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Prop. 58 effectively would repeal the 1998 Proposition 227 that required English language learners in California schools be taught largely in English only Language Immersion programs are the optimal approach to learn a language. This is never more evident than in the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, a Department of Defense educational and research institution which provides linguistic and cultural instruction. They use classroom teaching as well as immersion techniques for maximum results. Immersion is also the best way to assimilate immigrants into any culture. California Proposition 58, “Non-English Languages Allowed in Public Education” would put an end to...

Sir Walter Scott wasn't writing about politics when he sagely observed two centuries ago, "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." But he could have been – and his poetry perfectly describes the ironic consequences of two deceptive California ballot measures drafted by Democratic politicians and their allies. Last week, state Controller John Chiang invoked the intertwined provisions of the two measures, 2004's Proposition 58 and last year's Proposition 25, to cut off salaries and expense payments of state legislators because they failed to pass a balanced budget by the June 15 constitutional deadline....

In 2004, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger barnstormed around the state for Proposition 58, using an oversized credit card as a prop and vowing that it was time for the state to "tear up its credit card." Now Attorney General Jerry Brown has concluded that Assembly Democrats' plan to borrow billions to help ease the state's $19.1 billion deficit could be deemed illegal under that ballot measure if challenged in court. "We conclude that a court could reasonably determine that the proposed transaction violates Proposition 58," the attorney general's office said in a letter to Schwarzenegger's legal affairs secretary. Assembly Speaker John...

Sacramento - -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that the state's deficit has grown by $2 billion - to $26.3 billion due to the Legislature's failure to pass a comprehensive solution to solve the state's shortfall. The Republican governor also declared a fiscal emergency, citing the Legislature's inability to pass a plan by last night's midnight deadline. The fiscal emergency means that under Proposition 58, lawmakers will have 45 days to adopt a plan to close the deficit.

The Golden State had a recall almost five years ago. California had a huge budget deficit at the time and soon-to-be-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was promising to “cut up the credit card.” By the March 2004 primary, Schwarzenegger, by then governor, was promoting the passage of ballot Propositions 57 and 58. Prop. 57 was a $15 billion deficit bond designed to refinance the short-term debt California incurred under Democratic Gov. Gray Davis (with a few billion left over for future needs, the last $3 billion of which was borrowed a few months ago). Prop. 58 was a supposed spending cap of...

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...

Top Republican lawmakers on Tuesday called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a "fiscal crisis" to deal with California's looming budget problem, but administration officials said such a move would be premature. Sen. Bob Dutton, a Republican from Rancho Cucamonga who refused to vote for the current budget because it spent too much, said the governor should use a special authority voters assigned him during the last budget crisis to tackle a budget deficit forecast to be nearly $10 billion. Under Proposition 58 passed in 2004, the governor could declare a fiscal emergency if he determines revenue is "substantially below"...

Fourth in a series of 10 columns ... (snip) As he took office, the state faced a huge repayment of short-term budget deficit loans in June 2004 that it didn't have the money to make. The proposed solution was stretching out repayment through a $15 billion debt refinancing bond - much like a family's taking out a new home mortgage to cover crushing credit card bills - but it would require voter approval at the March 2004 primary election, so time was short, and Republicans were demanding a tough state spending limit. Initially, Schwarzenegger backed the strict limit, but Democrats...

Early last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recruited Democrats for a bipartisan campaign for twin ballot measures he called vital to restoring the state's fiscal health. In a Sacramento Bee commentary he co-wrote in February 2004 with Democratic state Controller Steve Westly, he said Propositions 57 and 58 would "make sure we would never face another deficit crisis." "Under Proposition 58, California would have to live within its means," Schwarzenegger said. This year, as California again faces a multibillion-dollar deficit, the governor has proposed asking voters to approve another new measure - one titled the "Live Within Our Means Act." He...

