Category Archives: Jerry Brown

Budget, Jerry Brown

Think Long Says They Won’t Pursue Their Ballot Measure

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Decision of Nicholas Berggruen’s good government committee means one less possible revenue measure

This morning, CalBuzz released polling data showing the revenue measure of the Think Long committee to be trailing two other measures.  CalBuzz posited that they would probably just go along with Brown’s when push comes to shove. And, well, I guess the push came quickly, as this afternoon they just announced that they won’t be pursuing their measure for the time being.

Therefore, we have decided to proceed as follows:

1)      Continue communicating the necessity and benefits of the Tax and Revenue Reform Plan and engage a diverse range of stakeholders, with the goal of releasing draft ballot-measure language for comprehensive public and fiscal review during 2012, for the purpose of filing the strongest-possible measure for the November 2014 ballot.

2)      In the meantime, a high-turnout election is a terrible thing to waste.  California voters deserve the opportunity in 2012 to begin the long process of reforming state government.  Therefore, in the coming days, we will be announcing our intention to partner with other organizations by generously supporting one or more reform measures that have already been filed for the 2012 elections, consistent with our Blueprint.

My guess would be that Berggruen will write a check to Brown’s campaign and then participate in the gentle nudging of the other measures to the side.

Full release over the flip

STATEMENT OF THINK LONG COMMITTEE FOR CALIFORNIA REGARDING THE 2012 BALLOT, BUDGET AND TAX REFORM AND NEXT STEPS

“Six weeks ago, the independent Think Long Committee for California concluded more than a year of investigation and deliberation by releasing ‘A Blueprint to Review California,’ a list of bipartisan recommendations for fixing the state’s dysfunctional government and rebooting California’s future.  Most importantly, we invited all Californians to openly engage in this process by reviewing our proposals and providing immediate feedback.

We’ve been vigorously discussing and developing a viable action plan and timeline for implementing our broad range of proposals ever since.

Consistent with our collective view that California needs to think, plan and act for the long term, we’ve been guided by the cardinal rule that it is far more important to get our reforms done ‘right’ than ‘right away.’

In the case of two of our proposals – our long-term tax and revenue reform plan and a proposal to establish a new, independent Citizens Council for Government Accountability – we have been gratified by the overwhelming interest from elected leaders in both parties, including Governor Brown, stakeholders and everyday citizens in these bold, broad-based changes.  It is clear from public reaction, stakeholder meetings and our own public opinion research that Californians are hungry for real reform and are more willing than ever to support a sweeping plan that is fair and will put an end to California’s perpetual financial volatility and suffocating wall of debt.

At the same time, we recognize the practical constraints of the 2012 election calendar – and have come to the conclusion that it will take more time to perfect these proposals, eliminate unintended consequences and provide every stakeholder and everyday Californians a meaningful voice in that process.

Therefore, we have decided to proceed as follows:

1)      Continue communicating the necessity and benefits of the Tax and Revenue Reform Plan and engage a diverse range of stakeholders, with the goal of releasing draft ballot-measure language for comprehensive public and fiscal review during 2012, for the purpose of filing the strongest-possible measure for the November 2014 ballot.

2)      In the meantime, a high-turnout election is a terrible thing to waste.  California voters deserve the opportunity in 2012 to begin the long process of reforming state government.  Therefore, in the coming days, we will be announcing our intention to partner with other organizations by generously supporting one or more reform measures that have already been filed for the 2012 elections, consistent with our Blueprint.

We will also pursue implementation of other elements of our “Blueprint” by:

·         Co-sponsoring the California Economic Summit in May to develop a statewide job creation and competitiveness implementation plan.

·         Supporting a coordinated regulatory reform effort – including CEQA reform – that maintains California’s environmental leadership while expediting permitting for job-creating new and/or expanded projects.

·         Forging a partnership with the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, as well as federal and local officials, to establish “plug-and-play” pre-permitted zones to attract new investment to California.

