Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget must answer some tough questions

Every May, governors revise their state budget plans and send a final proposal to the Legislature, a process that's designed to ensure that lawmakers use the most current information on the economy and tax revenues.

And it's the economy that will likely take center stage in Friday morning's unveiling of Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget.

Revenues collected from personal income taxes missed their target in April by about $1 billion, according to one preliminary analysis. At the same time, Democrats in the Legislature have urged Brown to do more to fund programs for struggling California families .

How the governor and his team account for the missing revenues will be crucial. California's state budgeting system, which includes a number of complex and sometimes confounding formulas, requires tax dollars to be attributed to the year in which they were earned. That presents a huge challenge in calculating what's owed to schools, debt payments and the state's newly expanded rainy-day reserve fund.

The budget in California is going to be especially tough since SEIU sent out an email this week looking for a 22% raise:

“We proposed an across-the-board raise for all represented members totaling 22 percent over the next four years: a 7 percent increase in 2016, 6 percent in 2017, 5 percent in 2018 and a 4 percent increase in 2019.”

Why does California keep electing this clown?

Because a majority of California residents are clowns....

I agree, to a point. Since the majority of Californians live in two places (LA and SF) it does appear that way, doesn't it? However, I suspect that most California cities are actually pretty conservative.

I think it is unfortunate that two cities seem to guide the entire state, and will subsequently direct their fate unless things change.

Maybe we need more immigrants like Governor Brown Says /s 40% of all workers in L. A. County’s 10.2 million people are working for cash and not paying taxes. It is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without documents.  95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.  Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Media-Cal, with births paid for by taxpayers.  Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally and not incarcerated for that crime, but others they have committed since arriving.   Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages, substandard housing by any measure and dangerous to public health and safety.   The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.   Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal aliens. How does one qualify for this program without being a citizen?   21 radio stations in Los Angeles broadcast in Spanish, which is a strongly negative factor in assimilation.   In L.A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish, and many have no interest in learning English, which is very harmful to them economically.   When this list of facts was published it produced a huge, angry controversy, not because anything was false, but simply that it was published, a behavior that encourages and welcomes despotism. Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States population growth, and over 90% of that in California, Florida, and New York results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens, more than double “their fair share.”  

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