[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's chickens are coming home to roost on Wednesday, when he'll announce a budget deficit somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 billion caused by his tax-cutting actions of the last few years. Rumors are swirling in the Capitol about what action he'll take. But the bottom line will be whether he chooses to lead or wimp out.

Here are some of his options:

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Julia Rosen

Dan Walters is out with a column arguing that our schools have plenty of money already. He describes the education community and Democratic legislators as "howling" about Schwarzenegger's proposed bugdet, which slashes education spending and has already resulted in 20,000 education professionals getting pick slips.

Naturally, the Republicans are attempting to claim that we are already spending too much on school administration costs and education reforms. They point to California's poor scores on standardized tests as a reason to cut school funding even more. Somehow logic seems to be eluding them.

Walters bases his column on numbers released by the Census Bureau, based on what he calls "hard numbers", but when you dig into them, they actually undermine Walter's argument. (check the flip)

The Census Bureau report strongly refutes the oft-cited "fact" that California is near the bottom in per-pupil school spending. The national average was $9,138 in 2005-06. California was at $8,486, with New York the highest at $14,884 and Utah the lowest at $5,437 - one of 22 states, in fact, that fell below California's level.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Dan Walters is out with a column arguing that our schools have plenty of money already.  He describes the education community and Democratic legislators as "howling" about Schwarzenegger's proposed bugdet, which slashes education spending and has already resulted in 20,000 education professionals getting pick slips.

Naturally, the Republicans are attempting to claim that we are already spending too much on school administration costs and education reforms.  They point to California's poor scores on standardized tests as a reason to cut school funding even more.  Somehow logic seems to be eluding them.

Walters bases his column on numbers released by the Census Bureau, based on what he calls "hard numbers", but when you dig into them, they actually undermine Walter's argument.  (check the flip)

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mark DeSaulnier
Member
California State Assembly

Contra Costa County was home to contrasting press conferences this week. Though both focused on the budget, they were very different events that evidenced very different understandings of the impact of the state’s budget crisis on Californians.

On Monday, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, Senator Torlakson, Democratic legislators and I joined educators, parents, students and community activists. We discussed what a $4.8 billion dollar cut to education will look like for kids and teachers. The press conference was held on the front lawn of a local school, open to all.

On Thursday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had a “discussion” with a hand-selected crowd of mostly business leaders. It largely ignored the pain this budget crisis will inflict on working Californians.

He suggested his proposed 10 percent across-the-board cuts (including a $4.8 billion slice out of schools) won’t impact the lives of Californians.

Californians have needs. Our education system is failing our kids. Our healthcare system is woefully inadequate. In these times of foreclosures and stagnant job growth, hard-working Californians are slipping through the huge holes in our social service safety net.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Today was the day the AB 1x1 was to be brought up in the Senate Health Committee. It didn't. Senator Don Perata asked to delay the vote until Monday since there were not enough votes to pass the bill. To complicate matters the Legislative Analyst came out with her report that had enough consternation about cost containment for the state that it made Senators nervous about moving forward. AP:

Given the Democrats' resistance, it seemed unlikely Perata could obtain the votes without changing the composition of the 11-member panel, although he has said he does not plan to do so. The committee's four Republican members have been opposed to the bill as an expensive and unnecessary expansion of government into the private health care system.

Democrats also sounded queasy about the potential expense, and they sought assurances that the state would not be saddled with new costs.

"It just seems to me that we go into it with a little more certainty of what the price might be," said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "Otherwise we don't go forward."

read more »

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

With Democratic legislators and the Governor on the verge of an agreement on the nation's most sweeping comprehensive health care reform plan, its political foes already are circling. Two of the strangest bedfellows certain to fight the plan will be Big Tobacco and the Nader-endorsing leadership of the California Nurses Association.

Big Tobacco began its lobbying campaign earlier this week, routing calls to legislative offices with anti-consumer messages. And today, CNA-backed single payer advocates began an email campaign to Capitol offices.

These actions promise to be a preview of what is expected to be an expensive campaign in November to approve the financial components of the health care plan. Blue Cross also is expected to dump millions into the battle.

All of this will make it very interesting for hear CNA's leadership explain to its rank-and-file members who want health care reform how climbing in bed with tobacco and insurance company interests will improve the quality of care for Californians.

Image courtesy Cosmodrome.