Should oil refineries in California be allowed to emit extra greenhouse gases if they “offset” their effects by paying hog farmers in Iowa to reduce methane from animal waste? Or by paying landowners to promise to take better care of their trees? In other words, should offset trading based on...
Opinion: Tax Hike on Employers Isn’t Necessary as State Enjoys Revenue Windfall
California’s state government has so much money it could be constitutionally required to give taxpayers a rebate, so it’s somewhat surprising that a group of lawmakers continues to push for a multibillion-dollar tax hike on employers. Assembly Bill 71 would impose a $2.4 billion-a-year tax increase on businesses, including a corporate income...
How California’s Budget Depends on Staggering Wealth Gap
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $227 billion California spending plan is setting records in more ways than one. Were his budget proposal approved by lawmakers as is, the state would spend an unprecedented amount to fend off poverty, eviction and K-12 education loss for California’s most vulnerable residents in the 2021-22 fiscal year. And...
Walters: Semi-Secret ‘Trailer Bills’ Pop Up
Conceptually, writing legislation to implement the annual state budget makes perfect sense. In practice, so-called “trailer bills” have become vehicles to semi-secretly do things that might otherwise be difficult to do, often with little or no relationship to the budget. They are drafted behind closed doors and quickly enacted with...
Walters: Should California Borrow More or Tax More?
The state budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed earlier this summer had been hastily adjusted to cope with projections that state revenues would plummet by tens of billions of dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden recession it sparked. Nevertheless, it was a budget based on hope —...
Newsom Threatens to Withhold County Funds Over COVID Compliance
SACRAMENTO — As California sees a worrisome rise in the number of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened Wednesday to withhold up to $2.5 billion in the upcoming state budget from local governments that fail to comply with state mandates on wearing masks, testing and other measures meant...
Newsom Agrees to Nix Cuts for Seniors, Others
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom has agreed not to cut funding for child care programs and health insurance for low-income older adults as part of his plan to cover the state's estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit. Newsom's budget proposal had recommended making fewer older adults eligible for Medicaid to save...
Newsom and Lawmakers Pursue ‘Mutually Repugnant’ Budget Compromise
Even with the process controlled entirely by Democrats, a certain degree of tension is wired into the annual ritual of crafting a state budget in Sacramento. The spending plan, after all, is a powerful opportunity for the governor and each house of the Legislature to demonstrate their priorities in caring...
California Lawmakers Budget Plan Rejects Newsom's Cuts to Public Schools, Healthcare
SACRAMENTO — California's Legislative leaders on Wednesday rejected billions of dollars in budget cuts to public schools and health care services that Gov. Gavin Newsom had proposed, setting up a fight with the governor over how to close the state's estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit. Flush with cash just six...
California Senate Plan Would Reject Most of Governor’s Cuts
SACRAMENTO — The California Senate's plan to make up the state's estimated $54.3 billion budget deficit rejects Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposed cuts to public education and health care programs — and instead takes more money from reserves and delays billions of dollars in payments to school districts. The Senate's plan,...