Bad moon rising

Bad news in Sacramento often comes out on a Friday. But today's a holiday -- Veterans' Day, Nigel Tufnel Day -- so the miserable tidings came out a day early: The state's revenues didn't come in as hoped and it looks like the fragile budget is going take a whacking. Big trouble for education funding is looming.

 

From Wyatt Buchanan in Chronicle: "State Controller John Chiang delivered bad news Thursday when he reported that the state is collecting much less in taxes than expected so far this year, and he warned that mid-year trigger cuts to social services and higher education appear more likely to happen."
 

"For the first four months of the fiscal year, California has collected $1.5 billion less in revenue than anticipated, Chiang said. Tax revenue for the month of October alone was short nearly $811 million."

 

"Other state financial officials say it is too soon to predict whether trigger cuts will be needed and that month-to-month cash projections are increasingly unreliable, even as advocates for those who would be most impacted by the cuts say they are preparing for them."

 

"The trigger cuts happen automatically Jan. 1 if revenue is projected to fall short by $1 billion for the entire fiscal year, according to the budget legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in June. The University of California and California State University systems would each lose $100 million in state aid. The department overseeing people with developmental disabilities and the In-Home Supportive Services program, which overlap with clients, would also lose $100 million each. Those cuts would come on top of reductions made earlier this year."

More bad news: Greenhouse gases are continuing their inexorable rise, according to a new federal report.

From the LAT's Dean Kuipers: "Greenhouse gases are building at a steep rate in the atmosphere, the nation's top climate agency reported, renewing concern that global warming may be accelerating."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which indexes the key gases known to trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, rose 1.5% from 2009 to 2010, the agency reported."

"The reported rise comes on top of an analysis by the Energy Department last week saying that global emissions of carbon dioxide, a key, long-lived greenhouse gas, had jumped by the biggest increment on record in 2010. The figures showed a 6% increase from the year before, a steeper rise than worst-case scenarios that had been laid out by climate experts four years before."

"The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index number, by contrast, looks small, but has big impact. The index is a measure of the combined heating effect of the top greenhouse gases during their life spans as the gases float around in the atmosphere. The number increased from 1.27 in 2009 to 1.29 in 2010. Since the index started in 1990, which the NOAA team chose as a baseline, the increase has been 29%."

Meanwhile, the supporters of an attempt to overturn the new state Senate districts that were drawn up by an independent, voter-approved commission are turning in signatures to get their referendum on the June ballot.

"Backers of a referendum drive to overturn the new state Senate district maps said Thursday they have begun turning in signatures at all 58 counties."

"Referendum proponents, calling themselves Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting (FAIR), have until Sunday to turn in at least 504,000 signatures needed to get the matter on the November ballot."

 

"FAIR is comprised of a group of Republicans who charged that the maps, drawn for the first time by a citizens commission instead of the Legislature, were drawn to favor Democrats. Earlier, the state Supreme Court turned down GOP-backed challenges to state Senate and congressional district maps."

 

"Our goal is to achieve a state Senate district plan that is fair to all and that follows the criteria laid out in the California Constitution," state Sen. Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Nigel) said in a statement released by FAIR on Thursday."

 

And the LAT's Patrick McGreevy comes a new wrinkle: Legislators in a dating relationship with lobbyists may not have to worry about the gift and contribution limits. Say what?

 

"The state Fair Political Practices Commission on Thursday began the process of overhauling the state’s gift rules for public officials with the goal of making them easier to understand and comply with. “My goal is clarity and openness,’’ said commission Chair Ann Ravel."