Pursuing reform on these multiple fronts and engaging a broader coalition will exponentially increase our reach, effectiveness and odds for success.

We are extremely pleased by the progress we’ve already made in a relatively short period of time – and look forward to supporting and helping to lead the hard, time-consuming work of achieving California’s comeback.

Because, in the end, Think Long means acting long, as well.”

The Think Long Committee for California is: Nicolas Berggruen (Founder), David Bonderman, Eli Broad, the Honorable Willie Brown, the Honorable Gray Davis, Maria Elena Durazo, the late Matthew Fong, the Honorable Ronald George, Antonia Hernandez, the Honorable Robert Hertzberg, Gerry Parsky, the Honorable Condoleeza Rice, Eric Schmidt, Terry Semel, the Honorable George Shultz and Dr. Laura D’Andrea Tyson.

Budget, Jerry Brown

Revenue Measure Drama

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New Poll shows Millionaire tax fares best, while Brown is forced to re-file initiative

by Brian Leubitz

Not an entirely good news day for Jerry Brown’s attempt to get some revenue in the system.  First, he is forced to refile his measure because of drafting errors:

Gov. Jerry Brown is taking a mulligan, tripped up by a typographical error and forced to re-file his ballot initiative to raise taxes.

The Democratic governor on Friday filed paperwork with the state for “The Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012- ver. 2.” The measure is identical to one Brown filed in December, the governor said in a filing with the attorney general’s office, “except that we have corrected a typographical error that resulted in two numbers being transposed.”(SacBee)

While this is a bit of annoyance for his efforts to get the measure onto the signature gathering process, his team has allowed plenty of time.  I can’t imagine there will be any major issues caused by the re-filing.

The other big news comes from a leaked poll from the center-right Think Long Committee (funded by rich dude Nicholas Berggruen). The results of a seemingly well-considered scientific poll, just published by CalBuzz, show that the CFT/Courage Campaign “Millionaire’s Tax” leads the pack at a 70/30 split.  Brown’s package is ahead by 62-37, and Molly Munger’s taxes for education just above water at 51-45.  Think Long’s own proposal to extend the sales tax to service was ahead 57-30.

I would have to agree with the Buzzers sentiment that Think Long would probably defer to Brown eventually, especially armed with these numbers.  As I mentioned before about Molly Munger, she is a bit of a wild card. Whether she intends to move forward on her income tax increase for education will play an important role in the fall campaign for these measures.

The CFT/Courage Campaign measure has some broad grassroots support, and has received some positive media attention. However, whether the progressive coalition can come up with enough money to get it on the ballot is an open question.

The revised Brown measure appears over the flip.

Tax Initiative

Budget, Jerry Brown

Controller John Chiang Warns of Cash Crunch

Lower than expected revenues and higher expenditures create additional budget pressure

by Brian Leubitz

These are not exactly the figures that the Governor wanted to see right now: Disbursements exceeded projections by $2.65 Billion and revenue was $165 million below the Governor’s latest estimate from his budget proposal last week. That is $1.4 bil below the most recently passed budget. All in all, some nasty numbers.

“While we saw positive numbers in November, December’s totals failed to meet even the latest revenue projections,” said Chiang. “Coupled with higher spending tied to unrealized cost savings, these latest revenue figures create growing concern that legislative action may be needed in the near future to ensure that the State can meet its payment obligations.

With the most recent lower than expected projection for the Governor’s revenue measure, it is looking increasingly likely that there will be even more significant mid-budget cuts to services.  Cuts that will continue to fall in the lap of those who can least afford them.

Budget, Jerry Brown

Future of Revenue Measures Still Murky

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Valuation of tax measure adds to uncertainty

by Brian Leubitz

In case you were asleep for the past few years, we have a revenue problem with our budget.  Namely, we don’t have enough cash coming in to pay for our state’s priorities.  Gov. Brown is hoping to clear the field for his own measure, but it seems he has a lot of work to do on that front judging from the news of the day.

