Budget and Finance

Change in accounting rule forces governments to disclose liabilities

State and local governments will no longer be allowed to hide the true costs of the long-term benefits provided to government workers. A recent change by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, known simply by the acronym GASB, forces government bodies

CA fiscal health ranks 44th in country

Josephine Djuhana July 8, 2015

In fiscal year 2013-14, California saw a slight uptick in the condition of its fiscal health, based on fiscal solvency metrics as reported by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. California placed 44th among U.S. states for fiscal health,

Gov. Brown seeks ‘permanent’ funding for Medi-Cal, infrastructure

Joel Fox June 18, 2015

In announcing the budget deal with the Legislature, Governor Jerry Brown announced two special sessions to deal with transportation and Medi-Cal funding. Call them the “special tax sessions.” In the press release announcing the sessions, the governor stated that the sessions were to

Brown prevails over legislative Democrats in budget negotiations

James Poulos June 17, 2015

Notching another victory against Democrats to his left on spending, Gov. Jerry Brown rebuffed party legislators pushing him to add last-minute items to the state’s budget. “The final budget is $61 million more than Brown’s proposal in May,” the San Francisco

Legislature passes record $117 billion budget

Josephine Djuhana June 16, 2015

On Monday, the California Legislature passed a $117 billion state budget on a 52-28 vote, meeting the June 15 deadline to send the bill to Governor Jerry Brown. The Legislature’s version of the budget allocates $117 billion in expenditures and

CA Dems pass budget, forcing talks with Brown

James Poulos June 16, 2015

Challenging their own governor for budget supremacy, California Democrats passed an ambitious state budget with just hours to spare before the deadline. Dueling Democrats “California lawmakers on Monday approved a budget with $2.2 billion more in spending than proposed by Democrat

CA budget deal reached, legislators to vote Monday

Josephine Djuhana June 13, 2015

On Thursday, the California Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review released an overview of the budget adopted by the Conference Committee on June 9. The Conference Committee is composed of both Senate and Assembly members, tasked with negotiating multiple

House obstructs funding for CA high-speed rail, rail authority

Josephine Djuhana June 11, 2015

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 2577, which blocks federal funding for the California high-speed rail and the California High-Speed Rail Authority. H.R. 2577 is the House appropriations bill determining financial support for all federally-funded

CA Dems pressure Brown on spending

James Poulos June 10, 2015

New budget deadline, same budget battle. That could be the watchword for Sacramento this week, as leading Democrats in the Assembly and the Senate labored on a spending plan that could survive the governor’s scrutiny. Equipped with a line-item veto, which allows

CA pension plans prompting tough tradeoffs

James Poulos June 4, 2015

Despite a sounder economic footing, California’s pensions problem has deepened. That was the conclusion drawn by analysts who warned that new accounting rules would shine a startling spotlight on practices long kept in the shadows. “The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is implementing new