The end of Illinois’ death penalty comes at a time when more and more people express the view that the death penalty is ineffective, costly, and unjust. A slew of recent editorials and opinion pieces have highlighted the enormous problems with the death penalty in California in particular.  As these editorials and op eds show, it is time for California to cut this: the death penalty.

An editorial recently published in The San Jose Mercury, Pasadena Star News, Long Beach Telegram, and other papers, calls on Governor Brown to convert all death sentences to life imprisonment without any possibility of parole to the death penalty, to save the state $1 billion over the next five years. As these editorials point out, the money now wasted on the death penalty could be better spent to fund education and invest in public safety. Yet, at a time of financial crisis, the Governor and lawmakers are instead choosing to cut public safety, as well as healthcare and education, while remaining on track to spend $1 billion on the death penalty in five years.  

“This,” the editorial says, “is fiscal insanity.”

It’s no secret that not everybody in the Democratic institutional organizational front has been totally on board with Gov. Brown’s plan on the budget.  But until this point, dissent has been quiet and not out in the media.  The President of the California Teachers Association changed that recently:

“I believe that as much as our governor has been extremely transparent and honest in doing what he told folks he’d do – which is let the people decide – it’s too late for that,” Sanchez said in a phone interview. “Once you put it on the ballot after June, it’s no longer an extension, it becomes new taxes. And once they’re new taxes, the people won’t support that. I think the Legislature ought to do that themselves.”(SacBee)

Now, Sanchez makes some good points here.  He is correct on the ballot prospects. Most of the polling that I’ve seen shows a very difficult passage for a measure that is merely a resumption of the former taxes rather than just an extension of the Arnold Schwarzenegger increases.  It could probably be done, but it would take a fair bit of money to make it happen.

On the other hand, passing the taxes in the Legislatures is “merely” a matter of getting two Republican votes in each house.  That would be something approaching a Herculean task in the current climate.  It would mean finding legislators who were unwilling to even put it on the ballot who would want to actually pass the taxes.  Perhaps it happens as the all-cuts budget becomes the nightmare that it will eventually become, but the odds seem long, perhaps longer than passing a tax measure on the ballot.

Sure, Brown would have to ditch his campaign promise, but those things happen.  Regrettable perhaps, but political realities make for difficult choices.

But, perhaps this is a more reasoned play (and not really all that troubling to the Brown administration) than you might initially suspect.  This is a far better bargaining position than what Brown started off with of only getting Republican votes for a ballot measure. Why not demand more from them?

Going back to the ballot, whether through the initiative process or the Legislature, really isn’t looking all that attractive.  And that’s the reality that CTA and others are looking at.  Eventually, sometime this spring, some consensus will have to form on a plan to move forward, but that just needs a bit more hashing.

Warning: This diary may contain YELLING at Bob Dutton and criticism of Republicans that might hurt legislators’ feelings. If you are a Republican sufferring from male menopause, please strap yourself securely into your fainting couch.

When Jerry Brown offered a pension reform plan on Thursday, Bob Dutton responded with his newest ransom note. Most tellingly, he demanded that the people be allowed to vote to expand the Republican minority veto..

Senate Republicans believe taxpayers should be protected by a 2/3rd super majority vote of the Legislature to change the salary and benefits of public employees.

Republicans are now admitting that they they are so impotent and their party is so damn unpopular that they don’t expect to every be a majority party again. Instead, they want one more constitutional amendment to give them one more minority veto in the legislature. Maybe, just maybe they can hang onto one house for a few more cycles.

These are the same Republicans who prevented Californians from  voting in June to extend taxes by a majority vote.  And the tax extension wasn’t permanent, but instead had a sunset date.

It’s interesting that Dutton prefaced his new ransom list with polling results, confirming that Republicans understand that pension-bashing is the only issue where they have any support from California voters. Without this issue, their platform is extraordinarily unpopular with Californians. As a state, we just don’t believe in their program of bashing immigrants, despoiling the environment, destroying public education in favor of private charter schools, and more tax breaks for banksters, the ultra-wealthy, and the corporations that have been exporting our jobs.

Dutton’s statement didn’t indicate that even acceding to his outrageous pension reforms demands would gain him any more votes for putting tax extensions on the ballot. He still may demand his entire ransom list grew of 53 items including big issues like gutting environmental laws. another permanent budget cap in the state constitution, and protecting tax cuts for giant multi-national corporations at the expense of small business.  That ransom list kept going, restoring $23 million in funding to rural state fairs,changing the date of the Presidential primary, protecting property tax breaks for agribusinesses, and preserving the waste and corruption in redevelopment.

Yo, Dutton, EVEN SOMALI PIRATES NEGOTIATE.

With or without Republicans, Brown will pass pension reform.

It’s on Like Donkey Kong

It’s time for Jerry to call his bluff, and let him start getting signatures. But for every initiative the Republicans propose, we need to put out two.

CFT has done polling and is ready to launch a 1% on the 1% tax inintiative, raising taxes on the wealthiest 1% by 1%. (Brilliant move, CFT).

Why not tap into the same populist anger against the bansksters and ceonistas and add a similar initiative that would restore the estate tax in California on the richest 1%, with the money going to support transportation? (No new toll roads, either)

With $4.00 gas, let’s go after the oil companies with an extraction tax specifically to support higher education.

And let’s step up and put a plan to modernize prop 13 on the ballot. Instead of driving seniors from their homes by cutting vital home health services, why not let billionaires like the Irvine Company’s Donald Bren pay the same percentage property tax as the poor schlub who buys one of the Irvine company’s houses.

