The governor, as expected, signed into law Wednesday evening a new state budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year, but not before he cut deeply into social services. The next round of California's budgeting won't happen in the Capitol, it will take place in November at ballot boxes across the state when voters decide the fate of new taxes.
From Wyatt Buchanan and Marisa Lagos: "Gov. Jerry Brown signed a roughly $92 billion state budget late Wednesday, approving deep, controversial cuts to health care and welfare programs - but the fate of schools, colleges and universities rests with voters, who will decide this fall whether to raise billions of dollars in taxes."
"Brown signed the main budget bill hours after lawmakers passed the final pieces of a spending plan for the fiscal year that begins Sunday, but 12 days after the Legislature sent him the central piece."
"This budget reflects tough choices that will help get California back on track," Brown said in a written statement. "I commend the Legislature for making difficult decisions, especially enacting welfare reform and across-the-board pay cuts. All this lays the foundation for job growth and continuing economic expansion."
Before he signed, the governor wielded his blue pencil, cutting some $128 million from the Democrat-engineered proposal.
From the LAT's Anthony York: "Gov. Jerry Brown trimmed $128 million from the budget passed by Democratic lawmakers before signing the spending plan into law late Wednesday night. The cuts include reductions to financial aid for college students and child-care programs -- two of the areas that divided Brown and Democratic lawmakers in the final days of the budget fight."
"The cuts trim those programs back further than lawmakers wanted, but do not go as far as the reductions proposed by Brown in his May budget revision, according to sources familiar with Brown's actions."
"The vetoes bring the total size of the general fund spending in the budget plan to $91.3 billion."
The budget package includes new authority for the state to force local authorities to hand over money that had once paid for redevelopment. The 400 redevelopment agencies have been abolished and the state wants access to that money -- a move that is all but certain to set up a round of court fights.
From Jim Miller in the Press Enterprise: "Coming less than five months after the closure of the state’s 400 redevelopment agencies, Wednesday’s bill puts teeth in last year’s law phasing out the program."
"It would allow the state to withhold sales and property tax revenue, the source of money for most local services, if officials determine that an agency has failed to make good on its redevelopment obligations. It also would let the state seek $10,000 a day in civil penalties from cities and counties that fail to file required reports."
"Local officials and Republican lawmakers said the measure would deprive local agencies of money to pays for local police and firefighters. They called the bill a major expansion of power by the state Department of Finance."
Meanwhile, there's plenty of fiscal pain to go around: The risk of foreclosure looms over hundreds of thousands of Californians, clear evidence if any was needed that the housing crisis is far from over.
From Aaron Glantz in the Bay Citizen: "California’s housing crisis isn't over, with 11 percent of borrowers in the state at risk of foreclosure, according to a new report released this week by the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending, a Washington-based think tank."
"The report found nearly 700,000 California homeowners were at least 30 days delinquent on their mortgage payments. That number includes nearly 100,000 Bay Area homeowners, about half who live in the East Bay. In Los Angeles County, more than 180,000 borrowers are delinquent."
"In an interview, Paul Leonard, the center's California director, said his organization timed the report's release to coincide with last-minute lobbying efforts aimed at legislation that Attorney General Kamala Harris calls the "Homeowners Bill of Rights." Harris, who successfully negotiated $18 billion in relief to California homeowners as part of a settlement with banks charged with mortgage fraud, has pushed hard for the legislation, which she says is designed to protect Californians at risk of losing their home."
Speaking that legislation, a two-house conference committee approved the pair of bills and sent them to the floors of the Senate and Assembly, setting up final votes on Monday.
From the LAT's Marc Lifsher: "The conference committee vote came at a particularly poignant time: the same day that the Central Valley city of Stockton became the largest municipality in the nation to declare bankruptcy, said Assemblyman Mike Eng (D-Monterey Park). Part of Stockton's financial woes could be directly linked to a housing bust that made the city the foreclosure capital of America, he said."
"Bankers, the state Chamber of Commerce and the securities industry oppose the bills, saying they are overly complicated, lack legal clarity and could spur many unnecessary lawsuits."
"The bills would take effect on Jan. 1 if approved, as expected, by Democratic majorities in both houses. Gov. Jerry Brown has not indicated whether he would sign the measures, though sponsors have said they don't expect a veto."
Finally, from our "High Rollers" file comes the tale of the 4-year-old who was playing with a computer and wound up submitting a bid for a train that was up for sale in an online auction.
"For a moment, Metlink, the public transport arm of Greater Wellington Regional Council, thought all its dreams had come true when it received an opening bid of $29,990 for an old train."
"But it turned out the Trade Me bid was from an enthusiastic 4-year-old whose mother was alarmed at the prospect of owning a retired full-sized two-carriage unit."
"I'm really sorry," an email to Trade Me from smiley134 said. "My 4-year-old was playing and placed a bid, I don't actually want to buy the train, can my bid please be removed?"
Metlink customer services manager Zelda MacKenzie replied: "For a moment I thought I was falling in love with you, smiley! But then you blew it all."
This is how Donald Trump started out....
