State Budget

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Got the Message?

Byuclafaculty

Our friends at CSU have developed a rather blunt way of delivering the message about Prop 30. From the LA Times: Hundreds of thousands of applicants to California State University campuses this year will be receiving a warning instead of the typical warm note thanking them for their interest.The spots they are hoping to fill next year, the prospective students will be cautioned, could evaporate if the governor’s push to raise taxes in November fails. The letter also will say no admissions decisions will be made until a few weeks after the election, a departure from the usual policy of…

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Listen to Regents Afternoon Session of 9-12-12 Retreat

Byuclafaculty

In the afternoon, the Regents retreat got into the topic of differential tuition between campuses mainly, but some mention of majors as well. There didn’t seem to be much sentiment in favor of that approach.  Note that at the professional school level, there is some differentiation already but that matter was not brought up. Oddly, after all the talk of uniformity of tuition, there seemed to be a more favorable attitude toward differential offerings by campus, i.e., every program didn’t have to be offered on every campus.  This theme was really a follow-on to what was said about med schools…

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Listen to the Full Morning Session of the Regents’ Retreat of 9-12-12

Byuclafaculty

The Regents had a retreat on September 12, 2012 following a public comment period.  Below is an audio link to the morning sessions.  Public comments dealt with various issues including concerns about the search for a new chancellor at UC-Berkeley. The retreat discussion after the public comments was budget-centered as was most of the morning and afternoon segments.  The first items dealt with various financial options for improving UC cash flow and cutting certain costs related to finance.  Some of the proposals involved shifting repayment of principal on debt further into the future.  There was also some shifting of very…

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What’s Happening on the State Budget and Prop 30 to Date?

Byuclafaculty

The state controller reports that tax revenue for July and August (first two months of the fiscal year) is about on target relative to the June budget estimates (although the amount collected on particular taxes from various targets deviates from the estimates, plus and minus).  Disbursements, however, are up relative to budget estimates by roughly $3 billion which shows up as more borrowing by the general fund from other state funds.  (Why that overage occurred is not explained.) However, the big uncertainty about the budget this year is whether the governor’s tax initiative passes in November.  So far, the media…

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Something for the Suggestion Box

Byuclafaculty

The Chancellor’s email sent yesterday discussed various options for UCLA funding in view of the limited outlook for state support. One of them was philanthropy: Enhanced philanthropyUCLA raised $402 million in private support this past year, and we have averaged $420 million per year for the past five years. This record of success routinely places UCLA among the top 10 universities in fundraising—public or private. In fact, we are the number one fundraiser in the country among public universities. Our success says much about the passion of our donors, the vision and quality of our faculty and academic leaders, and…

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Issue ads may quack like ducks…

Byuclafaculty

…but technically, they are not ducks.  We have noted in earlier posts on this blog that a) Governor Brown seems to have a big campaign funding advantage for his tax initiative – Prop 30, but that b) “issue ads” that are not technically part of the campaign against Prop 30 have been airing on the radio.  Apparently, a new TV ad is airing sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which can be inferred to suggest voting against tax increases, but doesn’t mention Prop 30 (or the other two tax propositions on the ballot). Exactly why the U.S. Chamber is…

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More Sausage, Sacramento Style

Byuclafaculty

A couple of days ago, we provided some insights into the sausage making of a bill in the legislature that would lower tuition with revenue from closing a corporate tax loophole. Today’s LA Times carries an interesting article on the sausage making process behind the governor’s tax initiative on the November ballot, the initiative the Regents have endorsed. Basically, the article looks at the sources of funding for the campaign.  The theme is that various large firms in industries that might be hit by proposals for specific taxes (such as oil, liquor, and soft drinks) if the initiative doesn’t pass…

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Money Race on Governor’s Initiative

Byuclafaculty

In a posting yesterday, we noted that the opponents of the governor’s tax initiative (Prop 30) have begun campaigning with radio “issue” ads. It appears, however, that in the race to raise money for the election campaign, a lot more has been raised to support the initiative than to oppose it.  There were concerns that the “paycheck protection” initiative (Prop 32) – which also is on the ballot in November – would divert union funds away from from the governor’s campaign.  (Prop 32 would ban union payroll dues deductions from being used for political purposes.)  Indeed, much funding has gone…