UC budget crisis

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Redevelopment Decision Likely a (Marginal) Good Thing for UC Budget

Byuclafaculty

For those who have been following the state budget/redevelopment drama on this blog that unfolded after yesterday’s California Supreme Court ruling seemingly abolishing redevelopment agencies, below is an update, courtesy of the California Planning and Development Report (excerpts).  Our prior background posts are at: http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/12/state-budget-ruling-expected-today-on.html http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/12/be-careful-what-you-wish-for-seems-to.html Redevelopment Will Be Back — But At What Price? By Bill Fulton and Josh Stephens on 29 December 2011  The California Supreme Court killed redevelopment this morning, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead.  At first glance it would seem as though redevelopment agencies have no bargaining power at all. After all, it’s hard to…

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Be Careful What You Wish for Seems to Be Effect of Court Decision on Redevelopment

Byuclafaculty

In an earlier post today, yours truly noted that the California Supreme Court was going to issue a ruling on redevelopment agencies that had potential consequences for the state budget.  Please look at that post for background details.  The opinion (with only one dissent) has now been posted.  It may be that the redevelopment agencies will regret a) supporting Prop 22 which supposedly protected their funding and b) asking the Court to invalidate the compromise deal worked out in the legislature. The Court – based on a non-lawyer reading – seems to say that 1) the legislature had a right…

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State Budget Ruling Expected Today on Redevelopment Agencies

Byuclafaculty

From the San Jose Mercury-News: The California Supreme Court will issue a long-awaited ruling Thursday on the legality of the state’s move to grab $1.7 billion in redevelopment money to help close California’s budget shortfall — a move that rocked cities around the Bay Area and across the state. The ruling, expected at 10 a.m., should give critical guidance on two state laws: one that dissolves redevelopment agencies and redirects their property tax revenues to the state, and a second that allows agencies to stay afloat if they agree to relinquish a large portion of their funding, which will be…

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Young at Heart (of Lawsuit Challenging Prop 13)

Byuclafaculty

Proposition 13 of 1978 – the brainchild of Howard Jarvis (at right) and Paul Gann – drastically cut and limited local property taxes and imposed a two-thirds vote rule in the legislature for tax increases.  Various court cases have challenged it over the years.  However, UCLA’s former chancellor, Charles Young, is part of a lawsuit to overturn it on (state) constitutional grounds.  Obviously, if that were to occur, it would have a major impact on fiscal affairs of state and local government in California.  It would surely affect the UC budget.  From Mother Jones: Back when Proposition 8 — the…

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Another Hint of Discussions with the State Behind Closed Doors on Multiyear Tuition Increase Deal

Byuclafaculty

The text below in italics is from UC President Yudof’s Facebook page. As noted in a prior post on this blog, there are hints of a multiyear-tuition-increase/steady-budget-support-from-the-state being discussed behind closed doors with Brown administration officials. See the bold print below. We are extremely disappointed that UC is faced with yet another significant State budget reduction: the $100 million “trigger cut” just announced. This additional cut will exacerbate the fiscal challenges the University faces in the current year and place additional stress on the quality of education provided to UC students. While the $650 million cut to UC enacted by…

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Buried Lede: UC Reviving Multiyear Tuition Increase Plan with State?

Byuclafaculty

Last September, UC President Yudof proposed to the Regents a multiyear tuition increase plan. The Regents argued among themselves and nothing was adopted. Today’s San Francisco Chronicle, in a report on how higher ed is dealing with the trigger cuts (see earlier blog posts), has a buried lede*: UC will offset the $100 million cut with money it over-contributed for health care, a pool of excess cash that happens to be just above $100 million, UC spokesman Steve Montiel said. “It’s a temporary solution,” Montiel said, adding that UC is in talks with the state Department of Finance to try…

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State Budget Trigger Pulled

Byuclafaculty

The state budget trigger was pulled today, costing UC $100 million in additional cuts (as expected). Actually, the trigger was a two-part mechanism and the lesser version was pulled. But either part involved cutting $100 million from UC. For summary details, see http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/12/details-of-browns-trigger-cuts.html and for the official notice see http://www.dof.ca.gov/documents/2012_Rev_Forecast_Determination.pdf

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What’s in a name?

Byuclafaculty

A prior post on this blog noted that Governor Brown had submitted an initiative for temporary taxes entitled “The Schools and Local Public Safety Act.” (That may not be the title that appears on the ballot which is set by the attorney general.) It was also noted that perusing the text of the act suggested it was aimed at K-14 funding, i.e., higher ed was in it only at the community college level. However, to get the initiative on the ballot – and then run a campaign to get it passed – Brown will need a lot of money. The…

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Rosy Scenario on State Budget Likely to Be Ending Soon

Byuclafaculty

The Sacramento Bee points out today that the process of re-examining the rosy scenario budget forecast on revenues will soon be coming to an end. As readers of this blog know, the governor was unable to get GOP support for putting tax extensions on the ballot. But under new procedures approved by voters, only a simple majority was needed to pass a budget even though 2/3 was needed for the taxes. So extra revenue was assumed and the budget was passed. However, a trigger mechanism was included to cut expenditures if revenue assumptions were not met. Since then, it has…

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Another Pepper Apology? Let’s Focus Instead on the UC Budget

Byuclafaculty

The UC-Davis chancellor has now apologized for the pepper spray incident last Friday. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the incident has gone viral with creative images such as the one above on the web. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/pepper-spray-cop-works-his-way-through-art-history/2011/11/21/gIQA4XBmhN_blog.html Below is video of the chancellor’s apology. A story about it is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/22/MNK71M2548.DTL As noted in last night’s blog post, instead of trying to regain “control” via crisis management techniques, it would be nice if the Regents and the powers-that-be at UC focused instead on the ongoing UC budget emergency. Please see last night’s blog posting for a link to the UCLA…