The governor launched his tax initiative campaign Wednesday, using the backdrop of a public high school to emphasize the measure's benefits to education. Even his dog, Sutter, known fondly as the Little Yapper, wore campaign insignia.
From the LAT's Anthony York: "Flanked by education and labor leaders, dozens of schoolchildren and his dog, Sutter, Gov. Jerry Brown formally kicked off his campaign Wednesday for Proposition 30, the measure on the November ballot that would raise taxes on state sales and incomes of more than $250,000."
"Brown used a Sacramento high school as the backdrop for the event, calling Proposition 30 a choice about whether Californians want to provide more funding for schools. In vintage Brown style, he quoted from the New Testament to make his pitch to voters, urging them to ask the state’s wealthiest residents to pay higher taxes to boost education spending."
“To those who much has been given, much will be required,” he said quoting from the Gospel of Luke, saying the state’s highest earners “now have an opportunity to give back.”
The computer snafu that caused a statewide outage Tuesday at the Department of Motor Vehhicles stemmed from problems in the transfer of data between networks, state officials say.
From the Chronicle's Ellen Huett: "The four-hour shutdown that crippled DMV offices statewide Tuesday morning was actually caused by problems with faulty internal routers at the DMV and with the Office of Technology Services, officials said."
"We knew it was somewhere between our routers communicating on our system onto Verizon's network," said Adam Dondro, assistant secretary of external affairs for the Office of Technology Services. "What we found out it was our router that wasn't communicating."
"A router forwards data and information, based on an electronic address, from one computer network to another."
Brad Sherman and Howard Berman squared off for their first debate since the primary in the 30th CD, using the hour-long confrontation to blast each other's records.
From the LA Daily News' Dakota Smith: "As he has done before, Berman attacked Sherman's record of passing legislation, saying his opponent has a "meager and sparse record," and is a"serial exaggerator."
"For his part, Sherman criticized Berman's "insider Washington support" and, at one point read a list of bill votes Berman missed while travelling."
"Getting a sense of their stance on the issues - such as the the recent Arab Spring democracy uprising - wasn't always easy as both politicians turned questions from the moderator into attacks on one another. The debate between the veteran San Fernando Valley politicians was the first meet up since June, when both men advanced to the November election under California's new top-two primary system."
California nurses believe lawmakers should force nonprofit hospitals to provide a minimum level of care for the poor in exchange for their lucrative, tax-exempt status.
From Sandy Kleffman in the Oakland Tribune: "We are calling on state officials to pass legislation to rein in the abuses we have seen," said Michael Lighty, public policy director for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United."
"CNA released a study Wednesday concluding that beyond what they delivered in charity care, California's nonprofit hospitals in 2010 received more than $1.8 billion in government subsidies and benefits from their tax exemption..."
"Questions about the nonprofit status of hospitals have heightened since an investigation by this newspaper last year found that the responsibility of caring for the poor and uninsured falls largely on the East Bay's financially ailing public hospitals, despite the large tax breaks for nonprofit hospitals."
The speaker of the Assembly vowed to tackle major issues such as public pension and regulatory reform before the end of the legislative session, which is fast approaching.
From the LAT's Mike Mishak: "Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) said Wednesday that the Legislature would end its two-year session this month by passing measures to overhaul the state's public pension system and enact a series of "regulatory reforms" to make California more attractive to businesses."
"He said he hopes that a combination of "smart cuts and smart investments" will spur voters to approve billions of dollars in tax hikes in November to balance the state's books."
"Speaking at a Capitol news conference, Perez boasted about past achievements -- delivering on-time state budgets, approving funding for California's high-speed rail project, passing protections for homeowners from foreclosure and aggressive bank practices -- but provided few details about some of largest items on the legislative agenda in the final weeks of the session."
Times are tough all over, except for UC, apparently, where the number of people earning $1 million or more has quardupled in five years.
From the Bee's Phillip Reese: "Amid budget cuts and rising tuition, 22 University of California employees earned more than $1 million last year, up from six earning that much in 2007."
"Seventeen of the million-dollar earners were medical doctors or administrators at UC hospitals. Health care salaries nationwide have risen along with health care costs during the last several years. Doctors in the UC system are usually paid with revenue generated by their hospitals, not through student fees or taxes."
