deficit. The governor entered office facing a $15 billion shortfall in a general fund that spent $79 billion. Avoiding deep spending cuts, Schwarzenegger used a voter-approved, $15 billion bond to plug a hole in a budget he inherited from former Gov. Gray Davis. Increases in tax revenue from a growing economy helped fuel spending since then. Schwarzenegger now faces an estimated shortfall of at least...

SACRAMENTO – State spending under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been growing faster than it did under former Gov. Gray Davis, who was ousted in a historic recall election driven mainly by a huge budget gap. The new state budget proposed by Schwarzenegger would spend $103.8 billion in the general fund, which pays for most programs – an increase of more than 30 percent since he took office, about the same as the boost under Davis. But it took Davis five years to raise spending by about one-third. Schwarzenegger, who was elected in the fall 2003 recall, has done the same...

Californians' wariness of new debt is just one problem facing backers SACRAMENTO – After years of criticism about failing to invest in infrastructure, lawmakers now face questions about whether they are trying to do too much. The Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger placed a record $37.3 billion package of public-works bonds on the Nov. 7 ballot for roads, schools, housing and flood control. BIG BONDS The governor and legislative leaders have placed a record bond package on the Nov. 7 ballot: Proposition 1B – $19.9 billion for transportation Proposition 1C – $2.85 billion for housing Proposition 1D – $10.4 billion...

SACRAMENTO – Mexican President Vicente Fox said yesterday that the U.S. Senate vote for sweeping changes in immigration policy is a “monumental step forward” and vowed that his country will continue to improve its economy so Mexicans will have less incentive to cross the border. His remarks to a joint session of the California Legislature drew applause from Democrats, while Republicans largely remained silent as they wore yellow no más lapel buttons – a protest for “no more” illegal immigration. “It is a moment that millions of families have been hoping for,” Fox said of the Senate action. “This is...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed $125.6 billion state budget moves in the "wrong direction" by using a temporary surge in tax revenue to expand programs rather than pay down debt, Legislative Analyst Liz Hill said yesterday. The nonpartisan analyst said the governor's budget would widen a deficit the state has been struggling with for six years, producing a budget gap of $5 billion to $6 billion next year. "Our concern is that we are expanding spending at a time when we have a significant state budget problem," Hill said. "We would urge using more of the unanticipated revenues to...

SACRAMENTO – A state spending limit backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is aimed at avoiding future deficits, but it is not expected to help close the current budget gap and may have no impact on overall spending for years. Here's why: The limit in Proposition 76 on the Nov. 8 ballot is based on how much money the state takes in, and an improving economy is boosting state tax revenue. Simply put, increasing revenues could raise the spending limit. Schwarzenegger's finance department estimates that projected spending would be near the limit next fiscal year, about $2 billion under the limit...

City and county to feel pinch of irony in refund School districts await half-good budget news SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who took office on a promise to control runaway spending, is learning the hard way that getting the state budget under control is not easy. The Legislature is scheduled to vote today on a new budget Schwarzenegger negotiated with legislative leaders that increases general fund spending by 10.3 percent, to $90.1 billion. The first budget that the governor signed last July increased general fund spending by 7 percent. The general fund pays for schools, higher education, health care, prisons...

If voters reject bond, 'chaos' may not ensue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Davis package would act as fallback if court upholds it By Ed Mendel STAFF WRITER January 24, 2004 SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have a problem as he launches a full-scale campaign to overcome voter skepticism about a $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure on the March 2 ballot. It's not entirely clear that voter rejection of Proposition 57 will, as the governor has warned, result in "economic chaos," "Armageddon cuts" in services, or leave no choice but to "drastically increase taxes." If the governor's bond is rejected, the state simply...

