Budget and Finance

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Will State Pay For Special Elections?

JAN 14, 2011 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO The best current estimated cost for Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed special election on whether to extend tax hikes another five years is roughly $70 million. Given recent history, counties across the state will have

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'Ideal' State Budget Forecast

JAN. 14, 2011 By KATY GRIMES On Thursday the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees got a dose of happy budget talk, and a hopeful economic prognosis, from the state’s Finance Department. But not everyone was buying the rosy outlook. Newly

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Brown Refuses Minor Pension Reforms

JAN. 14, 2011 By STEVEN GREENHUT Gov. Jerry Brown is coming into office with a lot of highly publicized and some praiseworthy activity, as he pushes ahead what he calls an honest budget, free from the usual gimmicks, and makes

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The Rube Goldberg Budget Machine

JAN. 14, 2011 By WAYNE LUSVARDI Governor Jerry Brown’s newly released state budget can be analogized to one of those Rube Goldberg cartoon machines. While Brown’s proposed state budget is a long overdue step in the right direction toward reducing

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Denying The Untouchables

JAN. 13, 2011 As California grapples with substantial proposed budget cuts, many are asking if the cuts  can actually save the state. Instead of addressing the need for comprehensive reform of the historically untouchable public employee unions, and welfare and

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Fed Decision Led To 'Tough' CA Budget

JAN. 12, 2011 By CHRISS STREET Ten years from now university economists will analyze Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s recent presentation to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee as the successful turning point in American economic policy from a focus on

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Tough Talk Can't Hide Tax/Spend Budget

JAN. 11, 2011 By JOHN SEILER In his Jan. 3 Inaugural Address, Gov. Jerry Brown promised us a respite from the “smoke and mirrors” budgets of recent years, especially those of ex-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. So the budget he unveiled Monday,

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Brown Wisely Takes On Corporate Welfare

JAN. 10, 2010 By STEVEN GREENHUT The Sacramento Bee’s  coverage of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies reads like something out of a California Redevelopment Association press release:  “Old Sacramento was revived with the help of public

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Recalling Honig, A Man Of 'Conviction'

JAN. 10, 2010 By K. LLOYD BILLINGSLEY Gov. Jerry Brown has appointed Bill Honig to the State Board of Education, explaining, “I think people can be confident that he has a contribution to make.” That may be doubted, but Mr.

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Port of Call for CA’s Crippled Commerce

JAN. 10, 2010 By LAER PEARCE If Gov. Jerry Brown has any chance of draining California’s budget swamp of red ink, he’s going to need more than aggressive spending cuts and votes for more taxes, as he proposes.  He’s also

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