The November

Progressive Democrats in both the state Assembly and Senate are eager to broadly expand public services. Brown, however, has spent his second go-around as governor emphasizing the dubiousness of adding permanent new spending programs when state revenue is so volatile because of its dependence on income and capital gains taxes paid by the very wealthy.

The governor warns that even a moderate recession could lead to a loss of $55 billion in revenue over three years. Given that revenue plunged $30 billion in one year at the start of the Great Recession, the memories of the budget carnage under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are fresh, especially the huge cuts in K-12 education spending.

But the California Nurses Association and its legislative allies are signalling they’re ready for another full-on push for a single-payer health care system. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, continues to ask proponents how such a system could be funded, given that its estimated annual cost of $400 billion is more than triple the state’s current general fund budget of $125 billion. He effectively killed Senate Bill 562, the CNA-backed single-payer measure, last session, perturbed that advocates refused to offer clear explanations of how it would be funded.

Universal free preschool, health care for undocumented sought

The next most costly initiative on the table is a long-discussed proposal to provide universal free preschool to 4-year-olds. Many Democrats share former Assembly Speaker Darrell Steinberg’s view that it should be first on the list of any new state programs. Steinberg’s 2014 proposal would have cost an estimated $2.5 billion a year. More recently, the Common Sense nonprofit advocacy group has been lobbying for a more ambitious program than Steinberg’s with a price-tag of at least $5 billion a year.

Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco – the lawmaker who so far has issued the most comprehensive proposed budget – wants to spend $4.3 billion of the $7.5 billion in additional revenue expected by the LAO, with the remainder going to the state’s rainy-day fund.

Ting’s most notable proposal is to provide Medi-Cal health care to undocumented immigrants up to age 19, at an annual cost of about $1 billion after smaller initial outlays. He also wants to increase college scholarships, restore cost-of-living increases for state benefits going to the aged, blind and disabled, and increase access to child care. Ting’s plan also calls for an expansion of preschool, but with a plan that’s less far-reaching than Steinberg’s proposal.

Under the California Constitution, the governor must present a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 by Jan. 10. In May, after the state Department of Finance updates its revenue and expenditure forecasts, the governor’s office issues a revised budget.

Brown made few concessions during the last budget cycle. In May, he ignored the then-loud push for a dramatic expansion of state health care, but he did agree to increase salaries for child care providers and to continue funding a joint state-counties program meant to ease access to health services for seniors and low-income families.

By Chris Reed

The pro-gay marriage movement continues to gather momentum, and I fully expect the Supreme Court to get aboard, with a 5-4 opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy upholding a lower federal-court ruling scrapping California’s Proposition 8 and its ban on same-sex marriage. I generally don’t like courts overturning ballot measures, but as a libertarian, gay marriage is fine by me.

But however one feels on the issue, it’s utter media malpractice that one of the married gay protagonists in the case, plaintiff Kris Perry, has a scandalous history that no one ever brings up. Here’s the background from a 2010 blog item I wrote:

“Last week I wrote at my amazement at how Kris Perry was being touted as the perfect plaintiff in the fight over gay marriage. Why? Because she played a central role in a brutal assault on California taxpayers: First 5’s decision to use $23 million in taxpayer funds in winter 2005-06 to pay for ‘preschool for all’ TV ads as First 5 founder/overlord Rob Reiner gathered signatures for his ‘preschool for all’ initiative. … [She refused] to testify at the March 8, 2006, hearing in Sacramento of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that looked into this ripoff … .

Kris Perry: Ducking questions, responsibility

This is from the L.A. Times’ story of March 9, 2006, about the hearing:

“A committee of state senators and Assembly members directed the Bureau of State Audits to perform the fiscal review of the commission. First 5 ‘s executive director declined to answer the legislators’ questions, ‘at the advice of counsel.’ ….

“[Sen. Dave] Cox likened Reiner’s activities to those of former Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush and Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, both of whom resigned amid investigations into whether they used tax money to further their political goals. ….

“The audit also would ‘determine, if possible, whether there was coordination between the commission and the Proposition 82 campaign in the media purchases by the commission or expenditure of other public funds,’ Howle said. ….

“First 5 Director Kris Perry appeared at Wednesday’s hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and said the commission welcomed the inquiry, but added that she would not answer lawmakers’ questions ‘at the advice of counsel.’

“Sen. Chuck Poochigian (R-Fresno), a member of the audit committee …, said Perry’s refusal “elevates my concern about charges of wrongdoing.”

First 5 emails were also deleted; media don’t care

As I wrote back in 2010:

“Perry and Reiner aren’t just ripoff artists. They’re sanctimonious ripoff artists who think they hold the high ground even though they used $23 million in taxpayer money for a political campaign. Pathetic.”

And the coverup didn’t just involve Perry’s refusal to testify. Emails of key officials were also deleted, as I wrote about in 2010. Nexis indicates I’m the only one who ever wrote about this possibly criminal activity. WTG, Sacramento media.

Kris Perry is a hero to some. To me, she’s just another shady public official — as well as a symbol of how poorly California journalists cover scandals when they sympathize with the alleged good intentions of the scandalous officials.