First, Molly Munger dropped half a million dollars on her own measure that aims to raise $10 billion for schools. Her measure raises the entire tax structure in a progressive fashion.  You can read more here, but this is the type of measure that progressives would ordinarily support. However, given the need for budget flexibility, there will be substantial pressure on this measure to get out of the way.

However, Molly Munger is no lightweight. She’s a veteran civil rights litigator who also happens to be the daughter of Warren Buffet’s longtime business partner, Charles Munger.  Her brother, Charles Munger, Jr, spent a bunch of money ($12mil) on Prop 20 to get Congressional redistricting into the commission. Molly Munger has not indicated how deep her pockets on this one will go, but if she’s willing to put up $500K, will she drop the other million or two to get it on the ballot?  As Peter Schrag has said, shepherding this thing through the whole process will be quite the challenge for Ms. Munger.

The other big news today was the joint LAO/Dept. of Finance estimation of the Governor’s proposed revenue measure.  Suffice it to say there are a few problems:

The Democratic governor is counting on a voter-approved tax increase on sales and the wealthy to generate $6.9 billion for the 2012-13 budget. But the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says Brown’s plan would raise only $4.8 billion in the first budget cycle.

The Analyst’s Office and Department of Finance included their separate projections in a joint letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris that is required for ballot preparation. (SacBee)

In other words, more uncertainty for a Capitol building that is rife with it now.  Of course, trying to project the economy right now is somewhere between ridiculously hard and impossible right now, but the $2.1 billion gap is larger than the Gov. would have liked to see right now.  We’ll have to see what kind of contingency plans the governor makes for this extra whole that he now will have to make up.  

Might we see “Return of the Triggers”?  If the Governor thinks that the $6.9 estimate is worth gambling on, the situation ends up being remarkably similar to where we found ourselves last year, waiting on cash to come in.  One would hope that the triggers don’t become a regular feature of our budget cycle, but it might be, once again, the easiest way out of a box.

Or, you know, some other random number will pop out of the sky in a few days and the whole scenario will change.  Heisenberg pretty much rules Sacramento these days.

Budget, Jerry Brown

Brown’s New Budget Slashes Deeper, Tells Awful Truth

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Cuts would deal with triggered cuts and $13B 18 month deficit

by Brian Leubitz

What some are calling a “ransom note” others call the terrible truth.  Jerry Brown’s budget proposal sets a dark scenario for the state.  And yet, somehow we have gotten to the point that a dystopic future with three less school weeks is somehow optimistic.

Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his new budget plan, calling for a painful $4.8-billion cut in public school funds if voters reject a proposed tax hike that he hopes to put on the ballot in November.

Despite the possible reduction – the equivalent of slashing three weeks from the school year – the spending blueprint Brown released Thursday is a relatively optimistic document. It assumes he will have to close a $9.2-billion deficit, a vast improvement over last year’s $26-billion gap.

Half of the deficit would be wiped out through the temporary half-cent sales-tax hike and increased levies on the wealthy that Brown wants voters to approve – or by the schools cuts. The remainder would be eliminated with reductions in welfare, Medi-Cal and other programs. (LA Times)

The plan calls for cutting three thousand state workers at a time when jobs are already scarce.  It calls for additional Medi-Cal cuts, which frankly, I didn’t think possible and might end up in court. And at this point our welfare system is essentially dead.  So, optimism abounds.

Over [in Bloomberg, Dan Schnur http://www.bloomberg.com/news/… a Republican and former FPPC chair, has this to say about it:

“It’s the most expensive ransom note in California political history,” Dan Schnur, a former aide to Republican Governor Pete Wilson and now director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, said yesterday in a telephone interview.

Which is really rather rather funny because how often legislative Republicans have played the ransom game.  Try doing a search on Calitics for ransom note, you get lots of results.  Like this one from March with their 57 requests. Or this one from 2009, where Sen. Hollingsworth wanted to do Intuit’s bidding and get rid of a tax simplification tool. The hits just keep on coming.

