Free Republic

Regulation: Ignoring the first rule of holes, a bankrupt state passing out IOUs welcomes an EPA waiver allowing it to further kill its economy. Too bad the state can't stop the air pollution imported from a growing China. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday granted California its long-standing request — denied by the Bush administration — for a waiver to allow it to impose even more stringent air pollution rules than currently required by the federal government.The way is now clear for implementation of a 2002 state law requiring new cars to increase their fuel economy 40% by 2016....

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency to address California's deficit and has ordered state offices closed three days a month to save cash. The Legislature will have 45 days to send him a plan to balance the state's budget, which ended the fiscal year with a $24.3 billion deficit. The shortfall is expected to grow by $7 billion because the Legislature did not enact several stopgap measures Tuesday. If lawmakers fail to act within the 45 days, they cannot adjourn or act on other bills until they solve the crisis.

Villaraigosa calls on City Council to declare a fiscal emergency In light of L.A.'s $529-million budget deficit, the mayor seeks the authority to layoff and furlough thousands of city workers. The council is to consider the matter later this week. By Phil Willon May 12, 2009 With Los Angeles facing a $529-million budget deficit, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Tuesday urged the City Council to declare a fiscal emergency that would grant him the authority to layoff and furlough thousands of city workers. The request signals a more hard-line tack by the mayor to win salary and benefit concessions from the...

(12-01) 16:38 PST Sacramento, CA (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency on Monday and called lawmakers into a special budget session, warning that California was in danger of running out of daily operating cash within two months. The special session will force the new Legislature to get to work immediately and figure out a way to solve the $11.2 billion budget deficit in the current fiscal year. The governor's declaration came just days after a previous special session with the outgoing class of lawmakers failed to produce a compromise. Unless budget corrections are made quickly, the state...

California could become the first state in the American union to go broke after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger warned it is heading for a "fiscal disaster" as a result of the global financial crisis.Mr Schwarzenegger has declared California to be in a fiscal emergency and called for the state's politicians to work together in a special legislative session to reduce its growing $11bn (£7.4bn) deficit. That deficit is projected to grow to $28bn over the next 18 months, and the Republican Governor wants politicians from all sides of the divide to work together in order to ensure the state does not...

Sacramento, CA (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was expected to declare a fiscal emergency on Monday and call lawmakers into a special session to address California's $11.2 billion budget deficit. California's revenue gap is expected to hit $28 billion over the next 19 months unless the governor and lawmakers take bold steps. Schwarzenegger and Democrats have proposed a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts, but Republican lawmakers have remained steadfast in their refusal to raise taxes. Unless budget corrections are made quickly, the state is likely to run out of cash in February. Lawmakers failed to reach a compromise...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today he plans to declare a fiscal emergency next month in the face of a $14 billion budget shortfall, clearing the way for his administration and lawmakers to make immediate mid-year spending cuts in state services. The governor, during a speech about health care in Long Beach, said the fiscal pain would be spread "across the board" but that passage of a long-awaited, health-care reform plan in the meantime would ease impacts on the poor who depend on Medi-Cal, government-subsidized health insurance. "We are going to call this January for a fiscal emergency when...