Legislative Analyst Cautions Lawmakers About the State’s Economy and Revenue Collections

The conclusion of the anaylst’s Economic and Revenue Update released February 27:

“Economic data currently is providing plenty of mixed signals to California’s policymakers, as they continue to craft state and local budgets in a constrained fiscal environment. California’s economy now is clearly improving in many important ways, including employment growth.    Read more »

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Legislative Analyst: New Greenhouse Gas Fees Don’t Help the Budget as Much as Governor Says

The $500 million budget savings Gov. Jerry Brown says will occur from the fees California’s heavy industries will start paying this year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is overstated by some $400 million, according to a report issued February 16 by the Legislative Analyst.

Lawmakers shouldn’t accept the Democratic governor’s claims without seeing specifics, the analyst recommends.    Read more »

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The State of California Public Schools

Are California’s 9,903 schools better off financially now than they were five years ago?

As the largest recipient of cuts  — something on the order of $14 billion —  in the efforts to close the state’s annual mutli-billion dollar budget shortfalls it seems likely the Golden State’s 1,042 school districts would be a lot less golden now than in 2007.    Read more »

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The Legislative Analyst Takes A First Cut at Gov. Brown’s Very Optimistic Budget Plan

The amount of revenue Gov. Jerry Brown says California will receive over the next 18 months is $3.9 billion less than the Democratic governor says, according to an initial review of his spending plan by the Legislative Analyst.

About $3.7 billion of the difference is in estimates of state income tax collections, primarily taxes on capital gains.    Read more »

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Tax Receipts Down In December — Even Using Gov. Brown’s New Scaled-Back Revenue Estimates.

The state’s revenue collections in December were a net $165 million lower than expected, according to State Controller John Chiang in his monthly cash receipts report January 10.

Sales taxes were $17 million higher during the month than Gov. Jerry Brown predicts in his budget proposal, released January 5.  Income taxes were nearly $70 million lower than Brown hoped and corporate taxes came in $20 million below estimates.    Read more »

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Brown Hurriedly Unveils His New Budget Plan — Five Days Sooner Than Planned

Cuts – mainly in aid to the state’s poor – and a like amount of temporary tax increases would close a projected $9.2 billion budget hole under Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget plan released January 5.

The Democratic governor moved up the spending blueprint’s unveiling from January 10 after it was inadvertently posted on his Department of Finance’s website earlier in the day.    Read more »

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Will the State Reach Its December Income and Corporate Revenue Projections?

More than $5.7 billion in income tax collections and $1.4 billion in corporate taxes are supposed to flow into California coffers during the month of December.

So says the predictions in the state budget enacted June 30, which the Brown administration and legislative budget writers say is already $2.2 billion to $3.7 billion, respectively, short of estimates.    Read more »

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California Unemployment Rate Falls in November

California’s unemployment rate fell to 11.3 percent in November.

Non agricultural jobs increased by 6,600 during the month for a total gain of 211,400 jobs since January, according to data released December 16 by the California Employment Development Department.

The U.S. unemployment rate also fell in November to 8.6 percent.

In October, the California’s unemployment rate was 11.7 percent.    Read more »

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Not Just Millionaires Affected by Governor’s Tax Increase Plan

Gov. Jerry Brown wants his next budget, which he will unveil in early January, to be largely balanced by increasing state income taxes on wealthier Californians and boosting the state sales tax by one-half percent.

The increases would bring an additional $7 billion into state coffers annually until they expire at the end of 2016.    Read more »

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As Expected, Lower-Than-Hoped Cash Triggers $1 Billion Budget Cuts

Confirming what had already been predicted, Gov. Jerry Brown said Dec. 13 that lower-than-expected revenue estimates required imposing $1 billion in additional budget cuts on public schools, universities and aid for the developmentally disabled and the elderly.

But while the reductions won’t fall as heavily ion public schools as initially thought, the Democratic governor stressed this round of cuts, which mostly take effect January 1, is just the beginning.    Read more »

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