Gov. Brown courted his political opponents -- inlcuding well-heeled Republicans -- as he angled for backing for his state budget. There were glimmers of support for his taxes-and-cuts spending plan, but all were a long
way from actually putting anything on the ballot.
From the LAT's Anthony York and Marc Lifsher: "In his first public event outside Sacramento since
becoming governor, Brown told the Los Angeles Area
Chamber of Commerce on Thursday evening that his bid
for billions in taxes is vital to the state's economic
survival."
"The alternative is not good," Brown told the group,
explaining that absent the taxes, state services will
be cut deeply and painfully. "Help me and I'll help
you." The speech capped several
days of meetings with many of the state's top business
figures, held in hopes
that they will pressure Republican legislators to support
Brown's proposal to
place a tax extension before voters in June."
The pain and the legality of the governor's proposed social
service cuts are drawing frequent protests at the Capitol, notes the Bee's Dan Walters.
"It's no small matter. Safety-net cuts and shifts
represent, by far, the biggest chunk of his plan's
permanent spending
reductions to narrow the budget gap – which is why, of course, the pushback
from program advocates is so vociferous."
"Perhaps more importantly, they would demonstrate to
the
voting public that Brown and a Legislature dominated
by liberal Democrats are
serious about reducing spending.
That, he hopes, would make voters more willing to approve
the second half of his plan, the five-year extension of $11.2 billion a year in
temporary taxes that are now expiring."
Having lawyers regulating themselves through the State
Bar creates problems, and it's time to change that venerable procedure, says the Bar's president. The Chronicle's Bob Egelko
tells the tale.
"Under pressure from lawmakers, the State Bar's president
says it's time for lawyers to end their status as California's only
self-regulating profession and allow the state Supreme Court,
rather than
attorneys themselves, to choose their governing board."
"I think there is a perception that we've got the
fox guarding the henhouse," William Hebert, a San Francisco lawyer,
said Thursday…Under his plan, the bar's board of governors, which
regulates
California's 232,000 lawyers and oversees their disciplinary system for
ethical
violations, would consist of 11 lawyers appointed by the state Supreme Court
and six representatives chosen by the governor and
the Legislature."
Another venerable procedure should be changed, too: The method by which public workers get pensions. That's the view of the Legislative Analyst, notes CalPensions' Ed Mendel.
"The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, saying
current public pension systems are “too expensive and inflexible,“ is
recommending two new pension models for future hires
that shift some risk to
workers and lower government debt."
"A new “cost sharing” plan would increase contributions
from both employees and employers when a pension fund
needs more money due to
investment shortfalls or other reasons…The other model is a “hybrid” combining a pension system
that provides lower benefits with a 401(k)-style individual investment plan,
now increasingly common in the private sector."
California spent a staggering $90 million a day on jobless benefits for the unemployed,
a record by far. The LAT's Alana Semuels has the story.
"California's Employment Development Department spent
$22.9
billion on unemployment benefits in 2010, a record amount, the EDD said
Thursday. The benefits, paid to 1.7 million Californians, average out to about
$90 million each business day..."
"The state paid out $20.2 billion in unemployment benefits
in 2009. That topped the previous record of $8 billion that the state
paid out in 2008. Some of the increase can be attributed to the federal
unemployment benefit extensions passed by Congress
in 2008 and 2009."
And finally, from our "Let Your Fingers do the Walking" file, we learn that the telephone book is good for
something -- if you're a crook. Or a lover of laptops.
"When Officer Augello opened the package, it was indeed
a
phony parcel. Inside, there was a phone book, sealed
in saran-wrap and bound
with packing tape. The phone book was from Tallahassee. He (the suspect) was trying to convince people that there was a laptop
inside."
"He had a warrant out of Torrance, California for
basically doing this exact same thing that he didn't
get to do here in
Tampa," Officer Augello. Inside the car, they found boxes, boxes and more boxes
from FedEx, along with packing tape. They also found
phony tags and labels that
looked like it belonged to an Apple computer.”
But the hard drive never crashes...
