politics

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Crane Might Fly With Budget/Pension Deal (Or Not): We Will Likely Be in Suspense Until Next Wednesday

Byuclafaculty

Regent-designate David Crane was appointed in the waning moments of the Schwarzenegger regime. Crane is noted for favoring the Schwarzenegger-Whitman approach to public pensions. That might make it unlikely under normal circumstances that the Democrats in the legislature would bless his last-minute appointment. Note that if they don’t approve Crane, that denial of a seat would give Governor Brown the opportunity to name someone else. However, Crane has lately been writing that unions should not be blamed for the pension problem, which might make his case more palatable to legislative Democrats – particularly in the context of budget negotiations and…

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They’re Not Thinking About Our Problems

Byuclafaculty

The May Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll is out today and you will be reading stories in the press about the detailed views of the public on various state issues including the state budget and state governance problems. Obviously, the budget and governance are very important to UC. But hidden in the poll is an important message. Take a look at the table below. What is obvious is that the public, including voters, are not losing sleep over the issues that pollsters ask about except one: “jobs/economy.” Yes, if pressed, respondents will answer questions about other issues. But…

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UC Drops Opposition to Foundation Transparency Bill

Byuclafaculty

From Capitol Alert (Sacramento Bee): The third time is shaping up to be the charm for Sen. Leland Yee’s push to bring more transparency to the state’s public universities. The University of California and California State University systems have dropped their opposition to the San Francisco Democrat’s bill, Senate Bill 8, which would require university associations and foundations at the state’s universities and community colleges to comply with the California Public Records Act…http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifFull article at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/05/leland-yee-california-university-public-records-act.html (Yee is running for Mayor of San Francisco.) UPDATE: A more detailed account is at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/26/MN971JKSNG.DTL

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All Clear Siren on Pension

Byuclafaculty

From the Sacramento Bee State Worker blog today: Former Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello said he will not pursue a signature-gathering campaign for his pension reform proposal because of the diminishing likelihood of a special election on taxes later this year. “Our urgency is gone,” he said. “The reason for filing this measure was to have something in line for a November election alongside the measure on taxes, but that appears unlikely to happen now.” … Full article at: http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2011/05/niellos-pension-reform-initiat.html#ixzz1NNCGZ65A Possible translation: I don’t have $1 million+ needed to get the signatures.

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Pension Initiative OK’d for Circulation

Byuclafaculty

The pension initiative that was filed by legislative Republicans negotiating with Gov. Brown on the state budget now has a title and summary language and so it can be circulated for the needed signatures. It includes UC and would override the Regents’ pension changes enacted last December. Like all initiatives, however, unless someone wants to spend $1-$2 million for commercial firms to get those signatures, it won’t go beyond this stage. The added summary language is below. The actual text of the initiative is below that:May 23, 2011Initiative 11-0007 (Amdt. #1-NS.) The Attorney General of California has prepared the following…

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Circulating Cap

Byuclafaculty

The initiative filed to place a formula cap on state spending can now be circulated with the summary and title below. As prior posts have noted, this initiative seems to have been filed as part of negotiations between Republican legislators and the governor regarding the state budget. It essentially rejuvenates the old Gann Limit concept that voters approved in the wake of Prop 13 but later gutted. Whether someone has the needed $1-$2 million to hire signature gathering firms is unknown. The governor said in his May revise oral presentation that he supports a cap. He did not specify the…

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Who Will Bail Out UC?

Byuclafaculty

The parking of a Hummer belonging to Lipstick Bail Bonds (slogan: “Kiss Jail Goodbye”) at the UCLA med center recently raises the issue of who bails out UC if the governor’s tax extensions-resumptions don’t pass. Students, apparently, will be the answer: UC tuition might jump 32% if tax proposal fails, official says UC President Mark G. Yudof tells regents that this fall’s 8% tuition increase may be dwarfed by an additional 32% midyear hike if Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan for tax extensions is not approved. By Larry Gordon, Los Angeles Times May 19, 2011 Reporting from San Francisco — University…

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Video: The Governor’s May Revise News Conference

Byuclafaculty

An earlier post on this blog analyzes the May Revise news conference held by Gov. Brown on May 16. There is video of that news conference on the governor’s website but – at least on my computer – it tended to pause and freeze. The version on the calchannel was even worse and caused a total crash at one point. So below is the video transplanted to YouTube by yours truly which works best. It is divided into 4 parts due to YouTube time limits. Part 2, it might be noted, contains a statement by the governor that he would…

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State Spending Cap Could End Up on Ballot: Background

Byuclafaculty

Tomorrow is the day Governor Brown is supposed to unveil his May-revise budget. Various elements have been leaking out to the news media. There was also an announcement concerning closing selected state parks which reflects an element of political theater as well as the reality of the continuing budget crisis. Earlier posts have noted that Republicans have indicated that they might accept a deal that would include putting on the ballot a state spending cap. By way of background, California has a state spending cap – the Gann Limit – passed by voters in 1979 in the wake of Prop…