politics

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Events May Divert the Governor from MOOCs, etc., at the Regents in 2014

Byuclafaculty

Jerry Brown will almost certainly be running for re-election in 2014.  It doesn’t look like there will be much of a contest but there will be at least some effort devoted to the campaign. But apart from re-election, Brown is facing some “legacy” problems.  During his first iteration as governor, he wasn’t big – to say the least – on grand infrastructure, unlike his father Pat.  However, this time around, there is the high-speed rail project and the water tunnel project, both grand and expensive.  These projects are analogs to his dad’s freeways and state water project.  The high speed…

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The Rewards of Good Behavior (and the penalties for the reverse)

Byuclafaculty

With a possible pension initiative coming to the ballot, it would be nice if public pension plans stayed on Good Behavior.  Alas: Federal investigators are looking into allegations that CalPERS violated insider trading laws this year when it purchased $26.6 million in restricted stock and then decided it didn’t need to reverse the trades when they were discovered. Two sources with knowledge of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s inquiry say on condition of anonymity that it involves stock purchases that the nation’s largest public pension fund made in March, including nearly $24 million in global financial firm JPMorgan Chase & Co….

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Trying to Weigh the Court Decision on San Jose Pensions

Byuclafaculty

We have been posting about a potential state ballot initiative allowing California government employers (including UC), to change pension benefit formulas of current employees going forward.  We have noted that inclusion of UC is not a Good Thing.  Please see prior posts for info. A news item that appeared yesterday about a similar measure that was enacted in San Jose indicates that the city measure seems to have been voided in part by a court decision.  Readers will know that Mayor Reed of San Jose has been the front man for the state initiative.  What is odd about the article…

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Wait and See

Byuclafaculty

We posted earlier about general plans for the state budget by the legislative Democrats which promise “more” for higher ed and UC than the Legislative Analyst’s projections seemed to imply.  It is unclear if there is more than what the governor will propose in early January. Below are two slides from a presentation by the legislative Democrats.  But wait and see is probably the best advice at this moment.  Note that the projections all assume uninterrupted economic expansion which is hard to guarantee. You can find the full set of slides at http://asmdc.org/issues/budget-blueprint/images/2014-15-blueprint-for-a-responsible-budget-v7cw.pdf

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We Got a Mention

Byuclafaculty

Maybe not so fast An earlier post on this blog described the recent Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) report that projected that, with a combination of continued economic growth and Prop 30 revenues while they are in effect, California’s “structural” deficit had ended.  We also noted that included in the LAO projections was what me termed an ungenerous assumption about spending on UC.  We have also been posting excerpts from Regents meetings in which the governor and Speaker Pérez have also made ungenerous remarks.  [Pérez, however, is now in the race for state controller and indicated that a transition to a…

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If You Don’t Want to Talk to the Piper, Why Not Talk to the Piper’s Paymaster?

Byuclafaculty

As blog readers will know, there is currently a potential ballot initiative on public pensions and other retiree benefits (health care) that as written sweeps in UC.  We won’t rehash why it would be best if UC was excluded – as it ultimately was from the governor’s pension bill.  But let’s just say for purposes of this posting that excluding UC would be a Good Thing. At present, there is no rush needed to get signatures for 2014, or possibly 2016.  And we have suggested in the past that the folks in UCOP might want to talk to San Jose…

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Lessons from Berkeley’s White Elephant Stadium for UCLA, the Regents, and UC?

Byuclafaculty

People keep noticing Berkeley’s White Elephant money-draining stadium – one of the grand capital projects that the Regents routinely approve based on pretty slides and business plans offered by the campuses.  Peter Schrag in the San Francisco Chronicle today ties the low graduation rates of Berkeley athletes with the stadium: …Fueling the… issue is the chronic matter of cost – what the university kicks in to the sports program – and what someone called “its gold plated” spending. Brian Barsky, a Berkeley computer science professor and vocal critic of the athletics program, says between 2003 and 2011, athletics “drained campus…

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Losing Our Edge

Byuclafaculty

Probably a different Edge Report: Calif. losing its edge in higher education SAN FRANCISCO — More attention must be paid to the California State University system and to the state’s community colleges if California is going to produce the educated workers its economy needs, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom says in a report set to be issued Tuesday.  The report commissioned by Newsom argues that the state is losing its place as a national leader in higher education.  The report, prepared by the nonpartisan Committee for Economic Development based in Washington, D.C., finds that the percentage of young adults earning associate…

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JFK Talks with Pat Brown and Jerry Brown

Byuclafaculty

JFK at UCLA: Nov. 2, 1959 Since today is the fiftieth anniversary of the JFK assassination, there is much in the news media about that event.  Rather than focus on that episode, we present a) the photo you see of Kennedy as a senator speaking at UCLA in 1959, and b) a Dictabelt recording of Kennedy talking on the phone as president to Governor Pat Brown and son Jerry Brown in 1962. Some background: Various recording technologies were in use in the early 1960s.  Tape and wire recorders were introduced in the period after World War II.  (Germany had made…

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Maybe the Regents Finally Got the Attention of the Governor on the UC Pension Issue

Byuclafaculty

We noted in a post yesterday that the LAO was forecasting rosy budget times ahead for the state but nonetheless seemed to want a budget freeze for UC.  Today, the news media are full of statements by Gov. Brown warning the legislature not to party and to behave frugally.  We also noted in prior posts on the recent Regents meeting that the Regents were somewhat bolder with the governor.  After the usual thank-you-thank-yours for Prop 30, they passed a budget proposal with more money than the governor wanted and pointed especially to the imbalance whereby the state automatically funds the…