But here’s the thing, education is 40% of the budget, and we can’t pretend that we can keep making cuts forever without touching education. Call it whatever you want, but unless we get revenues, it ain’t going to be pretty.  Telling voters the truth isn’t a ransom note.

Budget, Jerry Brown

A New Year, Anything New?

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3 Areas to Watch

by Brian Leubitz

If you care to look, it seems that the Sacramento press corps (all three to five of the hardy souls) have just written either a wrap up of 2011 or a preview of 2012.  You basically get a few points with slightly different order depending on the writer(s), but here are a few points worth noting:

1) Jerry Brown is just Jerry Brown

That isn’t to say he’s any worse than any other governor that we could have ended up with, but that he’s not some super hero who can ride in to save the day.  Even with all of his experience, he can’t magically do Jedi Mind Tricks on the Republicans to somehow be reasonable. I think there was a lot of hope this time last year that Jerry Brown, with all of his experience a generation ago, would be the adult in the room for the bunch of children in the legislature.  But I suppose sometimes the delinquents win.

2) 2012 will be a make or break year for Brown and California generally. Or not.



This is sort of a funny one. Because, really, the same thing has been said about our situation for the last four years or so. Really, ever since the worst of the budget mess began, we have been playing with fire. So, in that sense, yes, every year is really important, but somehow we’ve been able to find some way to make the cuts, cuts, cuts and more cuts into our budget to avoid any real decision-making. Yes, those cuts are a real decision, but more in the passive sense.  We have left the decisions for a few whims of whomever gets the last word at the dais of the respective budget committees, or whomever manages to catch the leaders at an opportune moment.  

They say that budgets are a statement of our priorities. But I hope, for all of our sakes, that isn’t true of the past five years.  Is it really our priority to make the school year shorter? Or to abandon our sick and elderly? Or to cut fire protection services? It is hardly any robust statement of priority when there is a gun at your head.  Our system is so skewed towards one particular priority, taxes, that we have lost all sense of everything else.

Perhaps this is the year that changes that, but from the statements of Sen. Steinberg and Spkr Perez, I wouldn’t expect much from the Legislature. They seem content to wait back for the Novemeber election and to satisfy the budget deficit ($13B-ish) with cuts alone until then.  

“My view is you always have an open door and outstretched hand, but I don’t think we do anything as our main strategy that requires a two-thirds vote,” Steinberg said. “We’re gone down that path far too many times.”(SacBee)

So, perhaps we’ll see a fairly standard legislative year. Maybe something happens with pensions, but more likely, we are in a holding pattern until something is determined at the ballot box with a revenue measure of some sort in November.

3) New Districts and Top 2 Will Bring Changes to Composition of Legislature



At the very least, we will see something new here.  There will, most certainly, be several Dem-on-Dem elections in November. Laura Richardson and Janice Hahn, Howard Berman and Brad Sherman seem destined for some expensive races.  There may be a few Rep-on-Rep, but the numbers and costs will likely be far fewer.  The thing is that there is usually enough Democratic support to get one Dem in a deep Red district top 2, but that isn’t always the case in some of the Bluest seats. Or to flip that, the Deepest Blue is darker than the deepest red.

Now, as to the districts, well, there is still the question of the Senate district referendum.  There is still no word as to whether it will qualify (but expect some sort of word within a few weeks as to whether they will need a full count verification). But, with the signatures out there, the sponsors of the referendum (GOP Senators for the most part) are trying to get some other map more to their liking. The Supreme Court will likely decide on that fairly soon as the SoS needs to prepare for the elections.

There is a very real chance that the Democrats get 2/3 in the Senate (and take away whatever power the Senate GOP caucus had), but it is extremely unlikely that the Assembly Dems are able to do the same. (Cali_girl_in_texas has the over/under at 50).  I’m skeptical that situation would really bring all that much change. Democrats would just be paying more attention to the Assembly. Just a few different, slightly more radical, people in the position of blocking action.

