Tag "California budget"
Back to homepageVoters don’t trust state to build high-speed rail
June 4, 2012 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — Californians don’t want to pay for high-speed rail, nor do they trust the state government to build it, despite the aggressive push from Gov. Jerry Brown. A new poll found that the
Read MoreNanny Mayor orders supersize downsize
May 31, 2012 Katy Grimes: In the land of nanny governments, contradictions abound. In California, lawmakers have banned and taxed smoking, tried to ban plastic bags and polystyrene food containers, regulated the Happy Meal, mandated breaks and vacation time for
Read MoreWill pension reform make leg deadline?
May 31, 2012 Katy Grimes: With the budget deadline looming, the Legislature is also facing a June 1 deadline for bills to be passed out of the house of which they originate. In the Senate yesterday during floor debate over a
Read MoreBankruptcy bill stuck in Assembly
May 30, 2012 By Katy Grimes Californians can heave a sigh of relief for the moment; the Assembly did not pass the latest bill preventing cities and municipalities from filing for bankruptcy. But don’t think that this bill is dead
Read MoreState raids tobacco tax money
May 31, 2012 Katy Grimes: A newly released federal study reports that California has not only used very little of the billions of dollars in tobacco tax and tobacco settlement money it receives, the state has raided the tobacco fund
Read MoreAssembly passes bad Cap and Trade bill
May 29, 2012 Katy Grimes: The Assembly today passed the controversial Cap and Trade bill, Assembly Bill 1532, by Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, which would deposit Cap and Trade carbon credit permit monies into a new Greenhouse Gas
Read MoreCalifornia counting its carbon tax riches
May 29, 2012 By Katy Grimes While the rest of the country shuns carbon trading schemes, California politicians continue to embrace the concept, and are forging ahead with a Cap and Trade carbon trading system. But eight states have dropped
Read MoreCA debt much larger than reported
May 29, 2012 By Katy Grimes Reports of California’s debt usually just include the $17 billion budget deficit. But California also owes the federal government $14 billion, and public schools $10 billion. While California sputters under the massive debt, legislators
Read MoreGrowing CA’s education welfare system
May 25, 2012 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — Democratic Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, has been pushing unusually hard to get a tax bill passed, but it’s not looking good. There is no getting around the fact that AB 1500,
Read MoreProp 29 shaping up to be fiscal disaster
May 25, 2012 By Katy Grimes What do stem cell research and cancer research have in common? In California, both health causes serve as money making mechanisms for bureaucrats. Stem cell research In 2004, California voters passed the stem cell
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