Gov. Brown urged the elimination of a $700 million tax break for "enterprise zones," which were set up decades ago to give employers tax benefits for setting up businesses in depressed areas.
From the LAT's Marc Lifsher: "In his revised budget Tuesday, Brown proposed that 40 enterprise zones be replaced by a sales tax credit for companies that purchase manufacturing or biotech research and development equipment."
"Currently, employers in enterprise zones can get tax credits of up to $37,000 per hired person in an area identified as blighted. Some of the existing zones include portions of Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Venice in Los Angeles, suburban Santa Clarita and the SOMA district of San Francisco — neighborhoods that are far from economically depressed."
"But Brown criticized the tax credit for failing to create new jobs and rewarding employers for moving existing jobs from one place to another within California. Labor groups and a number of studies, such as a 2009 report by the Public Policy Institute of California, have questioned whether enterprise zone credits, which are based on new hires, actually translate into an overall increase in the number of people with new jobs."
Speaking of the budget, the spending plan borrows money raised from California's cap-and-trade auctions and shifts it to the General Fund, the state's main coffer.
From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "Gov. Brown’s rewritten budget borrows $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auctions and diverts the money for use in other state programs – a move that drew immediate fire from clean-air advocates."
"The administration said the $500 million represents a one-time loan and will be paid back, with interest. Tapping the money was proper, the administration said, because the state needs more time to set up programs to coordinate the investments of the auction proceeds and nobody can predict how much the auctions will raise in the future."
"The agencies need “further time to design and develop their programs to ensure that when the programs receive funds they will further the purposes of (the law) and maximize long term greenhouse gas reductions,” the administration wrote in paperwork accompanying the revised budget, which was released Tuesday. The budget, which must be approved by the Legislature, reflects income tax revenue collected by the April 15 deadline."
Shifting gears, Gov. Brown says the state should take the point position in expanding Medi-Cal as the federal reforms kick in.
From the Mercury-News' Karen de Sá: "Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget plan backtracks on his January proposal to have counties take the lead on expanding Medi-Cal programs under the federal Affordable Care Act, instead recommending that the state take the lead on the sweeping expansion of health-care coverage Jan. 1."
"But the proposal is contingent on eventually recouping money from county-based safety net services such as the food stamp program, the CalWORKS welfare benefit, and child care linked to cash assistance. The state would see an additional $300 million in revenue in the coming fiscal year under the plan, an amount that would continue to grow over time."
"Health care advocates praised the state for assuming primary responsibility for the rollout of Obamacare in the nation's most populous state, while lamenting that the governor's most recent budget plan continues to cut such things as physician compensation rates under Medi-Cal, and dental care for adults."
With tax revenues outpacing projections and the economy improving, there's money to play with in the budget, but Brown counseled caution in his May Revision.
From the Chronicle's Wyatt Buchanan: "From 2011-12 to 2016-17, school funding will jump by $19 billion from $47.3 billion to $66.5 billion, according to Gov. Jerry Brown, who presented his revised spending plan for the next fiscal year on Tuesday. The plan includes a $2.9 billion increase in the current year."
"But public education is the only area of the state budget that is seeing a significant increase in the revised budget plan. Democrats in the Legislature had anticipated a significant surplus for next year, but Brown said actions by the federal government - including the automatic spending cuts and the increase in the payroll tax - eliminated any such surplus."
"The governor said his budget "is a call for prudence, not exuberance." He credited the passage of Proposition 30 by voters in November as key to stabilizing the budget and providing more money for education, but cautioned, "this is not the time to break out the Champagne."
The death by beating of a man in the custody of Kern County sheriff's deputies has drawn federal investigators, who are looking into the case at the request of the sheriff himself.
From the LAT's Diana Marcum, Paul Pringle and Richard Winton: "The FBI launched an investigation Tuesday into the death of a man beaten by authorities amid questions over how officials handled the case."
"Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he asked the FBI to get involved after learning that one of two cellphones seized from witnesses had no footage on it."
"Two witnesses told The Times that they watched the videos on each of the phones last week in the wake of David Silva’s death. The case is generating widespread attention because several witnesses have come forward to say deputies ruthlessly beat Silva with batons on the head, even after he was lying motionless on the ground."
“Our credibility is at stake here,” Youngblood said in an interview. He did not dispute the witnesses' accounts about the videos but said he would not draw any conclusions until the investigations were complete. The phones on Tuesday were flown to the FBI’s Sacramento office for analysis."
And from our "Freedom of the Press" file comes a primer on something everyone should know -- how to leak to the media.
"Get a dedicated computer or tablet: the cheapest Windows laptop will do. And pay cash, as our normal laptops have a host of automatic synchronization and similar services. Our personal web browsers also contain all sorts of location-identifying cookies. Even if you’re logged in to but don’t actually visit Facebook’s home page, a subpoena to Facebook can still reveal where you connect and what pages you visit — every “Like” button reports to Facebook that you are visiting that particular page, at a particular time, from a particular IP address.
"Leave your cellphone, your normal computer, and your metro card (like SmarTrip) at home: anything that speaks over a wireless link must stay behind. Then go to a coffee shop that has open Wi-Fi, and once there open a new Gmail account that you will only use to contact the press and only from the dedicated computer. When registering, use no personal information that can identify you or your new account: no phone numbers, no names."
"Don’t forget: if you get anything at the cafe, or take public transit,pay cash. Be prepared to walk a bit, too; you can’t stay close to home for this."
Might be easier to just call ...