Budget and Finance

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Old LAO Wisdom

JULY 30, 2010 Oh, what a difference six years makes. We were cleaning out our conference room the other day, going through stacks of old government reports and think tank studies when we found a copy of the Legislative Analyst’s

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Retrospective: A state of esteem?

JULY 29, 2010 A CalWatchdog Retrospective: 20 years after the California Task Force to Promote Self-esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility. By K. LLOYD BILLINGSLEY California state documents do not generally fly off the shelves but 20 years ago the

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More furloughs, but no budget

JULY 29, 2010 By KATY GRIMES Faced with a $19.1 billion state deficit and no acceptable budget in the works, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reinstated furloughs for state workers on Wednesday. In an executive order declaring a fiscal emergency, the governor

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Admin costs crowd out teaching

JULY 26, 2010 By JOHN SEILER A revealing new study shows that in recent years increases in the administrative costs of California’s K-12 schools have squeezed salaries for teachers. It shines a powerful searchlight on exactly what goes on in

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36,000 Entertainment Jobs Leave State

JULY 23, 2010 By LAURA SUCHESKI While some have admitted to themselves that companies are actually leaving the state and not coming back, few are convinced that California’s famous entertainment industry, too, is vulnerable. After all, Los Angeles is the

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Another Taxing Tax Levy

JULY 22, 2010 By KATY GRIMES Senator Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, is sponsoring a tax bill that the California Chamber of Commerce calls a “Job Killer.” The tax levy bill has already passed the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee as

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Do tax hikes fix budgets?

JULY 21, 2010 By JOHN SEILER The U.S. and California economies continue to struggle to push up from the Great Recession. Even as revenues at all levels of government have been hit hard, businesses and citizens complain that, even if

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Dubious suit for more ed cash

JULY 19, 2010 By JOHN SEILER On July 12, a coalition of school activist groups sued the state of California, alleging low state funding and low-performance in the state’s public schools. It cited the California Constitution’s guarantee of a decent

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SF’s other Golden Gate

JULY 17, 2010 I’d been starting to wonder about whether there are any true progressives left in California, until I heard about Jeff Adachi, San Francisco’s public defender. Many people describe themselves as progressive, mind you, but few seem to

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Arnold vs the state constitution

Evelyn B Stacey: In his most recent weekly radio address, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced proposals to eliminate the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction and to reconsider the roles of the Board of Equalization and Franchise Tax Board as

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