Well, it’s about time to get rolling into a new Legislative year, should be fun!

Budget, Jerry Brown

Revised Budget is Bad, Just Not as Bad as Originally Thought

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Brown’s revised budget decreases hit to K-12

by Brian Leubitz

Another round of cuts is hardly worth celebrating, but Brown seems to have at least saved the 175 day school year.

K-12 school districts were at risk of losing as much $1.5 billion – the equivalent of seven instructional days – under the budget Brown and lawmakers enacted earlier this year. But they will face a smaller $79.6 million reduction in general funding. That should avert massive reductions in the school calendar or other drastic measures for most districts.

“It turns out the cuts are far less than they would have been,” Brown said.

Districts will still face a $248 million elimination of school bus funding, however. Jill Wynns, president of the California School Boards Association, said districts will cut somewhere other than buses because they are mandated by federal law to provide transportation for students with disabilities.(SacBee)

Also getting big cuts? Higher education. UC, CSU, and the community college system all lose $100 million.  Community College Chancellor Jack Scott has indicated that will mean a $10/unit fee increase for community colleges, and UC and CSU will likely see another round of fee hikes.

You can check out a more exhaustive list of the cuts here.  

Budget, Jerry Brown

Pulling the Trigger on California’s Future?

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Director of Finance to hold meeting at noon regarding the “trigger cuts”

by Brian Leubitz

Today’s the day. If you remember back to the disaster that was last year’s budget there was a $4B mystery source of revenue that was basically a cross your fingers and hope real hard kind of thing.  The legislature then asked the Controller (John Chiang), the Legislative Analyst (Mac Taylor) and the Director of Finance (Ana Matosantos) to track how much revenue was coming in, and then if that $4B did not come in, “pull the trigger” on cuts of up to that amount that were already determined.

Well, today is that day, and Matosantos, Brown (and formerly Schwarzenegger’s) Director of Finance has to decide how much will be cut for the 2012 part of the current fiscal year.  Don’t expect much good news, as the Controller’s office already released data indicating that we weren’t going to hit that target.  Oh…and we spent more than we projected.

After accounting for November revenues, total year-to-date general fund revenues are now behind the budget’s estimates by $1 billion, but expenditures for the year are over projections by $1.95 billion.  It turns out that during a bad economic period, people need more services, but in the current climate in Sacramento, getting the legislature to approve the revenues for those services is an impossible feat even for somebody with the experience of Jerry Brown.

And so we go to the people, I suppose.  According to a new PPIC poll, Californians are not particularly interested in a cuts only budget.

A new poll shows 60 percent of California voters, weary of state spending cuts and unsettled by the prospect of more, are ready to support Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to raise taxes. … When asked about those automatic spending reductions, part of the budget package signed last summer, a plurality of likely voters – 45 percent – say they would prefer a mix of spending cuts and tax increases to address the shortfall, according to the poll.

Brown, a Democrat, is seeking to raise the statewide sales tax a half-cent and increase income taxes on people who make $250,000 or more a year. He opened a campaign committee last week, and his political adviser, Steve Glazer, has started fundraising for the effort.(SacBee)

There is a long time between now and November 2012, and a lot of painful cuts remain no matter what happens at the ballot box.  But as we continue this slow motion take-down of the California Dream, we’ll need to consider what our values really are.  Perhaps we really are a state that is only concerned about our present day self-interest, but I have higher expectations for Californians. We can, and will, break out of this viscous cycle of cuts.

