Legislature Schedules Vote on Budget, GOP Still Opposes Plan

Both the California Senate and Assembly have scheduled votes for 1:00 pm March 16 on a $123 billion budget plan that attempts to close a $25.4 billion gap between revenues and spending commitments over the next 16 months.

It’s anything but certain the 20 bills – the budget itself and 19 implementing measures – will be approved since Republicans and Democrats don’t appear to agree on the merits of the package.    Read more »

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$500-Million Highway Program Is Proposed By Contractors

Brown administration officials, legislative leaders and the construction industry have opened discussions aimed at pumping as much as $500 million more into the state’s highway construction program without raising gasoline taxes, possibly through the issuance of revenue bonds.

The construction industry, hard-hit by the sharp reduction in highway construction and stymied by Gov.    Read more »

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State Parks Face a 9 Percent Budget Cut, Closure List Being Readied

Among the proposals made by Gov. Jerry Brown in his January budget that lawmakers include in their spending plan, is an $11 million cut for the Department of Parks and Recreation.

This roughly 9 percent reduction in the department’s $121 million general fund budget “will result in partially or fully closing some state park units and reducing expenditures at the department’s headquarters,” the Democratic governor said in his budget plan.    Read more »

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The Senate Sends All Californians Best Wishes for Arbor Week

In the absence of a vote on the Legislature’s budget plan, California’s Senate approved two resolutions March 10 relating to food and flora.

The more sweeping of the two resolutions, neither of which carries the force of law, declared the week of March 7 to March 14 as “California Arbor Week.”    Read more »

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Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1, Page 181…

“The coat of arms of the human race ought to consist of a man with an axe on his shoulder proceeding toward a grindstone. Or, it ought to represent the several members of the human race holding out the hat to each other.

“For we are all beggars. Each in his own way.    Read more »

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Subsidized Childcare Costs Will Increase for the Working Poor

(Editor’s Note: Corrections have been made to this post. The total income figures in the chart linked to in this post are not total State Median Income, as the post initially said, but actually the 75 percent of State Median Income maximum for childcare eligibility.  So $3,769 is 75 percent of a family of three’s toital monthly income of $5,025.    Read more »

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February Receipts Drop But Still Up $1.3 Billion for the Year

SACRAMENTO – State Controller John Chiang released March 9 his monthly report covering California’s cash balance, receipts and disbursements in February. Total receipts for the month were $139.4 million lower — 2.4 percent — than estimates found in the governor’s proposed budget.

“After the first 8 months into the fiscal year, we are $1.3 billion ahead of projections,” said Chiang.    Read more »

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The Diamond Bar Republican Has a New Twist on Fundraising

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Based on the Qualifications, It’s No Surprise They’re Ineligible

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How the Legislature Proposes to Cut Welfare by $1.1 Billion

Of the approximately $12 billion in spending reductions proposed by the Legislature in its budget, $1.1 billion fall on the 1.4 million Californians – two-thirds of them children – who receive aid under CalWORKs, the state’s welfare program.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s January budget plan contained $1.5 billion in cuts to welfare recipients, including a 13 percent reduction in monthly support checks and a limit of four years – instead of five – for parents and children to receive assistance.    Read more »

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