Jerry Brown's state budget plan blows up

Sacramento Bee ^ | 3/30/11 | Dan Walters

[SmithL]

That explosion you heard in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday was the big blowup of Gov. Jerry Brown's plans to ask voters in June to extend billions of dollars in taxes to balance the deficit-riddled state budget.

Brown terminated negotiations with Republican legislators, citing a lengthy list of GOP demands last week.

The governor said he was willing to consider pension and regulatory reform and a spending cap as part of a deal but "while we made significant progress on these reform issues, the Republicans continued to insist on including demands that would materially undermine any semblance of a balanced budget. In fact, they sought to worsen the state's problem by creating a $4 billion hole in the budget."

The blowup, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said, means there won't be a June election on more than $11 billion a year in extensions of temporary taxes, thus leaving the estimated $15.4 billion deficit still unclosed.

So what's Plan B?

Brown has not been specific about an alternative, either because he assumed he would succeed and didn't need one, or because he didn't want to cloud negotiations.

Steinberg said "we will use the power of our majority" and, when asked about specifics, mentioned an initiative petition campaign to place taxes before voters next fall as one option.

Brown had earlier hinted at an initiative, but delaying tax extensions would severely reduce their revenue impact – even if voters agreed. Recent polls have indicated that most voters are leery of new taxes and in a fall election, they would be labeled tax increases rather than tax extensions.

[SmithL]

He broke it, he bought it!

[television is just wrong]

cut services to illegal aliens, and cut pensions to state union workers

[Brookhaven]

Does anyone seriously think a ballot measure to raise taxes would pass?

Don’t these things routinely get voted down by the public in Calif. every time they are the ballot?

And if it does get voted down, what’s the next plan?

[Brookhaven]

The last lines from the article are the most telling:

Republicans said Brown was hamstrung in negotiations by opposition of labor unions and other interests to pension, regulatory and budget reforms.

One of the GOP senators who negotiated with Brown, Anthony Cannella, said, "finding agreement required an equal willingness from the public employee unions, trial attorneys and other stakeholders to join our effort to get California moving again – a willingness that was stunningly absent from our conversations …"

Actually, polls indicate that the GOP positions on pension and budget reform are more popular than the taxes the Democrats want. A fair compromise would have been to put those on the ballot as well and allow voters to truly decide.

[DirtyDawg]

Not a snowball’s chance this passes in an off year election without something like a legalize marijuana initiative on the ballot to bring out the libs

[MichaelP]

semblance of a balanced budget

Are you kidding me?

Mike

[SkyPilot]

cut services to illegal aliens, and cut pensions to state union workers

California's imminent fiscal collapse (and it is coming) is a bit different from any other state. Yes, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin, and many other states are in bad shape.

What makes California's budget collapse unique is:

1. How big it is in terms of dollars

2. The sheer numbers of illegals the state has been throwing dollars at with wheel barrows

3. The massive size of its public employee pension collectors

No other state comes close to California in terms of these three factors.

I expect riots, Marshall law, and chaos - but then again, that can/may happen all over the US at some point.

[rogue yam]

Moonbeam had every opportunity to propose extending the tax increases and whatever else when he ran for Governor last year.

He didn’t, and now he wants Republicans to “compromise” with him by helping him implement his unpopular policies that they explicitly ran against.

The presumption of the leftists is breathtaking.

[SZonian]

Not everytime. I hope you’re not underestimating the power of the unions, the CA rats and the CAGOP to mislead the voters.

The unions have 10’s if not 100’s of millions of dollars to spend in advance of the ballot, the CA rats who own the state gov’t would not put up any defense and the CAGOP will find some way to torpedo any conservative (Howard Jarvis, Tea Party, etc.) effort to put up a fight.

I’m pleased with the news, but not sure that the war is over. The rats will start making voters feel the pain through cutting legitimate and essential services as opposed to cutting non-essential spending and services.

It’s the way they do things here and in some other liberal enclaves around the USA.

[oldbrowser]

Actually, polls indicate that the GOP positions on pension and budget reform are more popular than the taxes the Democrats want. A fair compromise would have been to put those on the ballot as well and allow voters to truly decide.

that's the ticket, Let them put up a multiple choice option on the ballot.

1. brown's plan
2. Wisconsin's plan
3. other
4. other

[getarope]

“temporary tax”-the newest oxymoron

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[Logical me]

California can never really recover. They have chased too much of the solvent conservative Americans from the State. Retires have left for States for Nevada, Arizona, etc. Business have left by the hundreds take a huge tax base with them. The insane environmentalists have destroyed much of the farming in the middle of the State.

California is finished even it taxes are lowered and pensions are reduced. It has passed the point like the rest of Federal Government, they are a bunch of insane fools running things. Riots are coming as the illegals finish fill the State.

[glorgau]

“temporary tax” - in a geological sense.

[To-Whose-Benefit?]

“The rats will start making voters feel the pain through cutting legitimate and essential services as opposed to cutting non-essential spending and services.”

Please Define “Essential Services”.

A Fire Dept that costs SF $3/4 Million, per DAY.

http://sanfranciscofiredepartment.com/Report-26-ARCHIVED.htm

[bill1952]

> The rats will start making voters feel the pain through cutting legitimate and essential services as opposed to cutting non-essential spending and services.

Two sides to every coin.
Even that will not matter - the Laffer curve is pretty maxed out from what I see in Ca, & further increases in taxation will no longer really help, although they will allow a bit more cooking of the books for a little while..

Ca. can’t implode until AFTER the elections next year when I fully expect them to demand federal money.

[blueunicorn6]

The California Democrats just keep wishing that things will get better. There’s the old saying, “Sh_t in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up first.” Old Governor Jerry is standing there with a handful of crap waiting for the money fairies to come and save him.

[Justa]

"I expect... Marshall law"

Yikes, that's some serious action!

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

The budget is due in June, but Moonbeam plans to fix it in the fall. Nice.

We won’t have a budget passed in California until 2012.

[tcrlaf]

Californians really do deserve this mess.

And most won’t get it at all, until the street lights start going out, and the Democrat voters start coming for their stuff.