And finally, let’s follow through with Brown’s plan to devolve more government to local authority like he promised. This is the best way to make the anti-tax districts of Republican legislators really pay for their anti-tax votes.

Nope, not an April Fool’s joke.  Anne Gust, who has always been a powerful advisor to Jerry Brown since they met back in the early nineties, doesn’t really suffer fools.  Apparently, she wasn’t really liking what she saw out of Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton.  Dutton went crying to the media:

Dutton said first lady Anne Gust Brown “yelled” at him in one meeting with the governor last Wednesday over a lack of cooperation.

“Frankly, I was yelled at more than I was talked to,” Dutton said, “and mostly by Mrs. Brown, not even Gov. Brown.”

Brown press secretary Gil Duran blasted Dutton later.

“And the dog barked at him, too,” Duran said. “Big girls don’t cry. The real issue here is the fact that schoolchildren, the elderly and the poor are going to be crushed if these reckless Republicans don’t get their act together and make a reasonable deal for the good of the people. Given the magnitude of the situation, we really don’t have time for Bob Dutton’s feelings.”(SacBee)

Is this supposed to make Californians like him better? Respect Jerry less? What? I’m just not sure what the gain for Dutton is with this story.

At any rate, at this point it doesn’t even seem to matter.  Jerry is working on addressing some of the issues in the ransom note in his own manner, and just leaving the Republicans behind.  Some of the issues need to be addressed, and others are something of a red herring trumped up for political reasons. As for the budget, it looks like we’ll be heading for a bloody May revise through the traditional budget schedule.

As we wrote earlier today,

Anger about overly generous public employee pensions is the only single issue where the Republicans’ messaging polls well.

Without pensions as a rallying cry, Republicans are left with a series of positions that are wildly unpopular with Californians.

As reported in Sacramento Bee, Jerry Brown is taking this issue off the table by proposing the package of pension reforms that he has already agreed to with Republicans.

State workers will howl, especially the public safety unions,  but it will avert a much harsher Republican initiative which is designed to cripple public employee pensions.

Republicans sacrificed their place at the table, and now we will see how Republican legislators play their game as petulant spoilers opposed to everything. They didn’t want to agree to eliminating waste and corruption by eliminating redevelopment and enterprise zones.

Will Republicans really have the gall to oppose pension reforms?

For the Governor’s press release click “read more”.

3-31-2011

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released the actual bill language of seven separate pension reform measures.

In addition, Brown listed five other specific pension reforms that he is developing. These include a pension benefit cap, limits on post-retirement public employment, hybrid defined contribution/benefit options, an action plan to address CalSTRS unfunded liability, and a measure to change and improve the board governance of CalPERS and CalSTRS.

All 12 of these pension reform measures were presented and discussed in detail with Republican legislators. Talks broke down, however, over other issues.

Brown intends to introduce these pension reforms with or without Republican support.

Information on all twelve pension reforms is available below.

For bill language, please email [email protected].

PENSION REFORM PROPOSAL

APPLIES TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

MARCH 2011

1. Eliminate Purchase of Airtime. Would eliminate the opportunity, for all current and future employee members of all state and local retirement systems, to purchase additional retirement service credit. (RN 14777) (Note Walters, SB 522, would eliminate Air Time)

2. Prohibit Pension Holidays. All California public agencies would be prohibited from suspending employer and/or employee contributions necessary to fund the normal cost of pension benefits. (RN 14777)

3. Prohibit Employers from Making Employee Pension Contributions. All California public agencies would be prohibited from making employee contributions that fund the normal cost of employee retirement benefits in whole or in part. (RN 14777)

4. Prohibit Retroactive Pension Increases. All California public agencies would be prohibited from granting any retroactive pension benefit increases, such as benefit formula improvements that credit prior service. (RN 14777)

5. Prohibit Pension Spiking: Three Year Final Compensation. Final compensation for new employees would be defined as the highest average annual compensation during a consecutive 36 month period. (RN 14777)

6. Prohibit Pension Spiking: Define Compensation as Only Regular, Non-recurring Pay. Compensation means normal rate of pay or base pay. (RN 14777) (Note Simitian, SB 27, would exclude from defined benefit changes in compensation principally for the purpose of enhancing benefits; would place stricter limits on creditable compensation)

7. Felony Convictions. Prohibits payment of pension benefits to those who commits a felony related to their employment. (RN 14777) (*Note Strickland, SB 115, similar prohibition)

PROPOSALS UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Impose Pension Benefit Cap.

Improve Retirement Board Governance

Limit Post-Retirement Public Employment

Hybrid Option

Address CalSTRS Unfunded Liability

I’ll admit it, I’m something of a cynic.  I was always worried about the budget process and whether we would get the 2 votes necessary for the supermajority.  I pretty much knew that the Republicans wouldn’t put straight taxes as an option, but maybe, just maybe, they would consider some sort of deal for an election.

Well, time’s up on that:

Gov. Jerry Brown announced this afternoon he halted negotiations with legislative Republicans over a deal to place taxes on the ballot to help resolve California’s remaining $15.4 billion deficit.

A June election appears to be off the table entirely. Brown is no longer pursuing a two-thirds vote for a June tax election, while Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told reporters he will not pursue a majority-vote option, either.

“Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state’s massive deficit,” Brown said in a statement this afternoon. “The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people.”(SacBee)

The Governor also sent a letter to Republican Senate Leader Bob Dutton asking him to “get working” on something, and to pair his reform requests down to spending cap, pension reform, and “regulatory reform.”  You can view the letter here.  But in the end, I struggle to see how anything gets done at this point without signatures.  It is just unfortunate that now we’re going to have to wait to get that done.

This is truly a bad day for California, and a sad statement for our government.