"As the state budget gap widens,
talk again has turned to the sales tax -- not raising the rate, but the possibility of applying it to a range of services that other states tax routinely," writes the Bee's Judy Lin.
"Last week, the Democratic chair of the Board of Equalization,
Judy Chu, sent a letter to legislative leaders suggesting that broadening the sales tax to some services often taxed outside California could net $2.7 billion for the ailing state budget.
"
California could practically wipe out next year's projected deficit of $10 billion if it adopted policies similar to those in New York, Texas and Florida, Chu wrote."'I think everything has to be on the table," said Assemblyman
John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. "And we hope everybody looks at every conceivable option."
"Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata has suggested imposing the sales tax on services for things such as consultants, dry cleaners, lawyers and technology support.
"But while Perata and Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuņez push for new revenues, they continue to face resistance from Republican lawmakers and taxpayer advocates.
"'We're opposing all tax increases as unnecessary,' said
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. 'Businesses and families live within their means. It's time to have the state do the same.'"
Which district does Coupal represent again?
Dan Walters endorses the idea and
slaughters most of the budgetary sacred cows in his budget plan.
We know there's a Chino slaughterhouse joke in there somewhere, but it's Monday, and we just can't come up with it. If you would like to make our punchline for us, you can email it to us
here.
"Most Californians
are increasingly concerned about the state's health care system, and nearly three-quarters of them would have approved a health care reform plan led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that failed in the Legislature this year, according to a Field Poll released today," reports Matthew Yi in the Chron.
Did Blue Cross and CMA get to advertise during the course of the polling?
"Voters' key concerns included not being able to pay for all costs from a serious illness or injury (59 percent), having to pay more out-of-pocket expenses for their health insurance coverage (58 percent), and not having or potentially losing health insurance (57 percent).
"'
The problem is festering. It's certainly crying out for some kind of government action in terms of reform,' said
Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll."
Dan Walters writes that the
window for a large health care overhaul may have closed for now.
The Chron's John Wildermuth
checks in on the effort to recall Jeff Denham.
"While Denham's opponents scramble to paint the recall as a grassroots effort by voters in his district, the financial figures don't show it. Almost all the money to collect the 61,000 signatures that put the recall on the ballot came from the state Democratic Party and the Voter Education and Registration Fund, an organization closely tied to [
Don] Perata.
None of the $495,000 raised this year by the pro-recall group comes from the district.
"Polka Consulting, the Sacramento group running the recall effort, also has close ties to Perata, running many of his campaigns and ballot efforts.
"
Much of Denham's money also comes from outside groups such as race tracks, card clubs, the construction industry and traditional GOP donors, but he also has received contributions from local farming interests, car dealerships in Salinas and Modesto and agribusiness giants like Gallo Wines in Modesto and Foster Farms in Livingston.
"Denham's list of endorsements includes dozens of elected officials from his district, including the bulk of the local mayors and county supervisors, Republicans and Democrats alike.
"
'This election is not about Jeff Denham, it's about Don Perata,' said Kevin Spillane, a spokesman for Denham. 'This (recall) was not the result of an outpouring of local concern.'"
Matier and Ross write that opposition to the San Onofre toll road
may not be the only reason Bobby Shriver and Clint Eastwood got the boot from the parks commission.
"The fear that the two high-profile commissioners might use their considerable star power to fight a giant new power line that is set to cut across California's largest state park - with the governor's blessing - may have also played into Schwarzenegger's thinking.
"At issue is a $1.3 billion power line that San Diego Gas and Electric Co. wants to erect across a 22-mile stretch of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which covers 600,000 acres of eastern San Diego and Imperial counties.
"The Schwarzenegger administration sees the power line as an essential component of its effort to reduce greenhouse gases, because it would hook 650,000 homes in San Diego County to electricity that could be generated by a solar power plant being built in the desert and geothermal energy from the Salton Sea.
"A number of alternative routes have been identified that would bypass Anza-Borrego, but San Diego Gas and Electric says all of them would make the 150-mile project far more costly and difficult to build.
"Gubernatorial spokeswoman
Lisa Page said Friday that the only reason Bobby Shriver and Eastwood weren't reappointed was because "the governor wanted to let new people serve on the commission."
