The governor kicked off his election-year budget with leaks and a statewide tour to get maximum exposure for his proposed spending blueprint, which so far is getting good reviews.
From the Mercury-News' Jessica Calefati, Paul Rogers and Sharon Noguchi: "Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday began a sprint toward his widely expected run for re-election by formally unveiling a $106.8 billion budget blueprint he hopes will give voters what they want."
"The plan calls for paying off many of the state's credit cards, creating a $1.6 billion "rainy-day fund" and increasing K-12 school spending by 11.4 percent after years of devastating cuts. And for the first time in recent memory, the budget offers good news for college students and the popular state parks system."
"Brown jetted from a Capitol news conference to events in the media-rich markets of Los Angeles and San Diego Thursday to pitch a budget plan that he says carefully guards the state's sudden multibillion-dollar surplus by emphasizing restraint. He was forced to move up the release of the budget -- originally scheduled for Friday-- after it was leaked to the media."
Gov. Brown's proposed $106.8 billion budget, with spending up about 12 percent over pre-recession levels, contradicts ACA4, a bipartisan agreement reached during the Schwarzenegger administration over the creation of a budgetary "rainy day fund." That issue faces voters this year, so one question is whether the Democrat-controlled Legislature will approve Brown's proposal and remove the other one from the November ballot.
From the Bee's Jim Miller: "That measure, ACA 4, was part of a 2010 budget deal between Democrats, Republicans and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and was originally scheduled to go before voters in 2012. But lawmakers that year moved the initiative to 2014, and unions and some advocates for programs for low-income residents have voiced concerns that the proposed fund is too strict..."
"It would create a special pot within the reserve for the state's constitutional school-funding guarantee, Prop. 98. "Instead of immediately allocating it to schools, some of that money gets allocated into a reserve, so that when Prop. 98 drops...that money can get allocated from that account," the Department of Finance'sNick Schweizer said."
The seemingly interminable fight over whether California should establish an oil-severance tax is back again, and Brown in his budget unveiling said now is not the time for new taxes.
From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "Gov. Brown summarily rejected the notion of a per-barrel tax on California oil as it comes from the ground, a move that sharply limits the political options of the tax’s backers who hoped to get a bill through the Legislature to raise perhaps $2 billion annually."
“I don’t think this is the year for new taxes,” the Democratic governor said after releasing the proposed 2014-15 state budget. “When I went up and down the state campaigning for Proposition 30, I said it was temporary and it is going to be temporary. I just think we need everything we can to live within our means before going back again to try and get more taxes.” Gov. Brown’s Proposition 30, approved by voters in November 2012, temporarily raised sales and income taxes to help balance the budget."
"Tom Steyer, a wealthy hedge-fund founder and environmentalist, announced last month that he would seek an oil severance tax this year in the form of a bill approved in the Legislature, which has Democratic two-thirds majorities in each house. The measure would require two-thirds votes on the floors, then the governor’s signature."
A plan to beef up California's campaign enforcement rules, a direct result of the out-of-state money from nonprofits that roiled the November 2012 elections, is likely to reach the governor's desk this month.
From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "It clarifies the ability of the FPPC to perform pre-election audits, examine campaigns’ books before disclosure documents are filed and seek pre-election injunctions. The bill, a survivor of a number of finance-reform bills from last year’s session, requires the unveiling of the payments of subcontractors and subvendors, entities that have been exempted from fiscal disclosure. It also allows more time for candidates to close down their campaigns following an election."
"The measure comes largely in response to an $11 million flood of Republican-linked money, funneled through nonprofits, that went into the November 2012 elections some three weeks before Election Day."
“It allows them (FPPC enforcers) to do their job better,” said Assemblyman Rich Gordon, D-Menlo Park, the author of the legislation, AB 800. “It makes their job easier in some ways.”
The leader of the Senate says the governor's plan to take $250 million in cap-and-trade auction money and ship it to the bullet-train project will be a major issue this year as lawmakers consider the governor's budget proposal.
From the LAT's Patrick McGreevy: "A proposal to use money from the state’s cap-and-trade system of pollution credits to help fund the proposed high-speed rail system “is going to be one of the central issues in the budget,” Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) predicted Thursday."
“I’m open to the issue,” Steinberg said, but he added that Gov. Jerry Brown will have to provide a “credible plan to fund the next extension” of the rail system so that the Senate leader knows there is a financial plan beyond using cap-and-trade funds."
"Steinberg told reporters at the Capitol that he is “mostly encouraged” by the governor’s budget because the state no longer faces having to make deep cuts."
