State Budget

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Letter to Yudof: UC Davis may ax 500 jobs to cope with budget cuts

Byuclafaculty

UC Davis may ax 500 jobs to cope with budget cuts Mar. 1, 2011, Sacramento Bee, Laurel Rosenhall UC Davis will probably eliminate 450 to 500 jobs, charge students extra fees and make it harder for California students to be admitted as a result of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to cut $500 million from the University of California’s statewide budget. UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi listed those changes in a letter to UC President Mark Yudof that outlined how the cuts would affect the campus. UC Davis’ plan assumes the campus will face a $107 million shortfall in 2011-12, Katehi…

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News from the Legislature for Legal Beagles

Byuclafaculty

A complex game is playing out over whether a simple majority or a super-majority of the legislature could place Governor Brown’s proposed tax extensions on the ballot. You might think that the Democrats, who have a majority but not a 2/3 majority, would be eager for a ruling that only a simple majority is required. But, in fact, it is the Republicans who have sought such an opinion and now have one from the legislature’s legislative counsel. There appear to be two advantages to the Republicans of an opinion that suggests a simple majority would do the trick. First, none…

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How Now Brown Budget? The Clock is Ticking

Byuclafaculty

As previous posts have noted, Gov. Brown needs a 2/3 vote to put his tax extension proposals – which are an integral part of his budget plan – on the ballot by June. (The current fiscal year ends June 30.) It is unusual for a governor to testify before a legislative committee but he did so yesterday. Most of the testimony was in fact aimed at legislative Republicans who have made no-tax-increase pledges. A video of the testimony from the Sacramento Bee is below. The references to dispensations and vows refer both to the pledges and the governor’s Jesuit background….

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Where Is the Budget? Gov. Brown Is Having Diffculty With His Own Party

Byuclafaculty

California voters last November approved a change in the state constitution allowing budgets to be passed with a simple majority vote. As prior posts noted, it appears that Gov. Brown’s budget, while it can be passed with a simple majority, is linked to a ballot proposition that will likely need a 2/3 vote. But put aside the 2/3 problem for a moment. As of now, it is not clear that Brown can get a majority vote for the budget itself, even though both houses of the legislature are controlled by Democrats. The TV ad below is a good illustration of…

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Mind the Gap! The Gap Between the LAO Forecast for Revenue in Budget Outyears and the Governor’s

Byuclafaculty

The Legislative Analyst has posted a forecast for the three major taxes that feed the state budget that is more pessimistic than the governor’s forecast. However, the gap mainly occurs in the outyears, i.e., years beyond the current budget proposal for 2011-12. The forecasts include the governor’s proposed tax extensions which would have to be approved by voters. However, the difference between the two forecasts (LAO vs. governor) is based on underlying assumptions about state economic performance. So presumably, a similar gap would exist regardless of what future tax rates are assumed. The chart below summarizes the gap: LAO includes…

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The Iceman Cometh: Will UC Feel Compelled to Follow Gov. Brown’s Hiring Freeze?

Byuclafaculty

Earlier today, Gov. Brown froze hiring at state agencies with only limited exceptions. In his executive order, he “requests” that agencies not under his direct control implement similar programs. (See the bold oversize text below.) Below is the text of the order: EXECUTIVE ORDER B-3-11 WHEREAS, California’s significant imbalance between revenues and expenditures has resulted in an estimated budget deficit of $25.4 billion; and WHEREAS, strong measures must be implemented to reduce costs and to regain and safeguard the trust of the people of California; and WHEREAS, Executive Order B-1-11, issued on January 11, 2011, ordered state agencies and departments…

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LAO Describes Slash and Burn Budget if Voters Do Not Approve Tax Extensions

Byuclafaculty

As prior posts have noted, Gov. Brown at one point seemed poised to present a budget from Hell that would assume no tax extensions. He would then offer the tax extensions as salvation. However, that strategy was not followed and the budget actually proposed assumes voters enact the tax extensions. However, the Legislative Analyst has – at the request of some legislators – has in fact indicated what a budget from Hell might look like. Below is an item excerpted from Capital Alert that describes the finding and notes the higher ed implications: Legislative analyst identifies massive cuts if taxes…

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Video of Yudof Testimony on Budget Cut at State Assembly

Byuclafaculty

UC President Yudof testified at the State Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Educational Finance last Monday. Below are videos of his testimony and questions-and-answers with assembly members. The video is divided into two parts because of time-limits on Facebook. As a previous post noted, he indicated that there would not be another tuition hike in response to the governor’s proposed budget cut for UC. But that was contingent on, among other things, voter passage of the governor’s proposed tax extensions. Also notable was Yudof’s remark that tuition hikes help low-income students because of the recycling of one third of tuition revenue…

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Crack Up: Campuses Beginning to Resist UCOP’s Allocation of Budget Cut

Byuclafaculty

As things get tough, the notion of a unified UC system ultimately controlled from Oakland is beginning to crack. See the item below. UC Berkeley asked to absorb $80M of Brown’s $500M cut (excerpt) Feb. 7, 2011 | Louis Freedberg | California Watch University of California President Mark Yudof has set a target for the Berkeley campus to cut $80,800,000 from its budget for the coming year, as the 10-campus university system struggles to come to terms with a $500 million reduction in funds proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown. A cut of that magnitude would constitute 16.2 percent of the…