News Clips
As daunting as the latest round of proposed state budget cuts may seem, they actually would be much worse than advertised, some state lawmakers and local officials have warned. Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger detailed $16 billion in reductions that he said are regrettable but necessary to close California's $24.3 billion deficit.
Senate Democrats are having second thoughts about corporate tax breaks that the Legislature never should have granted this year.Legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger slipped in the cuts, which could eventually total $2.5 billion a year, as part of the February budget under heavy lobbying from business groups and without public hearings. They did so under an inflated promise of jobs and despite the strong inkling that the state deficit would continue to swell. Which of course it has.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vowed Wednesday to let California government come to a "grinding halt" rather than agree to a high-interest loan to keep the state afloat if he and the Legislature do not close the yawning budget gap in coming weeks.At the same time, the governor reversed himself on a proposal to end health insurance for families of police officers and firefighters who died in the line of duty. Schwarzenegger called the plan, first reported by The Times on Tuesday, a "terrible screw-up" that is being corrected.
Californians can brace for a new war over raising revenue to close the state's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – the first shots are on their way.Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said Wednesday that her caucus is deciding among numerous revenue-raising options because the $24.3 billion shortfall is too large to bridge without an infusion.
The state's biggest labor union is launching a $1-million TV advertising campaign promoting new taxes on the oil, tobacco and liquor industries in hopes of dissuading lawmakers from adopting the deep social services cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.Republican lawmakers and Schwarzenegger have vowed not to raise taxes to bridge the state's projected $24-billion deficit, but officials with the Service Employees International Union hope the 30-second TV ad being aired around the state will drum up support for higher levies on certain industries.
One of California's most powerful union groups is spending $1 million in a television advertising blitz to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to solve the state's budget crisis with both spending cuts and new taxes.
A state workers' union today launched a new television ad urging "balance, cooperation, common sense" in solving the state's $24 billion budget deficit, rather than making massive cuts to schools, health care for children, home care for seniors and people with disabilities and other services. The Service Employees International Union says it's a seven-figure ad buy on broadcast and cable television covering the Bay Area, Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, San Diego, Sacramento, and Fresno.
Californians may be reeling at the prospect of state parks closing and nearly 1 million children losing health care because of the budget crisis, but not everyone is feeling the pain.
Contra Costa Times: While programs for poor get the knife, corporations prepare for tax windfall
(6/4/2009)
SACRAMENTO — Corporate tax giveaways from dead-of-night budget agreements in September and February will cost the state as much as $2.5 billion in revenues at a time when lawmakers are contemplating eliminating programs for the poor, a budget analyst said Wednesday.