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The Keystone Cops of Sacramento attempt to avoid another budget crisis. Who could have ever predicted that California’s rosy assumptions of increased revenue would be cruelly smashed on the rocky reefs of reality? Certainly not California state leaders, that’s for sure. In what has become a depressingly routine ritual, California makes hugely optimistic estimates [...] It’s happening again. Hugely optimistic expectations of revenue for California didn’t materialize so Sacramento is scrambling to find some way, any possible way, to balance the budget. The state needs to find $3.3 billion by March to meet obligations. Lawmakers and the governor, as always, over-estimated revenue and under-estimated expenses. But now the bills [...] greatergood.berkeley.edu Pardon my cynicism, but California has been here before. Balancing the budget seems insoluble. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, money drops from the heavens. Entire new sources of revenue are discovered! Sacramento rejoices. The budget will be balanced after all and there is much festivity. But then the Grinch sneaks in. The expected [...] inlandpolitics.com Who could have ever predicted that the projected California budget deficit for 2012-2013 would be much higher than previously assumed? Sadly, this is just the same old tired scenario. In a desperate attempt to balance the budget, Sacramento makes hugely optimistic revenue predictions, only to have the ice water of reality thrown on [...] The California legislature has done it yet again. It passed a budget based on hugely optimistic estimates of revenue only to have the reality pie of revenue shortfall hit it in the face a few months later. Of course, legislators are just gobsmacked by this unexpected turn of events. I mean, who could have [...] Ventura County Star California budget negotiations have an eternal air of unreality about them. Negotiators make lofty assumptions about income and revenue, only to be proven wrong later. Complicated proposals requiring the approval of eternally squabbling factions are floated as though they have a fine chance of being passed. Democrats resist spending cuts, while [...] SB 34, which recently passed a State Senate committee, would create a behemoth new Delta water agency with extraordinary powers. It would be able to impose taxes upon water users who do not benefit from the tax. Oversight and accountability would be negligible. There would be no directly elected officials on the board either, [...] Gov. Brown’s plan to have a special election in June to ask voters to extend a tax hike and approve a draconian budget now appears unlikely to occur. Special ballot measures like these either require approval by the legislature or signatures from voters. It was too late to start gathering signatures when he was [...] The non-partisan Institute for Truth in Accounting has released its latest report on California (PDF), and it makes grim reading indeed. Not only is California so deep in debt that default or bankruptcy might seem a blessed relief, it appears the accounting gnomes in Sacramento have been engaging in the MSU Method of Accounting. [...] I’m worth $200 million. You will make $7.25 an hour as pawns in my game Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered 200,000 state employees be paid minimum wage until the budget passes. The State Controller is refusing to implement the order, saying the computer system can’t handle such a change and the question of whether the [...] |  | ||||
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