Budget and Finance
Back to homepageCalifornia’s ‘Mullet budget’ – Conservative in front, but liberal in back
June 14, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO – The Assembly and Senate Republicans should have registered their ‘no’ votes on the budget, and packed up and gone home to their districts on Friday, instead of allowing the process to be
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Five CA GOP state senators back $2 billion tax increase
June 10, 2013 By John Hrabe With a Democratic supermajority, Republican votes no longer are needed to increase taxes in the California Senate. Yet in a strange development, five GOP senators backed a tax increase anyway. SB 11 is a $2.3 billion
Read MoreNew public funding plan: Seize home mortgages
June 7, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi With pension costs sapping budgets, governments at all levels are coming up with novel funding methods. The latest comes from the city of Richmond, which must deal with a looming 50 percent increase in pension
Read MoreSan Bernardino facing ‘quick judgment’ on bankruptcy
June 6, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi At a hearing yesterday in federal bankruptcy court, Judge Meredith Jury sounded like she was ready to rule that the insolvent city of San Bernardino could file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection — despite
Read MoreMeredith Whitney doubts CA recovery
June 5, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi California comeback? Maybe not. Municipal bond expert Meredith Whitney was interviewed on June 4 by Steve Forbes in Forbes.com about her new book, “The Fate of the States: A New Geography of American Prosperity.”
Read MoreDavid Crane’s budget ideas spark debate
Commentary May 22, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi David Crane has come up with a tax reform proposal, “Jerry Brown’s Last Chance to Save California.” A Democrat, he was an economic adviser to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, especially on pensions. Crane wants to
Read MoreGov. Brown’s May budget revision balances only by ignoring unfunded liabilities
May 14, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — Balancing the economic realities of the state budget with political influences surely is a challenging task. Unfortunately, in California it is a task which few administrations have managed in recent state history.
Read MoreGov. Brown’s May budget revision still kicks the can
May 14, 2013 By John Seiler Gov. Jerry Brown’s May Revision to his January budget certainly was a happier occasion than for any budget in a decade. Thanks to money pouring in from the tax increases, especially $7 billion from
Read MoreMay Revise preview
May 13, 2013 By John Seiler Tomorrow Gov. Jerry Brown will release the May Revise to his January budget proposal for fiscal year 2013-14, which begins on July 1. These are the base numbers the Legislature will work with as
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