Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor takes a look at Gov. Brown's revised budget and says lawmakers should take a wider view than an all-cuts or all-taxes spending plan.
From Kevin Yamamura in the Sacramento Bee: "But Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor framed the budget divide in a different light than the Democratic governor, suggesting that lawmakers have more options than all cuts or all taxes to close a remaining $9.6 billion deficit."
"Brown is still pushing for an extension of higher taxes on vehicles, sales and income to bridge most of the remaining deficit. Absent those taxes, Brown has hinted at deep cuts to schools, public safety and health care."
"We say evaluate the whole range of options that are in front of you," Taylor said. "In the May revision, the governor said it kind of came down to a choice between his program or an all-cuts budget. And clearly, that's not the case. The Legislature has all sorts of options available to it."
The governor's plan to push for new taxes and then have voters consider them later in a statewide referendum may cause problems, Taylor notes. Anthony York in the LA Times has the story.
"A top state budget analyst Thursday criticized Gov. Jerry Brown's push for a referendum on taxes later this year, saying such a vote would create instability for schools and spook Wall Street investors who are critical to keeping the state afloat."
"If you can do this without having an election, that's the best way," said Mac Taylor, the nonpartisan legislative analyst, reacting to Brown's budget."
"If Brown continues to insist on a public vote,
Taylor said, "it might be preferable to have the election at the end of
the fiscal year," in 2012."
"Taylor's position is similar to that of Democratic
legislative leaders and labor-union representatives, who have said their
preference is to extend billions in sales and vehicle taxes and increase income
taxes without a statewide vote. They have also suggested that if there is to be
an election, it should be next year."
Meanwhile, despite the intent of voters, lawmakers' pay may not be docked after all if they don't pass a budget on time, according to one reading of the fine print in the voter-approved sanction.
From the LA Times' Evan Halper and Patrick McGreevy: "Now the legislators' deadline is less than a month away, and the budget is nowhere near complete — but their checks could keep coming even if they make no more progress.
"Fine print in the initiative, drafted by a labor coalition whose main interest was that it also gave Sacramento's Democratic majority more control over state spending, may have contained an escape hatch."
"The law stipulates that merely passing a budget bill — it says nothing about
whether the budget is balanced, as California's Constitution also requires — is
enough to keep state pay rolling into lawmakers' bank accounts. The Legislature
passed a budget bill in March that closed about half of the deficit."
"The language … said the budget bill must be passed," said Greg
Schmidt, the Senate's chief administrative officer. "Technically, the
budget bill was passed on March 17."
The fight over the governor's plan to close 70 state parks is far from over: The Assembly has approved legislation that would keep at least some of them open through funding from nonprofits. The Chronicle's Marisa Lagos tells the tale.
"The measure by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, would let nonprofits operate those parks if the state cannot."
"AB42 would require a nonprofit to submit a plan to the state before it could operate or care for a park - or portions of a park. If the plan is approved, the nonprofit would have to submit to the state annual reports, which would be discussed at public meetings."
"There will be instances where parks around the state can be saved from closure because a local nonprofit can help," Huffman said. "We have to work very creatively to foster public-private partnerships that can assist the Department of Recreation and Parks to limit the number that have to close."
The long-held myth that you can predict earthquakes based on weather change may have some basis in fact: Scientists think they may have found a quake-warning signal.
From Susanne Rust in California Watch: "According to a team of NASA and Russian space and physical scientists, in the days before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, the atmosphere directly above the epicenter rapidly heated up."
"In a presentation at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the researchers presented data indicating that starting on March 3, the electron count in the ionosphere – the upper part of the atmosphere – increased dramatically."
"The count reached its peak three days before the temblor struck."
"Our first results show that on March 8th a rapid increase of emitted infrared radiation was observed from the satellite data," said Dimitar Ouzounov."
And from our long-closed "Unabomber" file, we find that the FBI is investigating whether Ted Kaczynski played any role in Chicago's Tylenol deaths nearly 30 years ago.
"Kaczynski, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to setting 16 explosions that killed three people and is serving a life sentence in federal prison, has declined to voluntarily provide a DNA sample."
"Chicago FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said the FBI is seeking DNA from Kaczynski and "numerous individuals," although she wouldn't provide details about any of the others. She declined to say whether the agency would try to compel Kaczynski to give a sample, but in a motion filed in California court, Kaczynski said he was told the FBI would try to force his hand."
"John Balasz, Kaczynski's attorney, said he thinks the FBI is wants Kaczynski's DNA simply to rule him out as a suspect in the Tylenol case."
"You've got to ask the FBI how serious they are. I think it's probably more that they want to exclude him," he said."