Textbook Grassroots Canvassing — at the School District Level

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No Election June 7, Says Jerry Brown at Budget Bills Signing

Governor Jerry Brown said March 24 that it is too late to call an election for June 7 to vote on his proposed five-year extension of more than $12 billion in taxes set to expire this year.

Brown made the remark at a Capitol ceremony in which he rapidly signed 13 budget-related bills aimed at reducing what the Democratic governor says is a $26.6 billion gap between revenue and state spending commitments.    Read more »

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Do Four Budget-Related Tax Law Changes Save $335 million?

The package of budget-related measures the Democratic majority Legislature sent to Gov. Jerry Brown March 17 contains a bill lawmakers say “includes changes that result in $335 million of budget solutions.”

That much savings appears elusive, at least from reading the analysis of the bill, SB 86.

At the conclusion of the five-page analysis, which guided lawmakers in understanding the bill’s contents, appears this paragraph:

“The total combined fiscal impact of all the provisions in this bill results in additional general fund revenues of $280 million in 2010-11 and $56.5 million in 2011-12.”    Read more »

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Lawmakers Pass a Budget But Key Pieces Are Still Unresolved

Over Republican opposition, Democratic lawmakers passed a bill authorizing a $123 billion state budget and other measures aimed at reducing state spending by $6.2 billion but did not act on three key measures necessary to balance the spending plan.

The budget voted on by the Legislature is close to that proposed by Democratic Gov.    Read more »

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Not Exactly a Cut But Delayed School Payments Have a Cost

Among the budget-related bills approved by the Legislature March 16 was one that postpones $5.2 billion in state payments to public schools.

Since the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, the state has shorted public schools $18.6 billion that schools are owed under the formulas dictating annual state support. More than $6 billion of the $18.6 billion was offset by one-time federal economic recovery aid.    Read more »

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Legislature Starts to Begin to Commence to Approve a Budget

The Legislature lurched toward passage of a budget plan March 16, sending bills to Gov. Jerry Brown aimed at reducing state spending by some $7.5 billion, about half of the savings coming from reduced payments to welfare recipients, less health care for the poor and scaled back services for the developmentally disabled.    Read more »

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Legislature Schedules Vote on Budget, GOP Still Opposes Plan

Both the California Senate and Assembly have scheduled votes for 1:00 pm March 16 on a $123 billion budget plan that attempts to close a $25.4 billion gap between revenues and spending commitments over the next 16 months.

It’s anything but certain the 20 bills – the budget itself and 19 implementing measures – will be approved since Republicans and Democrats don’t appear to agree on the merits of the package.    Read more »

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State Parks Face a 9 Percent Budget Cut, Closure List Being Readied

Among the proposals made by Gov. Jerry Brown in his January budget that lawmakers include in their spending plan, is an $11 million cut for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

This roughly 9 percent reduction in the department’s $121 million general fund budget “will result in partially or fully closing some state park units and reducing expenditures at the department’s headquarters,” the Democratic governor said in his budget plan.    Read more »

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Subsidized Childcare Costs Will Increase for the Working Poor

(Editor’s Note: Corrections have been made to this post. The total income figures in the chart linked to in this post are not total State Median Income, as the post initially said, but actually the 75 percent of State Median Income maximum for childcare eligibility.  So $3,769 is 75 percent of a family of three’s toital monthly income of $5,025.    Read more »

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February Receipts Drop But Still Up $1.3 Billion for the Year

SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang released March 9 his monthly report covering California’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements in February. Total receipts for the month were $139.4 million lower — 2.4 percent — than estimates found in the governor’s proposed budget.

“After the first 8 months into the fiscal year, we are $1.3 billion ahead of projections,” said Chiang.    Read more »

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