Gov. Jerry Brown’s Take on His 9th State of the State Speech

SACRAMENTO — Warning that California will not create the jobs it needs “unless we get our fiscal house in order,” Gov. Jerry Brown challenged state legislators today (January 31) to allow people to vote on his three part plan to solve the state’s financial crisis.

“My intention is to make California again a leader in job creation, renewable energy and state of the art efficiency, innovation of all kinds and primary and secondary education,” he said in his State of the State address before a joint session of the state legislature.    Read more »

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More Costly to Keep Community College Fees at $26 than $36

To save the state money, fees for the 2.8 million Californians attending community colleges should climb to from $26 to at least $36 per unit, as proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, according to a recent report by the Legislative Analyst.

Although it seems counter-intuitive, the analyst says that maintaining lower fees at the system’s 180 campuses and education centers actually is more expensive than raising them.    Read more »

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The Origin of One of Several California Civil War Place Names

Alfred Pleasonton was born in 1824 in Washington D.C. He graduated from West point in 1844 was commissioned a second lieutenant and served with the 1st Dragoons, a heavy cavalry unit, on “frontier duty” in Minnesota, Iowa and Texas.

He fought with the 2nd Dragoons in the Mexican-American War and was promoted to captain in 1855.    Read more »

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Valentine’s Day Week Going To Be a Hectic One For Lobbyists

The week of February 14 is shaping up to be fairly frenzied.

Besides spending Valentine’s Day giving $1,000 to Sen. Elaine Alquist, a Santa Clara Democrat, Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, a Los Angels Democrat and Sen. Alex Padilla, another Los Angeles Democrat there’s the 15th, 16th and the 17th.

Assembly Speaker John Perez, a Los Angeles Democrat, wants $2,000 on the 15th to share margaritas or tequila shots at Zocalo, a noisy Mexican restaurant near the state Capitol.    Read more »

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A Visit to Jerry Brown’s Conference Room — and Its Bookcase

The first thing a visitor notices in the austere but cheery gubernatorial conference room now occupied by Jerry Brown isn’t the absence of Conan the Barbarian’s sword or the Southwestern art on the walls, it’s the presence of books.

Lots of them.

And an eclectic mix at that.

The second thing is the glorified tan wood picnic table that serves as a conference table.    Read more »

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UC Faces a Budget Hole of Not $500 Million But $700 Million

The University of California faces a more than $200 million deeper reduction than the $500 million proposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget – in part because the state refuses to make a contribution to the 10-campus system’s retirement system.

UC says the state, as it has in the past, should pay a percentage of the employer payments the university makes to its retirement system based on the $3 billion general fund contribution the state makes to the system’s $6 billion instructional budget.    Read more »

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Is This Press Release More Evidence of an Economic Recovery?

SACRAMENTO – The California New Car Dealers Association announced January 25 that registrations of new cars and light trucks increased by 13.1 percent in California during 2010, compared with 2009. The association forecasts 2011 sales will increase by another 13.3 percent to 1,330,000 new vehicles.

The Honda Civic was the best-selling vehicle in California during 2010, followed closely by the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.    Read more »

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Number of Californians Keep Growing — Just Not As Quickly

Often overshadowed by the doom-and-gloom of spending cuts proposed in the governor’s January budget plan are demographic estimates of how California will grow over the next five years.

The numbers are important – particularly those of the US Census – because they determine the amount of funds the state receives from the federal government.    Read more »

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Don’t Sugarcoat it, Bill. Go Ahead Say What You Really Think

This is a statement issued January 21 by State Treasuer Bill Lockyer about Congress considering allowing states to declare bankruptcy:

“To the folks in Congress cooking this baloney: Don’t bother.  States didn’t ask for it.  We don’t want it.  We don’t need it.

“Bankruptcy would devastate states’ ability to recover from the recession and make the infrastructure investments that create good jobs.     Read more »

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Syntactically Odd, Tortuously Phrased Fundraising Solicitation

(Editor’s Note: Norma Torres, a Pomona Democrat, was elected in 2008. In the offending sentence, the simple edit of striking “for the” and inserting ” after my” before “re-election” then striking “of my” and replacing it with “to a” would resolve much of the ambiguity. The inclusion of “2010” somewhere near “re-election” would also increase clarity.    Read more »

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