SACRAMENTO – A little-known legal process with a name only a lawyer could love has become a booming business for the state of California, yielding annual revenue that doubled in one year to more than $800 million in each of the last two fiscal years. When the owners of stocks and bonds have had no contact for three years with the banks and corporations holding their valuables, the property is regarded as unclaimed and "escheats" to the state. Search for missing money The state controller's Web site, www.sco.ca.gov, prominently displays a search function that allows residents to enter their names...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may have dropped his original plan to overhaul state and local government pension systems, but he continues to warn of a potential San Diego-style meltdown of the state pension funds. The governor said this week that if he can't push a pension overhaul through the Legislature, he will place an initiative on the ballot next June. "We will continue with that, because we have to have pension reform," Schwarzenegger said Monday on a Sacramento radio talk show. "It has a potential of bankrupting the state, as you can see what happens in San Diego –...

SACRAMENTO – One year after taking office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has cut taxes, avoided a state cash crisis, improved the business climate and is riding high in the polls. But his bid to become perhaps the biggest reform governor since Hiram Johnson, who nearly a century ago led the drive that allows Californians to vote on laws through the initiative process, has stalled in some cases and not yet begun in others. When the Legislature returns in January, Schwarzenegger will again face an issue that led to the ouster of his predecessor, Gray Davis, in a historic recall election last...

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has made improving the state's business climate a top priority, but he has not done the same for two business-related measures on the Nov. 2 ballot. The governor has been putting most of his effort into defeating two Indian gaming initiatives that are far behind in the polls, while the business community is hoping for come-from-behind victories on two other measures. One of the measures would curb certain kinds of lawsuits filed against small businesses, and the other would require some businesses to provide health insurance for their employees. A consumer advocate whose group has...

SACRAMENTO – The new Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the new Democratic Assembly speaker, Fabian Núñez, have been conducting a kind of dialogue in the media about their very different views of state budgeting. Schwarzenegger says it's simple: You figure out how much money you have, and then you decide how to divide it among education, health and welfare, and other programs funded by the state. Núñez takes the opposite view: You figure out what you need to spend to maintain a responsible budget, and then you decide where to get the money for the programs. The conflict will heat...

SACRAMENTO – While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that voter approval of his fiscal ballot propositions means "California is back on track," Wall Street analysts yesterday said it's a mixed blessing that may allow lawmakers to go back to their bad habits. Standard & Poor's, a major credit-rating agency, said the $15 billion bond measure passed Tuesday provides enough additional money to allow lawmakers to postpone painful decisions about spending cuts and tax increases needed to bring the state budget back into balance. Meanwhile, the state's financial picture may become more complicated by a lawsuit to be filed today by 38...

Support swells for $15 billion bond Poll results on Prop. 57 indicate bipartisan campaign is effective Governor gets positive marks in latest survey SACRAMENTO – In a dramatic turnaround, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure on next Tuesday's ballot is supported by half the likely voters, up from one-third who backed Proposition 57 last month, according to a new poll. The results of the latest statewide Field Poll suggest the bipartisan campaign by the Republican governor and Democratic state Controller Steve Westly is working. Schwarzenegger and Westly are promoting the bond measure and a companion balanced budget amendment,...

SACRAMENTO – An initiative on the March 2 ballot would allow Democrats, who have held large legislative majorities in recent years, to pass state budgets and tax increases without getting a single Republican vote. Proposition 56 has been overshadowed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's drive for two other budget-related measures, a $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond in Proposition 57 and a companion balanced-budget amendment in Proposition 58. The proposal to lower the requirement for passing a state budget and increasing taxes from a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to 55 percent could result in a dramatic long-term power shift between the two...

SACRAMENTO – If voters reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure in March, his administration said yesterday, a backup bond plan would be smaller than originally thought and would leave a larger budget gap. The governor's top budget aide, Donna Arduin, notified legislators yesterday that the amount of the backup bond, if it survives a court challenge, would drop from $10.7 billion to $8.6 billion. Arduin said the amount of the bond is determined by the deficit at the end of the fiscal year last June, and the deficit has recently been recalculated to be about $2 billion...