"However, no replacements have been named yet."
M&R also write: "He's won't say anything officially, but behind the scenes,
Jerry Brown is definitely laying tracks for a return trip to his old job as governor of California.
"
'I feel great,' Brown told us this past week as he headed for the gym. 'I'm in the zone.'"And indeed, in the weeks since the state Democratic Party convention in San Jose, where he publicly toyed with the idea of an unprecedented third term, the 70-year-old governor-turned-Oakland-mayor-turned-attorney general has been meeting with Democratic insiders, labor leaders and longtime supporters to go over what it would take to run in 2010.
"Although Brown stops short of any public commitment, he does say that he's "definitely taking the steps that one takes two years in advance" of a statewide campaign.
"Others are more blunt.
"'Make no mistake - he's running,' longtime Brown backer
Baxter Rice told
Willie Brown as he conveyed Jerry's congratulations to the former mayor when UCSF honored him Wednesday at the school's annual gala at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.
"(FYI - Rice will not confirm or deny making the comment.)"
George Skelton writes that the redistricting initiative
may come head-to-head with a package deal crafted by
Fabian Nuņez, which would be more favorable to Democrats.
The real question is, if John McCain is elected president, how long will it take for Gov. Brown to announce his presidential candidacy?
The Bee's Steve Wiegand writes: "Gov. Schwarzenegger
has dug into his California Dream Team campaign account for $1.26 million so far to fuel the initiative drive for a November redistricting measure.
"The plan is to take redrawing legislative and Board of Equalization district lines away from lawmakers and give it to a citizens commission.
"Given the dismal success rate of previous similar efforts (about 0 for 10), the guv is going to have to do a lot more digging."
"A year after negotiations opened with much promise, California Indian tribes and the state's gambling commission
appear headed for a landmark legal showdown over security standards for the $8 billion casino industry," writes Jim Sweeney in the Union-Tribune.
"
The clash could determine not only whether the state can set a benchmark for internal casino security, but whether and under what conditions it could unilaterally impose regulations on the industry.
"That's uncharted legal ground that gaming tribes and the commission have avoided in the eight years since California voters legalized Indian casinos.
"But the commission's chairman, a plain-spoken former police chief who has cultivated a cooperative relationship with tribes, appears to have run out of patience.
"
Dean Shelton told tribes at a hearing late last month that like it or not, the state will establish and begin enforcing minimum security standards in tribal casinos. Many tribes, whose gaming commissions spend millions each year on security, believe the state does not have that authority.
"
'Turn us down if you wish. Take us to court,' Shelton said. 'I'm not threatening you. I'm being honest with you.' In response, a number of tribes and their attorneys appear to be bracing for battle."
'If he wants to run headfirst into litigation, that's fine. He'll lose,' said Scott Crowell, an attorney for the Rincon band in North County."
"Advocates for low-income women
sued the state Thursday over a law that requires six months of residency in California to qualify for state-funded care during pregnancy and immediately after childbirth," reports Bob Egelko in the Chron.
"The 1991 law discriminates against new residents and also violates U.S. constitutional provisions that guarantee the right to travel between states without penalty, the nonprofit group Maternal and Child Health Access argued in a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court.
"The law covers uninsured pregnant women whose incomes are too high for Medi-Cal but who make no more than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, or $3,500 a month for a family of two. They are provided health coverage for themselves and their newborns, until 60 days after birth, and pay contributions of 1.5 percent of their household income.
"A bill to eliminate the six-month residency requirement won legislative approval last year but was vetoed in October by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said it would cost the state more than $1 million a year."
And some people in San Francisco are
taking their quest for lower gas prices to a higher power.
"A choir director who hopes prayer can bring down high gas prices is trying out his approach at some of the costliest pumps in the country," AP reports.
Can we get an amen?
"
Rocky Twyman of Washington, D.C., came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station. He is also calling on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he says politicians have failed.
"Twyman also works as a community organizer and public relations consultant. He has led campaigns to nominate Oprah Winfrey for the Nobel Peace Prize and to encourage African Americans to donate bone marrow."
Now, which of his three great crusades will happen first?
