Free Republic

A couple of hundred University of California students staged a street theater demonstration Monday at the Capitol, protesting looming budget cuts in higher education and the prospect of higher student fees. It wasn't exactly a throwback to the tie-dyed 1960s; the female students wore high heels and the men coats and ties as they listened to politicians' expressions of support, including a "freeze the fees" plea from Lt. Gov. John Garamendi. But subdued as it may have been, it symbolized the angst that's developing over the state's whopping budget deficit. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposals for slashing spending by billions of...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California can expect a tax windfall for the next budget year that is $2.3 billion more than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger forecast in his budget projection last month, the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office said Wednesday. But rather than celebrate by increasing spending, the governor should instead direct the unanticipated money toward closing the state's multibillion dollar structural deficit, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said. The Republican governor's budget plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1 provides a 7 percent boost in spending over the current fiscal year without raising taxes, thanks mostly to additional tax revenue. Most...

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 17 (Reuters) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's new budget plan would balance California's books in the coming fiscal year but some provisions would cause shortfalls to return, with annual deficits above $6.5 billion well into the future, a state fiscal analyst said on Monday. California's budget shortfall could swell to as much as $8 billion in a few years if Schwarzenegger's revised budget plan for the coming fiscal year is passed, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill told reporters. California's longer-term budget outlook has worsened under the new plan compared with Schwarzenegger's initial budget proposal in January, warned Hill, whose...

SACRAMENTO - Although he has criticized past budgets that did little to cut the state's spending imbalance, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's own proposal for next year relies too much on loans, accounting gimmicks and one-time solutions, according to a nonpartisan analysis released Monday. By withdrawing a number of big spending cuts he proposed in January, the governor has missed an opportunity to attack the state's spending problem and instead would once again push the tough choices into the future, said Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill. "The bottom line is that we've lost a number of ongoing solutions from the January plan, plus...

<p>Even if enacted precisely as prescribed, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal would leave the state with a $7 billion budget hole in the 2005-06 fiscal year and "large operating shortfalls" for the next half-decade, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill said Wednesday.</p>

<p>Sacramento -- If lawmakers approve the budget just proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state will face a $6 billion budget shortfall starting in the 2005-06 fiscal year, double what the governor predicts, the independent legislative analyst said Tuesday.</p> <p>Elizabeth Hill, who provides nonpartisan budget advice to the Legislature, said Schwarzenegger's budget is a solid starting point, but she cautioned that the Legislature should examine all possible solutions, including taxes, when deciding how to deal with the state's finances.</p>

<p>One-time solutions included in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plan for 2004-2005 would leave California taxpayers facing another $6 billion shortfall the following fiscal year, double the administration's estimates, an analyst for the Legislature said Tuesday.</p> <p>The analyst, Elizabeth Hill, called Schwarzenegger's $99.1 billion budget plan "a good start," but said his mix of cuts, borrowing and fund shifts would not solve the state's financial problems and that lawmakers should consider raising taxes.</p>

California's economy has turned a corner but the billions in extra tax revenue will be dwarfed by a deficit that could reach $14 billion next year, Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill reported Friday. In issuing the first cautiously optimistic economic assessment in more than two years, Hill stressed that spending still will outstrip revenues next year and urged lawmakers not to rely on borrowing to close the gap. The state's fiscal problems could be increased by $4 billion a year if Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger repeals an increase in the vehicle license fee, as he has pledged to do when he is...