Assessing the Cost of No Budget on a California Legislator

The state Legislature returned from its one-month summer recess on August 2. Lawmakers took a break despite not sending a budget to the governor by June 15 – the Legislature’s constitutional deadline to do so – let alone July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

In the past 20 years, the June 15 deadline has been met once.    Read more »

More

Schwarzenegger Orders State Worker Furloughs Extended

“Governor Schwarzenegger issued an order today directing state agencies to reinstitute furlough Fridays until a new budget is in place. The order for state workers to take three furlough days per month will take effect starting August 1 and continue until a new budget is enacted and the Department of Finance certifies that the state has enough cash to meet its obligations through the end of the fiscal year.    Read more »

More

California’s Biggest Tax Breaks Aren’t Corporate Give-Aways

The change in how taxes are computed for companies doing business in California and other states – the so-called “single sales factor” – approved in the February 2009 budget — will cost the state $900 million in lost revenue starting in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2012.

Republican lawmakers and Gov.    Read more »

More

Economy Improving? California New Car Sales Up 23 Percent

SACRAMENTO – The California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) announced that registrations of new cars and light trucks in California continue to outpace national numbers.  California’s franchised new car dealers saw an increase in second quarter sales of nearly 44,000 units over the first quarter of this year.

Though sales are forecasted to slow during the second half of this year, the market improved 23 percent during the first half of 2010 versus 2009.    Read more »

More

Weighing the Economic Benefits of the “Single-Sales Factor”

Three times through July 16, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has publicly touted a study praising the economic benefits of a change in tax law favoring businesses operating in multiple states that was enacted as part of the February 2009 budget.

The study by Charles Swenson, a Marshall School of Business professor at the University of Southern California, assesses the impact of a tax break Republicans demanded in return for providing Democrats with enough votes to reach the two-thirds majority required to pass a budget.    Read more »

More

State Unemployment Rate Falls Slightly in June to 12.3%

California’s unemployment rate fell slightly in June from 12.4 percent to 12.3 percent, the state’s Employment Development Department reported July 16.

Statistics compiled by the state show the number of persons in non-farm jobs decreased by 27,600.

The national unemployment rate fell from 9.7 percent in May to 9.5 percent. In June 2009, California’s unemployment rate was 11.6 percent.    Read more »

More

Many Reasons Why Businesses Close Down or Leave California

Near the top of the website of California’s Senate Republican caucus are five boxes labeled “Pension Reform,” “AB32 Global Warming Tax,” “California Jobs First, “The Red Line” and “Budget 2010.”

The brief description of “The Red Line” says:

“Weekly report of companies already escaping California’s anti-business climate and the jobs being lost.”    Read more »

More

Examining the Tentative Agreements With Six State Unions

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger touts several recent, tentative agreements with six of the state’s 12 employee bargaining units as “significant first steps toward pension reform and reining in the state’s growing pension costs.”

The tentative agreements affect roughly 37,000 employees, including the 6,660 employees of the California Highway Patrol, according to Schwarzenegger’s Department of Personnel Administration.    Read more »

More

Despite Court Ruling, Controller Won’t Cut State Worker Pay

Despite a July 2 ruling by a Sacramento appellate court and a written request from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Controller John Chiang said he would not reduce the pay of more than 314,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

In its 43-page ruling, the Third District Court of Appeal said that the law requires Chiang to reduce employee pay if a budget authorizing payment isn’t in place.    Read more »

More

July 2: Is a Two-Thirds Vote Required to Pass Talking Points?

(Editor’s Note: It’s the second day of a new fiscal year. The state constitution says the Legislature must deliver a budget to the governor by June 15.)

To which California Republican Party Communications Director Mark Standriff says this:

“Two weeks after missing their constitutionally mandated deadline, the Democrat(ic) leadership has now produced a worthless document void of any details on how to close the growing, multi-billion dollar state budget deficit.    Read more »

More