<p>By conventional analysis, the stunning and overwhelming passage of Propositions 57 and 58 has placed California on the road to fiscal recovery.</p> <p>The unprecedented $15 billion bond gives the Legislature and the administration the time they need to put the state's finances in order. The stern spending limits in Prop. 58 will give the governor added tools to restrain state spending. The big margin of victory greatly enhances the governor's political clout with the Legislature to win tough reforms. As those reforms take effect and the economy responds, state revenue will grow quickly to absorb the $1.5 billion in annual debt repayments that Prop. 57 will require.</p>

<p>By now, political analysts of every stripe have read the entrails of the March 2 primary election and have divined meaningful information about the "will of the people" as they "spoke" on Election Day. I'm never sure how much any given election actually means, given how little most people know about what or for whom they are voting, but some broad conclusions are valid, nevertheless.</p>

<p>California Treasurer Phil Angelides promised to work quickly to sell a record $15 billion deficit bond passed Tuesday, giving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a crucial victory in his bid to turn around the world's sixth-largest economy.</p> <p>A companion measure that would require a balanced budget and a state reserve fund to guard against future deficits also easily passed. Both measures had to be approved for either to take effect.</p>

A few months ago, they were on different sides in the bitter recall campaign. But on Sunday, two days before another election, California's top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the state's top Republican, stood together in San Jose -- unified. This time, the two parties' leaders share the same concern. Both are urging voters to back a pair of measures -- a $15 billion bond to balance the state budget and a balanced-budget requirement -- they say are critical to the state's fiscal health. ``The main message of today is looking up here and understanding what you...

Universally, polls indicate Arnold Schwarzenegger is highly popular across the political spectrum, and that the state’s voters are largely grateful that the new governor appears to be fostering a more cooperative political environment while restoring some semblance of fiscal sanity in Sacramento. But along the way he made the calculated decision to ignore one of the major commitments he made during the recall campaign: an open audit of the state’s finances. While the marginalized newspapers made little mention of it, voters who are against any and all new taxes and continued lack of financial responsibility in state government remember Arnold’s,...

<p>The following is a summary of the Register's positions on the state and local measures on the March 2 ballot.</p> <p>Proposition 55: No. It would float $12.3 billion in bonds to upgrade and build new classrooms for K-12 schools, the community colleges and the Cal State and UC systems. It's more debt, costing about $823 million a year to pay off over 30 years, for a state that can't balance its budget now.</p>

<p>Given the latest polls, there's a fair chance that, come Tuesday, California voters will approve Proposition 57, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion deficit bond, and reject Proposition 55, the $12.3 billion school construction and repair bond that appears on the same ballot.</p>

<p>Contrary to the contentions made in the Register's Feb. 17 editorial ["Proposition package fails the test"], Propositions 57 and 58 are essential to the stability of California's state finances. Over the past four years, the state budget has been woefully mismanaged. We are now at a crossroad. The choices are daunting. To pay for the $13.1 billion debt the last two budgets have left us, we will either approve the Prop. 57 bond or the Legislature will increase taxes on businesses and individuals.</p>

<p>Like doughnuts or deodorant, politics is about selling. And what sells a product isn't so much what the product does, but what the buyer thinks it does. Take Proposition 56. It doesn't really matter if it actually reforms the budget, because as long as people think they are getting budget reform, they will vote for it.</p>

<p>The mall was packed and loud, but Pat Laski hardly noticed. Her governor was late, and she was not pleased. After all, he had called, in a recording, to tell her to turn up at noon at the Valley Plaza in Bakersfield for a rally.</p>

<p>The borrowing authorized by Prop. 57 makes little sense without a strong spending cap, which companion Prop. 58 does not provide.</p> <p>Thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's persuasive powers, recent polls show a dramatic turnaround in the percentage of California voters backing the governor's pet initiatives, Propositions 57 and 58. Prop. 57, which would float a $15 billion bond to pay for the deficits created under the Davis administration, and Prop. 58, which requires the state to enact a balanced budget, are now likely to pass.</p>