Budget, Jerry Brown

Gov. Brown Releases Open Letter with Revenue Plan, Maintains Approval Rating

Instability looms with budget though

by Brian Leubitz

I was going to make this post about the Governor’s approval numbers, but he just made it a little bit more interesting by releasing an “Open Letter to the People of California.”  Quite auspicious sounding, but what it really is his revenue plan.  Here’s the meat of that plan:

My proposal is straightforward and fair.  It proposes a temporary tax increase on the wealthy, a modest and temporary increase in the sales tax, and guarantees that the new revenues be spent only on education.  Here are the details:

  • Millionaires and high-income earners will pay up to 2% higher income taxes for five years. No family making less than $500,000 a year will see their income taxes rise. In fact, fewer than 2% of California taxpayers will be affected by this increase.
  • There will be a temporary ½ cent increase in the sales tax.  Even with this temporary increase, sales taxes will still be lower than what they were less than six months ago.
  • This initiative dedicates funding only to education and public safety–not on other programs that we simply cannot afford.

    • This initiative will not solve all of our fiscal problems. But it will stop further cuts to education and public safety.

    This is basically what we have heard in the past, a hike on the highest earners along with a sales tax, and all of it dedicated to education and public safety.  Red meat for both parties, a little tough on crime with a little teaching.  Or, in other words, this package seems built from the ground up to win on the ballot.  Polling numbers show broad opposition to additional education cuts, and without revenues, those are simply inevitable.  While this package probably isn’t exactly what we would draw up in a perfect world, the California system of government is anything but perfect.  His language in this open letter is political-speak not intended for progressives. It is full of statements about how we can’t afford programs (see the quote above) and how awesome it is that are spending levels are at percentages not seen since the seventies.  

    We could pick at the email, his talking points, and the specifics of the proposal.  But Brown and his partners are building something that they think can win at the ballot, represent good policy in the long term, and help us out of the current budget crisis in the short term. It’s not exactly an easy shot to wrap up those three objectives with a nice shiny ribbon.

    And perhaps he has the juice to push the measure across the finish line.  Today’s Field Poll shows the Governor’s approval ratings pretty much right at where he has been for most of his term, in the upper 40s.  The current figure of 47% is down from 49% in September, but still within the margin of error of that survey.  However, his disapprove numbers have continued to creep up as “undecideds” jump off the fence and create a 36% disapprove figure.

    There are a number of reasons why Californians would begin to grow wary of the Governor, but the budget, as ever, looms large.

    “The public is, I think, bracing itself for additional spending cuts, and that’s never a good situation, either for the governor or a state Legislature,” poll director Mark DiCamillo said.

    With state revenue falling below projections, the Brown administration is expected this month to announce highly unpopular, automatic spending cuts in service areas including schools.  Nearly two-thirds of Californians consider the trigger cuts, part of last summer’s budget package, a bad idea, including majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents, the poll says.(SacBee)

    The trigger cuts were a device of sorts to get a budget done, and from discussions in Sacramento, not a whole lot of people liked them there either.  But they enabled the Legislature to get enough votes from the two Democratic caucuses to pass the odious budget.  However, as the majority budget rules don’t include revenue, we are still faced with the same difficult situation as we had at the beginning of the year: convince a Republican to think beyond the four walls of his own career, or continued austerity. Both Democrat and Republican voters are far from excited on the triggers, but with revenues continuing to fall below projections, they are likely to be triggered early next year.

    Brown’s revenue proposal will help fill in many of those cuts, but won’t kick in until the end of next year. It is far from ideal, but with a recalcitrant Republican caucus it is what we have.  The measure is being submitted to the AG’s office today and will be circulating with plenty of time to get it on the November ballot.

    Read the full “Open Letter to the People of California” over the flip.

    Dear Friends,

    When I became Governor again — 28 years after my last term ended in 1983 — California was facing a $26.6 billion budget deficit. It was the result of years of failing to match spending with tax revenues as budget gimmicks instead of honest budgeting became the norm.

    In January, I proposed a budget that combined deep cuts with a temporary extension of some existing taxes. It was a balanced approach that would have finally closed our budget gap.

    I asked the legislature to enact this plan and to allow you, the people of California, to vote on it.  I believed that you had the right to weigh in on this important choice: should we decently fund our schools or lower our taxes?  I don’t know how you would have voted, but we will never know.  The Republicans refused to provide the four votes needed to put this measure on the ballot.

