Free Republic

Republicans in the Capitol have proposed a budget that is balanced – without increasing taxes. You’re right if you said, “That’s going nowhere.” The tax-and-spend Democrats in control in Sacramento aren’t about to balance the budget without counting on higher taxes, and . . .

NEW: But — It’s Still a Phony Budget: The SacBee provided details of some of the changes that supposedly “balance” the budget. One is “$200 million Amazon online tax enforcement.” They actually think they can heist this money even though Amazon has promised it will fire the “affiliates” — some 20,000 small Mom and Pop outfits — that would be taxed. The tax would only affect those who use Amazon’s sales engine, not buy directly from Amazon itself (direct sales are ruled by federal law which isn’t changing). But there were no reforms in the Brown/Democrat budget — no spending...

Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers last month passed what might have been the biggest package of spending cuts in state history, more than $11 billion in reductions to almost every part of the government. But when the next fiscal year ends less than 15 months from now, many of those cuts will have failed to deliver their promised savings. As a result, even if Brown gets the entire combination of spending cuts and tax increases he is seeking from the Legislature and the voters, a new shortfall will likely emerge unless the economy outperforms projections and the state collects...

The Bay Area Council, a business group made up of 275 of the San Francisco area’s largest firms, today called on the state legislature to find a way to work with Governor Jerry Brown, and close the state’s $26.6 billion budget deficit. In a letter faxed to each member of the Senate and Assembly in Sacramento, the group urged members to “embrace the spirit of compromise.” The Council last week endorsed Brown’s plan after a meeting between Brown and the group’s executive committee (see story). Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Council, said at the time that not everything...

The five Republican state senators who have been negotiating with California’s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown have thrown in the towel, declaring that the talks have reached an impasse. In a letter from the five to the governor that was released today, the senators said that Brown had engaged them in talks in a serious manner, but that it was clear he was unable to get what they called “other stakeholders” to agree to reforms necessary to “create jobs, require responsible state spending, eliminate abusive pension practices, and implement meaningful governmental reforms.” The state faces a shortfall of over $25 billion,...

California Governor Jerry Brown met with the Executive Committee of the Bay Area Council and picked up the group’s endorsement of his budget proposal. Emerging from a meeting at the Bank of America building, Council CEO & President Jim Wunderman termed the talks tough, but refreshing and honest. “California’s budgets of the recent past have violated every principle of fiscal responsibility by conjuring up billions of dollars in fake revenues and pushing hard decisions off until ‘next year.’ The day of reckoning has finally arrived, and the only way through it is with a spirit of shared sacrifice and grownup...

Yes, there are plenty of reasons, and here is just one! California gives over and above what the feds give to Illegal Aliens. Yesterday I was at my doctor's office and picked up a booklet funded 'with a generous grant from the Calif. Bar Foundation', titled, "Seniors & the Law" A Guide for Maturing Californians. They pointed out many programs, such as property tax deferment for seniors in financial trouble, that have been eliminated because of budget cuts...but they didn't cut this one! Pg. 3 (click link to see original document) Is there any financial assistance available for seniors who...

Good news for Californians: the state is no longer the most at risk in defaulting on its obligations, according to investment firm Bespoke Investment Group.

California’s special October 7 election on whether to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis ought to resurrect an issue that fainthearted Republicans have too long avoided: Should taxpayers be forced to fund education, non-emergency health care and welfare benefits for foreign nationals living illegally in the United States? In 1994, California voters answered this question with a thundering "No Way." By 59% to 41%, they approved Proposition 187, terminating non-emergency state services for immigration lawbreakers. Eight days later, Federal District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer, a self-professed "liberal" appointed by President Jimmy Carter, issued an injunction suspending enforcement of the law. In...

The enlightened state on America's left coast governed by the Terminator may need a little CGI to maintain its illusion of prosperity. While Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was larger than life in a big screen cameo in Terminator Salvation last week, his budget proposals proved puny and 5 of his 6 fiscal proposals were voted down decisively. In every area, from taxes to social policy to spending to environmental policy, California leans hard left. And now the nation's most progressive state faces a $21 billion deficit that may eventually be plugged by Washington which means, of course, that those states and...

