[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• New major spending cuts will likely hit critical programs

• Advocates fear major impact on disability rights for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, mental health needs, seniors & workers

By Marty D. Omoto
Director/Organizer
California Disability Community Action Network

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The budget fight has touched just about every single person with an interest in the fiscal policy of the state and that includes strippers, porn stars and others in the adult entertainment industry.  The Democrats are trying to find ways to raise revenue and avoid having to cut even deeper than they already have into essential programs and education funding.  That means "sin taxes" and other sales taxes and fees. LAT:

As state leaders hunt for politically palatable solutions to the swelling budget shortfall, some Democrats are proposing unorthodox ways to generate cash.

Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts -- and a tax loophole for criminals.

Despite tough odds of overcoming an oath signed by their Republican colleagues to stop any tax hikes, Democratic lawmakers seem confident that their ideas will carry the day. They predict the public won't stand for painful cuts to schools and healthcare to close a shortfall the governor now pegs as high as $20 billion, and say anti-tax forces will ultimately have to accept that more revenue is needed to bring the state into the black.

This is nothing new.  We are roughly in the same place we were a few months ago, only the deficit is even larger. Flip it.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mark Paul
Senior Scholar
New America Foundation

As usual, California faces a budget crisis. And just as predictably, Californians are mired in budget confusion.

How big is the crisis? a conscientious citizen might ask. The answer is: As big as you want it to be. Just take your pick. An "$8 billion budget shortfall," reports the San Jose Mercury News. "A $10 billion gap," says the Sacramento Bee. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger uses a more technical description: "$20 billion out of whack," he recently said.

This cacophony of numbers and nouns is a big piece of California's budget problem. Not only does California routinely fail to balance its budget, it can't even talk straight about its finances.

In normal accounting and common understanding, a budget is balanced when spending doesn't exceed revenues in a budget year. If revenues are greater than spending, the difference is a surplus; if spending exceeds revenues, the difference is a deficit. Revenues are the proceeds of taxes, fees, and interest on investments.

by Paul Rosenberg [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert Cruickshank

That's the impression I am getting after surveying the political and media landscape over the last few days. With the May Revise now two weeks away, the outcome of a long and contentious summer budget process is less clear than ever.

There is a growing recognition among Californians that new revenues are going to be needed to close the deficit if we are to continue having public schools. Health care, transportation, and other government services are all going to be impacted by this budget, of course, but it is education that has become the most high profile part of the budget. If Californians can be convinced to restore the relationship between taxes and services, as David Dayen framed it yesterday, it is going to happen because they will refuse to destroy our schools.

Whether Californians will be convinced - and what the details of a tax proposal will be - are at the core of what is "up for grabs" with the budget.

Friday’s LA Times reports that Arnold has now embraced new taxes, sending his staff to negotiate not with Democrats but with business groups on what form this will take:

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

In the midst of $4.8 billion in proposed budget cuts to schools, today Assemblymembers Roger Niello, John Benoit, Rick Keene and Alan Nakanishi unveiled a devastating series of proposals that would further drain money from public schools and hurt our students, including a proposal for school vouchers. The group is also proposing tax credits for private and home schooling, which would further decimate funding for public schools in the middle of a budget crisis.

California already ranks 46th out of 50 states in per pupil spending. Short-sighted proposals like those released today only shortchange our students’ future by undermining our public schools. Recent news reports already show that other states are recruiting California’s teachers while they are receiving pink slips due to the budget shortfall.

With more than 20,000 layoff notices already sent to teachers, custodians, school bus drivers, principals and other school employees around the state, it is California’s students who suffer the consequences of budget cuts to our public schools. Every pink slip issued to an educator or school employee means fewer resources available to our students.

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