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State Senate Makes It Easier to Feed Carrion to Wild Condors
Non-profit groups helping feed California’s condors would no longer be prohibited from hauling dead animal carcasses to the giant carrion-eaters under legislation approved August 12 by the state Senate.
As lawmakers approach the final two weeks of the 2010 legislative session, both the Assembly and Senate are voting on dozens of bills daily, a number that will increase sharply as the August 31 deadline gets closer. Read more »
This Just In from the Department of Personnel Administration
Sent August 12 to State Employees:
Earlier this week, the Alameda County Superior Court issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) suspending the new furlough program that began in August 2010 pending an additional hearing on September 13, 2010.
DPA (the Department of Personnel Administration) filed an appeal of this suspension with the First District Court of Appeal on August 10, 2010 and an emergency petition seeking an order allowing the furloughs to go forward as planned. Read more »
California’s Housing Market Is Performing Better This June
In a positive sign for California’s economy, nearly 44,000 houses and condominiums were sold statewide in June, Southern California sales volume was the highest since June of 2006 and mortgage defaults hit a three-year low, according to MDA DataQuick, a La Jolla-based monitor of real estate activity nationwide.
Statewide sales in June were up 7.3 percent from May and down 0.5 percent from June 2009’s 44,167 sales. Read more »
Are At Least 79 Fundraisers in August Alone Really Necessary?
There are 11 fundraisers scheduled for August 10 in Sacramento, mostly by legislative candidates or incumbent lawmakers.
On August 11, another 21 events are scheduled – a number representing more than half the members of the state Senate.
The following week, August 16 has five events, August 17 has 12 and August 18, 16 more. Read more »
Jerry Brown Goes Green on His Not-So-New Job Creation Plan
Several media outlets published articles August 8 about Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown “unveiling” a new job creation proposal.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the “10-page plan was released with no fanfare on the candidate’s website.”
The Sacramento Bee’s take:
“Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown released a beefed-up jobs plan Sunday (August 8), expanding on an existing clean-energy jobs plan that was widely panned for its lack of detail.” Read more »
Proposition 24’s Opponents Receive a $1 Million Contribution
On July 29, the opponents of Proposition 24, the November ballot measure that would repeal a trio of tax breaks for businesses enacted as part of the February 2009 budget, received a $1 million contribution from biotech giant Genentech.
While other companies benefiting from the changes in state tax law Proposition 24 would repeal have each contributed $100,000 to the “no” side – Amgen, Cisco Systems, Abbot Laboratories, Hewlett-Packard, General Electric, Viacom and Time Warner – Genentech has kicked in 10 times that amount. Read more »
Democrats Shrink County Realignment Plan to “Wobblers”
The budget plan released August 3 by legislative Democrats significantly scales back an earlier proposal to shift greater responsibility to counties for several state social programs, including welfare.
In June, Senate Democrats pitched a plan that would have moved $4.3 billion in costs to counties within four years, paying for it with tax increases and the earmarking of some current state taxes. Read more »
Democrats Offer Unified Budget Plan, GOP Objects to Taxes
More than a month into the state’s new fiscal year, Assembly and Senate Democrats unveiled a joint budget proposal that includes tax increases, causing republican lawmakers and GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pronounce it dead on arrival.
The plan would close a $17.9 billion budget gap largely through $8.4 billion in spending reductions, $4.1 billion in federal funds and $2.4 billion in net tax increases. Read more »
Assessing the Cost of No Budget on a California Legislator
The state Legislature returned from its one-month summer recess on August 2. Lawmakers took a break despite not sending a budget to the governor by June 15 – the Legislature’s constitutional deadline to do so – let alone July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.
In the past 20 years, the June 15 deadline has been met once. Read more »
Schwarzenegger Orders State Worker Furloughs Extended
“Governor Schwarzenegger issued an order today directing state agencies to reinstitute furlough Fridays until a new budget is in place. The order for state workers to take three furlough days per month will take effect starting August 1 and continue until a new budget is enacted and the Department of Finance certifies that the state has enough cash to meet its obligations through the end of the fiscal year. Read more »
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