On the table

Jun 9, 2009

 

The Merc's Kurtis Anderson notes Abel Maldonado is not ruling out new taxes . " Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado, who broke party ranks earlier this year to support a Democratic-led tax increase, says again every option for closing the state's budget gap must be considered, including new taxes.

 

"California faces a staggering shortfall of $24 billion, and unless the hole is plugged in the next two weeks, the state risks losing credit needed to pay its bills. Yet new taxes, which Republican leaders staunchly oppose, have been scarcely mentioned as part of the budget solution.

With all this talk of cut, cut cut, some groups are now starting to articulate their case for new taxes and fees. And even the administration is looking for new ways to get some cash.

 

"The Schwarzenegger administration has not given up hopes of renewing off-shore oil drilling as part of the budget deal . Capitol Weekly's John Howard reports, "An attempt to make an end-run around the three-member State Lands Commission and place authority over offshore oil leasing in the hands of the governor's budget-writing office is being pushed by the Schwarzenegger administration over the opposition of many environmentalists, the commission itself and Democrats who represent coastal areas.

 

"This project is good for California," Tom Sheehy, a ranking official of the state Department of Finance, said at a recent Lands Commission hearing about the lease sought by Plains Exploration & Production, or PXP, a Texas-based independent oil and natural gas producer. The company wants to drill slant wells through from a federal platform just outside state waters off Santa Barbara County. The plan, which would be in effect through 2022, is known as the Tranquillon Ridge project."

 

The State Lands commission rejected the proposal on a partisan, 2-1 vote earlier this year. 

 

"In the wake of the Commission's decision, a new effort has emerged in the Capitol to get the project approved. A draft of bill language is circulating before the budget conference committee that would take authority over the lease away from the State Lands Commission - which has handled offshore oil leases since 1938 - and give it instead to Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance."

 

Others are also starting to talk up the need for more revenue, albeit from very different sources, reports the Bee's Steve Wiegand. ""The solution to this budget problem is not to slash and burn education but to re-evaluate our revenue policy," Jeff Freitas, a lobbyist for the California Federation of Teachers told a legislative budget committee last week.

 

Among the proposals are increases in the income tax for the wealthiest Californians, a hike in the vehicle license fee, and a new tax on oil production. Not exactly new ideas.

 

Meanwhile, the Save Our Bacon Brigade is mobilizing in bits and pieces, as interst groups begin to articulate why they should be spared from the budget axe. And CW's Malcolm Maclachlan reports park advocates are pointing to a new study by Cal State researchers who say cutting park funding is a bad idea. 

 

"In the face of a $24 billion budget deficit, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed cutting all $150 in annual general fund money to the parks system. Under the administration's plan, 220 of the state's 279 parks would be closed.

 

"That would be a bad move, according to researchers at SSU's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Administration. According to survey results taken from the fall of 2007 through this February, California state parks are visited 75 million times each year.These visitors, in turn, spend $4.3 billion in "park-related expenditures" each year. This money generates $300 million in sales tax revenue to state government. This includes $122 million in sales tax revenue each year generated by out of state visitors.

"You've got 80 percent of the state parks budget being picked up by non-Californians just in the generation of sales tax," said Dr. Anthony Sheppard, a professor in the Parks and Tourism Department."

 

Michael Rothfeld checks out the proverbial blood on the budget floor, and looks at the governor's plan to cut some state mandates for services on local governments. "By suspending the laws, which would require agreement from the Legislature, the state could save $100 million a year, a fraction of its projected $24-billion deficit. And counties and cities would not have to follow dictates that have existed in some cases since the 1970s.

"Local governments would no longer have to run programs to help infants exposed to drugs. They would not have to keep stray animals alive for three extra days before euthanizing them. No longer would they have to conduct an AIDS test on suspects whose blood comes in contact with their victims, or notify those who report stolen cars of the location and condition of recovered vehicles.

"If local officials chose to continue the programs, they would have to find money for them, even though many have had to cut budgets already and the governor wants the state to borrow from their revenues."

 

Peter Hecht notes the cautious silence coming from the gubernatorial wanna-bes on all things budget related .

 

"Past and potential future Gov. Jerry Brown may have played it safest when he passed on a question from a San Diego radio host recently on how he would solve California's historic budget crisis.

 

"You certainly don't – a year and a half before you get going – tell everybody what you would do, because that's a recipe for failure," he quipped.

 

Quipped?

 

Former eBay CEO and Republican candidate Meg Whitman campaigns across California, advocating job cuts to net a 10 percent "head count" reduction in California's 345,000-person state workforce.

 

But she got a brushback from Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear, who suggested such across-the-board cuts are all but impossible."

 

Antonio Villaraigosa, meanwhile, heads back to Sacramento today to lead a posse of local officials to lobby against budget cuts to cities and counties. 

 

"A former member of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cabinet who resigned in March has paid $5,400 in fines to a state watchdog agency for violating a ban on accepting speaking fees , while saying administration officials knew what she was doing and never advised her to stop," Michael Rothfeld reports. 

"Rosario Marin, who led the State and Consumer Services Agency for three years, admitted to three violations of the state's ethics law under a settlement with the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

"The settlement is subject to approval by the five-member commission at its next meeting June 18. Marin could have been fined $15,000, but commission staff took into account her explanation that she got bad legal advice.

 

And finally, from our Goin' Fishin' Files, "A 30-year-old Mexican national was arrested while trying to smuggle 24 pounds of marijuana ashore on a surfboard , the U.S. Border Patrol said.

"The bag later washed ashore, containing five packages of marijuana with an estimated street value of $74,400, agents said. The suspect, whose name was not released, admitted that he was in the U.S. illegally, agents said."