Today's the last day to cash those IOUs . So, this will move the Legislature into action,
right?
Right?
The LAT's Tiffany Hsu reports, "People holding California state IOUs -- including taxpayers, vendors
and local governments -- will soon have a tougher time redeeming them,
as most major banks are standing firm on a vow not
to cash the vouchers
after today.
Many credit unions say they will continue to redeem
the IOUs for customers. But without mainstream banks
as an option,
recipients of the IOUs who need cash immediately could
be tempted to
sell them at a discount to third-party speculators, including ones
popping up on the Internet."
But now you can't even eBay them!
"Responding to that potential, the Securities and Exchange Commission
determined Thursday that the IOUs are securities under
federal law,
which will generally require anyone trading them for
profit to be a
registered securities dealer.
"The move is aimed at limiting
the risk that IOU recipients could be defrauded by
individuals or
companies that offer to buy the scrip.
"The SEC's action has
the potential to, at least a bit, reduce the shark
factor and potential
for taxpayers to get defrauded," said Tom Dresslar, spokesman for State
Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
In this week's podcast, John Myers and Anthony York get dangerously
tangled in the details of Proposition 98 funding, and wonder how and why the war of words in
Budget Land got so nasty this week.
But the big, magic finger is now pointing back at illegal
immigrants , the LAT reports.
"As California lawmakers struggle with a budget gap
that has now grown
to $26.3 billion, one of the hottest topics for many taxpayers
is the
cost to the state of illegal immigrants.
"The question of whether taxpayers should provide services
to illegal residents
became a major political issue in California's last deep recession,
culminating in the ballot fight over Proposition 187 in 1994. That
history could repeat itself in the current downturn,
as activists
opposed to illegal immigration have launched a campaign
for an
initiative that would, among other things, cut off
welfare payments to
the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants. Those children
are
eligible for welfare benefits because they are U.S.
citizens."
The Bee's Kevin Yamamura
delves deep into the world of education finance. "The Department of Finance
offered two scenarios Wednesday, based on lower June
revenue, that it
believes would eliminate a $9.6 billion long-term payment the state
would owe to schools under Proposition 98. Democrats and education groups believe the state owes
that money regardless of Finance's interpretation.
The
new scenarios would not significantly change the amount
of money paid
to schools in 2009-10, but they would alter calculations that define school
funding for years to come – a point of contention for school groups.
In another bad sign from revenue land, the LAT's Molly Hennessey-Fiske reports property tax revenues are falling to unprecedented
levels.
"For the first time in 13 years, the assessed value of all property in Los Angeles County
has declined, according to a report released Thursday by the county
assessor's office.
"County property rolls lost about $1 billion in value last fiscal
year -- losses driven largely by downward reassessments of
homes as the
housing market has slumped.
"The drop marks a step back for the county, which had
seen the value of property increase an average of
7% each year since 1996."
Meanwhile, the budget fight continues, and Michael
Rothfeld takes a look at the new ads from the California Teachers Association
blasting Gov. Schwarzenegger.
"The California Teachers Assn. unveiled a television
ad Thursday
attacking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his proposal
to suspend
Proposition 98, the law that sets funding guarantees for schools.
"Schwarzenegger last week proposed reducing the guarantee
by $3 billion
for the coming fiscal year to help address the state's $26.3-billion
deficit
"The well-funded union, which has turned public opinion against
the governor in the past, focuses its commercial
on Schwarzenegger's failure in 2005 to repay money he had promised to
return after suspending the guarantee the year before.
"He said he was
sorry," the ad says. "He said never again. . . . And now Schwarzenegger
says he'll break the minimum guarantee to our schools again."
Looks like the Barbara Boxer opposition research team is getting up
and running. The Chronicle reports, "Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, one of the world's leading
businesswomen and a possible 2010 opponent to Democratic U.S. Sen.
Barbara Boxer, tells the public she's the CEO of her own business and
the chairwoman of her own charitable foundation.
"But a Chronicle check of public records shows that
Fiorina, a former
economic adviser to 2008 GOP presidential candidate John McCain, has
never registered her Carly Fiorina Enterprises to conduct
business in
California, either with the California secretary of
state or the clerk
of Santa Clara County, where Fiorina lives.
"Records also show that her Fiorina Foundation has never
registered with
the Internal Revenue Service or the state attorney
general's charitable
trust division, which tax- exempt charities are required to do. The
foundation "enables corporations, social entrepreneurs and
philanthropists alike to address some of the world's most challenging
issues," according to Fiorina's Web site, carlyfiorina.com."
And finally, it looks like yet another drunken badger has stopped traffic in Berlin. Wait, what? Reuters has more details than
you could possibly want.
"A badger in Germany got so drunk on over-ripe cherries it staggered into the middle of a road
and refused to budge, police said on Wednesday.
"A motorist called police near the central town of Goslar to report a dead badger on a road -- only for officers to turn up and discover the animal
alive and well, but drunk.
"Police discovered the nocturnal beast had eaten cherries
from a nearby
tree which had turned to alcohol and given the badger
diarrhoea."
Ugh, thanks for that.
