Author: uclafaculty

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Legislative Agenda

Byuclafaculty

From the San Francisco Chronicle: After a monthlong break, the Legislature returns to work at the Capitol on Monday to take on one of the Golden State’s thorniest issues:public employee pensions. The Senate and Assembly have just four weeks to vote on hundreds of bills before the two-year session concludes at the end of the month, but the main focus will be on changing the pension compensation system. Just what those changes will entail is unclear. Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed increasing the retirement age and creating a hybrid system that includes a 401(k)-style benefit, among other things, but lawmakers have yet to approve those or anything else. Legislative leaders…

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Can’t Help: Part II

Byuclafaculty

Yesterday’s posting noted the scandal of undetected state park funds and the negative impact that affair could have on the likelihood that the governor’s tax initiative on the November ballot will be approved by voters.  In fact, any news item that suggests misspending of state funds is likely to have a negative effect.  Today’s Sacramento Bee carries a story related to the rebuilding of the Bay Bridge.  It was found that a Caltrans employee – since departed – had faked certain safety test data.  There were assurances that everything was OK nonetheless and it was just one bad apple. Turns…

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Can’t help

Byuclafaculty

You may have noticed various headlines about hidden funds the state was holding for parks. Usually, when we talk about the state budget, we are referring to the general fund which is the operating budget for the state.  However, many other funds have been created for specialized purposes.  Some have earmarked taxes that feed them, e.g., the gasoline tax for transportation. Transportation is the biggest area of such non-general fund budgets.  But there are many other funds – some containing a few thousand dollars. When the general fund gets into trouble, the state borrows from the other funds. It puts…

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Money Race

Byuclafaculty

To recap prior posts: There are 3 tax initiatives on the ballot.  The governor’s tax initiative has been endorsed by the Regents.  Then there is the Molly Munger school tax and a close-corporate-loophole tax.  Politico wisdom is that having multiple initiatives on the same general subject is confusing and may lead to defeat of all.  The Munger and loophole initiatives have not polled well.  The governor’s initiative is polling marginally ahead but could easily be defeated which would produce trigger cuts midyear including to UC. News reports are that various unions have been contributing to the governor’s tax campaign although some…

How Did We Let Him Get Away?

Byuclafaculty

Less than two years after leaving office, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is pumping up his political and academic profile — and will head the Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy at the University of Southern California, a new think tank to advance “post-partisan” politics. The Republican former governor told the San Francisco Chronicle that he’ll formally announce the establishment of the partnership Thursday at USC, where his Institute will be housed in the Sol Price School of Public Policy. Schwarzenegger will chair the Institute’s Board of Advisors, and he has also been appointed the inaugural Governor Downey Professor of State and Global Policy at USC, a post in honor of  the…

Yet More Pepper

Byuclafaculty

Just when you thought there could not be more to contemplate about the UC-Davis pepper spray incident, there is this from the Sacramento Bee: The internal affairs investigation into last November’s pepper-spraying controversy at UC-Davis concluded that Lt. John Pike acted reasonably, with a subsequent review concluding he should have faced demotion or a suspension at worst, according to documents obtained by The Bee. Despite those recommendations, Pike was fired Tuesday after UC Davis Police Chief Matthew Carmichael rejected the findings and wrote in a letter to Pike that “the needs of the department do not justify your continued employment,” according to…

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Back Home in Indiana (Where the Campus Hotel Pays Taxes)

Byuclafaculty

We have noted in past blog posts on the UCLA proposed hotel/conference center that the business plan assumes that the hotel is tax exempt (because it is – and has to be – non-commercial).  One of the anecdotes cited at the July Regents meeting session that approved the hotel financing plan was a campus hotel at Indiana Uuiversity.  (Listen to the link below.)  Above is a screenshot of the webpage for that hotel.  If you go on that webpage and book a room, you will find that the room cost includes TAX. This is the problem.  Many of the uses…

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More Email Fraud: Don’t Answer

Byuclafaculty

More email fraud/spam you should not answer that may have appeared in your e-mailbox.  If you did reply, you might have noticed that the reply address is not at UCLA.  Change your password immediately if you did reply: This Email is from UCLA Communications. We have been monitoring this account through our server’s log file and have noticed that this account is been accessed from different distinct location simultaneously as against webmail policy, for security purpose we will be shutting down this Account unless you verify this account by filling out the outlined Information below or your account will be…

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Advice from the Beatles on the Japanese Garden

Byuclafaculty

In earlier posts, we have noted advice from Fredric March and Winston Churchill to UCLA on the sale of the Japanese Garden – now halted by court order.  The local newspaper for the Japanese-American community in LA, Rafu Shimpo, has a lengthy article today on the sale and the court decision which also suggests the sensitivity of this matter to the Japanese-American community.  Example: …One garden supporter commented that choosing Aug. 15 — V-J (Victory over Japan) Day — as the day to open the bids “tells us how they are culturally senseless as a world-class educational institution.”… Full article…