Attend Televised Debate on California's Financial Crisis with Dem Leaders. In attendence will be John Garamendi the LT Governor, John Chiang the State Controller. Event will be taped to be broadcast on KABC-TV. I am going in hopes of putting them on the spot with a question. See website for RSVP. http://reaction.smrhevents.com/rs/vm.ashx?ct=24F76F1DD2AE4EE0CDD880A4D028981091907ABFDA9818CF5AE175767CEAC80BDF417

A state panel this morning slashed the salaries of elected state officials by 18% -- a day after voters rejected a plan by the governor and Legislature to address the budget crisis. Citing pay cuts and layoffs being imposed on rank-and-file state workers, the California Citizens Compensation Commission approved the reduction for the governor, legislators and other state officials elected next year. "I think they should share in the sacrifices that everyone else has had to encounter," said Commissioner Kathy Sands, a former Auburn mayor, after the panel's 5-1 vote at a meeting in Burbank. The commission had wanted to...

On April 15th somewhere around one million Americans protested big government, they demanded that government spend less and tax less. These grass roots protests where laughed at by the present administration, the democratic party and the liberal mainstream media. The protesters were not bi-partisan, they were non partisan. Their target was not one party or another, it was government in general national and local. In the month since the tea parties government has continued to ignore the will of the people, or governments have continued to spend money like drunken sailors and the media has continued its assault on the...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told legislative leaders Monday the state's annual income tax collections are expected to fall this year for the first time since 1938, punctuating a budget shortfall that he said will reach $21.3 billion if voters reject a slate of ballot measures next week. With passage of the measures appearing unlikely, Schwarzenegger announced that he would release plans Thursday -- five days before the May 19 special election -- to show Californians the devastating consequences for government if the propositions fail. State finance officials have been drafting plans for cuts in fire services, prisons, schools and other areas...

Dan Walters: What’s Plan B if five ballot measures fail? ShareThis By Dan Walters dwalters@sacbee.com Published: Friday, May. 1, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 3A Prospects are rapidly diminishing for the five ballot measures that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders say they need to keep the state budget from drowning in red ink. So, one might ask, what's Plan B? Rejection of three measures (Propositions 1C, 1D and 1E) would have a direct impact totaling nearly $6 billion on the 2009-10 budget, which was supposedly balanced by Schwarzenegger and legislators in February. Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor has already...

California voters are fed up. And they should be. The quacks who occupy the chairs in the state Senate and Assembly have driven our state’s financial train to a wreck, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger has broken the tax-cutting promises that transformed him into the Governator. Maybe we should have seen his tag line coming: “I’ll be back — with a tax hike.” Now these jokers are asking you, the voters and taxpayers of this once-fine state, to enable their uncontrolled tax-and-spend binges, just as a friend or family member might enable an alcoholic before discovering Al-Anon. We say enough is...

Dozens of California Senate employees have their pay padded by a combined total of several hundred thousand dollars a year through a little-known method not disclosed publicly as salaries. Sixty-eight employees receive monthly augmentations, including seven whose salaries are six digits without the sweetener and seven whose base pay is $80,000 to $99,000, Senate records show. The padding is not new – it has existed with little public knowledge for many years – but the Senate Rules Committee last month ordered that no additional employees participate in light of the state's $40 billion budget shortfall. Senators traditionally have had discretion...

Senate Democrats Working With Republicans Toward Budget Agreement Though No Final Deal Yet - No Tax Increases, Borrowing or Spending Cap Will Be In Plan With the California budget crisis continuing into its 74th day without a State budget, a possible budget deal is coming together in the State Senate, with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders agreeing on the broad outlines that could mean a budget agreement and a vote on a revised budget plan next week, possibly as early as Tuesday (September 16th). No details are available and nothing is final - and the situation is fluid and could...

Today, Governor Schwarzenegger will release his proposed 2006-07 Budget. In it will be a proposal to freeze tuition levels for state colleges, universities and community colleges; a move that would cost taxpayers about $130 million. Well political columnist, Daniel Weintraub argues (quite effectively I might add) that such reduction in student fees might actually hurt California’s poor and needy. Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com