The Bee's Steve Wiegand looks at the mess that is California, and whether or not Gerry Parsky can fix it.
"Now a special commission is set to present the Legislature
with proposals to dramatically restructure the tax
system. Two other
reform groups are pushing changes that include, among
other things,
revising the state's budgeting process and overhauling the state
constitution.
"How well any of the reforms succeed in improving
California's financial stew may depend on how much the state has
learned from the deficiencies of the current recipe.
For example, that
stew just doesn't have enough rich people."
Mmmmmm...rich people stew....
Eric Bailey looks at the release of the Tax Commission report . "As the commission they formed for that purpose prepares
to release its
final report this week, business leaders are grumbling, labor unions
have turned wary and once-bullish lawmakers are backing away.
The recommendations from the Commission on the 21st Century Economy,
which include some revolutionary ideas such as scrapping
the sales tax
and imposing a broad and untested new business levy,
have been met with
shrugs and even a few snickers.
"It's not cooked," said state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who was a tax lawyer for decades. "It probably needs years of work."
Republicans
like some of what they see, such as the plan's call for a flatter
income tax, but they don't expect to make much headway in a Capitol
dominated by Democrats.
"This is the most significant tax policy
proposal in three decades," said Assemblyman Chuck Devore (R-Irvine).
"But the chances of this getting approved, as is, are
zero percent."
Kelly Zito reports the state is looking at charging polluters a fee for emitting greehouse gasses .
"The proposed program from the California Air Resources
Board and the
fledgling regional effort are designed to use the fees
to pay for
measuring, monitoring and studying the emissions blamed
for global
climate change.
"While health and environmental advocates say tracking
greenhouse
gases is an important step in the state's plan to battle climate
change, big emitters say there is a risk of creating
an unfair
hodgepodge of regulations and fees."
Just wondering -- is there anything teh Air Resources Board doesn't do?
With kids back in school, the realities of the state
budget have begun to hit home. Mitchell Landsberg looks
at growing class sizes in Los Angeles County.
"The impact of California's budget cuts has varied from school to
school. Because of the patchwork of federal and state
funding for
education, some campuses have felt the pinch far less
than others. But
at schools like Fairfax, hard hit by the $6 billion in education
reductions enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
this is shaping up to be one difficult year.
"I'm very
frustrated," Collier said. "I mean, it's a good class -- it's an honors
class, and the kids are really good. But it's unreasonable to ask me to
teach a class of 48 kids and give attention to everybody."
"Theoretically,
the budget cuts have hit almost every school district
equally. But some
districts, especially those with growing enrollment,
have weathered the
storm because they salted money away during flush years
or extracted
significant concessions from labor unions, according
to Scott Plotkin,
executive director of the California School Boards Assn.
Robert Kreier looks at the winter's rainfall forecasts, and the promises of El Niño. "Most of them say the odds still slightly favor a wetter-than-normal
rainfall season in California, which could use a drenching after three
straight years of drought. But the fledgling El Niño is showing signs
of losing steam.
“If I were buying up water futures, I would not be reaching
deep
into my wallet at this point,” said Jan Null, a former forecaster for
the National Weather Service who now runs a meteorological
company.
"California's water managers are taking a similar stance: They're
not relying on El Niño to fill the state's depleted reservoirs. The
shrinking supply has forced many water providers — including virtually
all of the ones in San Diego County — to implement voluntary or
mandatory restrictions on usage.
Congrats to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who became the father of a baby girl late last week.
I know this because I read about it on the mayor's Twitter feed.
"Montana Tessa Newsom was born at 12:39 p.m. and is 20.5 inches long and
7 pounds, 12 ounces. Montana is where Newsom married his wife,
Jennifer
Siebel Newsom. (Her family has a home there.) And Tessa is the name of
Newsom's late mother."
Lucky for the little girl, the Newsoms didn't get married in Humptulips, Wa ...