    Forced to act alone, Democrats went ahead and enacted massive cuts and the first honest on-time budget in a decade. But without the tax extensions, it was simply not possible to eliminate the state’s structural deficit.

    The good news is that our financial condition is much better than a year ago. We cut the ongoing budget deficit by more than half, reduced the state’s workforce by about 5500 positions and cut unnecessary expenses like cell phones and state cars. We actually cut state expenses by over $10 billion.  Spending is now at levels not seen since the seventies.  Our state’s credit rating has moved from “negative” to “stable,” laying the foundation for job creation and a stronger economic recovery.

    Unfortunately, the deep cuts we made came at a huge cost. Schools have been hurt and state funding for our universities has been reduced by 25%.  Support for the elderly and the disabled has fallen to where it was in 1983.  Our courts suffered debilitating reductions.  

    The stark truth is that without new tax revenues, we will have no other choice but to make deeper and more damaging cuts to schools, universities, public safety and our courts.

    That is why I am filing today an initiative with the Attorney General’s office that would generate nearly $7 billion in dedicated funding to protect education and public safety. I am going directly to the voters because I don’t want to get bogged down in partisan gridlock as happened this year. The stakes are too high.

    My proposal is straightforward and fair.  It proposes a temporary tax increase on the wealthy, a modest and temporary increase in the sales tax, and guarantees that the new revenues be spent only on education.  Here are the details:

    Millionaires and high-income earners will pay up to 2% higher income taxes for five years. No family making less than $500,000 a year will see their income taxes rise. In fact, fewer than 2% of California taxpayers will be affected by this increase.  

    There will be a temporary ½ cent increase in the sales tax.  Even with this temporary increase, sales taxes will still be lower than what they were less than six months ago.

    This initiative dedicates funding only to education and public safety–not on other programs that we simply cannot afford.

    This initiative will not solve all of our fiscal problems. But it will stop further cuts to education and public safety.  

    I ask you to join with me to get our state back on track.  

    Jerry Brown

    Budget, Jerry Brown

    Coming Soon to a Ballot Near You: Brown’s Tax Plan

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    Governor aims to increase highest tax bracket and sales tax for a limited time

    by Brian Leubitz

    If nothing else, Gov. Brown is ambitious this go-round.  While his pension plan is slowly simmering in the Legislature, he knows that we really can’t continue to function with cuts-only budgets.  With the impending decision by Director of Finance Ana Matosantos on whether to pull the triggers in the last budget deal, we are looking at billions more of holes in the budget to fill. (And at this point, the only question that is out there is how much of the triggers will be pulled.)

    Brown has mentioned that he will be bringing something to the ballot in terms of revenue, but it seems that there is serious movement on it now.  He’s been meeting with labor and his supporters too work on a plan that they can agree to get on the November ballot.

    In the latest proposed fix for California’s fiscal crisis, Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to announce a multibillion-dollar tax initiative in the coming days, asking voters to raise levies on upper-income earners and increase the state’s sales tax by half a cent.

    The levies would expire at the end of 2016, said sources with direct knowledge of the plan. The governor’s office has been fine-tuning the tax measure for weeks with its labor allies. It hopes to file language with the attorney general’s office as early as Friday so it can start gathering the signatures needed to place the measure on the November 2012 ballot.(LA Times)

    The plan would buy four-five years of time in order to both reset the budget and hope that the economy recovers.  Over the past six months there have been a raft of proposals being discussed from various organizations, and the most sure way to losing on all of them is having more than one tax measure on the ballot.  If this does hit the streets fairly soon as anticipated, other potential measures will probably die quietly.

    Until we see the details on this measure, I’ll reserve full judgment.  I do not like the inclusion of sales taxes, one of the most regressive taxes, but they do seem to be the most likely to pass.  Other than taxing the 1% that is.  Expect further details by next week at the latest.