The Bee's Steve Wiegand looks at the mess that is California, and whether or not Gerry Parsky can fix it. "Now a special commission is set to present the Legislature with proposals to dramatically restructure the tax system. Two other reform groups are pushing changes that include, among other things, revising the state's budgeting process and overhauling the state constitution.
"How well any of the reforms succeed in improving California's financial stew may depend on how much the state has learned from the deficiencies of the current recipe. For example, that stew just doesn't have enough rich people."
Eric Bailey looks at the release of the Tax Commission report . "As the commission they formed for that purpose prepares
to release its
final report this week, business leaders are grumbling, labor unions
have turned wary and once-bullish lawmakers are backing away.
The recommendations from the Commission on the 21st Century Economy,
which include some revolutionary ideas such as scrapping
the sales tax
and imposing a broad and untested new business levy,
have been met with
shrugs and even a few snickers.
"It's not cooked," said state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who was a tax lawyer for decades. "It probably needs years of work."
Republicans
like some of what they see, such as the plan's call for a flatter
income tax, but they don't expect to make much headway in a Capitol
dominated by Democrats.
"This is the most significant tax policy
proposal in three decades," said Assemblyman Chuck Devore (R-Irvine).
"But the chances of this getting approved, as is, are
zero percent."
Kelly Zito reports the state is looking at charging polluters a fee for emitting greehouse gasses .
"The proposed program from the California Air Resources Board and the fledgling regional effort are designed to use the fees to pay for measuring, monitoring and studying the emissions blamed for global climate change.
"While health and environmental advocates say tracking greenhouse gases is an important step in the state's plan to battle climate change, big emitters say there is a risk of creating an unfair hodgepodge of regulations and fees."
Just wondering -- is there anything teh Air Resources Board doesn't do?
"The impact of California's budget cuts has varied from school to
school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state
funding for
education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less
than others. But
at schools like Fairfax, hard hit by the $6 billion in education
reductions enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
this is shaping up to be one difficult year.
"I'm very
frustrated," Collier said. "I mean, it's a good class -- it's an honors
class, and the kids are really good. But it's unreasonable to ask me to
teach a class of 48 kids and give attention to everybody."
"Theoretically,
the budget cuts have hit almost every school district
equally. But some
districts, especially those with growing enrollment,
have weathered the
storm because they salted money away during flush years
or extracted
significant concessions from labor unions, according
to Scott Plotkin,
executive director of the California School Boards Assn.
Robert Kreier looks at the winter's rainfall forecasts, and the promises of El Niño. "Most of them say the odds still slightly favor a wetter-than-normal rainfall season in California, which could use a drenching after three straight years of drought. But the fledgling El Niño is showing signs of losing steam.
“If I were buying up water futures, I would not be reaching deep into my wallet at this point,” said Jan Null, a former forecaster for the National Weather Service who now runs a meteorological company.
"California's water managers are taking a similar stance: They're not relying on El Niño to fill the state's depleted reservoirs. The shrinking supply has forced many water providers — including virtually all of the ones in San Diego County — to implement voluntary or mandatory restrictions on usage.
Congrats to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became the father of a baby girl late last week. I know this because I read about it on the mayor's Twitter feed.
"Montana Tessa Newsom was born at 12:39 p.m. and is 20.5 inches long and 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Montana is where Newsom married his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom. (Her family has a home there.) And Tessa is the name of Newsom's late mother."
Lucky for the little girl, the Newsoms didn't get married in Humptulips, Wa ...