[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Decked out in red, white, and blue, dozens of Sacramento area seniors celebrated their ability to live independently on Independence Day, and called on their local legislators to fund critical programs that enable them to remain safely in their homes. Four days into the new fiscal year and with no budget resolution in sight, the seniors attending the 4th of July parade called on Senator Dave Cox (R-Sacramento) and Assemblymember Roger Niello (R- Sacramento) to come to the table with their Democratic colleagues to quickly find a resolution that will protect the state’s most vulnerable.

They called the budget proposal put forward in May by Governor Schwarzenegger unacceptable, saying it amounts to stripping seniors of the right to live independently and with dignity. The Governor’s proposal would hurt seniors by:

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Assembly primaries resulted in Democrats sporting their strongest candidates in three districts they have their eye on. Here's the rundown on some key races.

AD 1 -- Sen. Wes Chesbro is hoping to move over from the Senate to the Assembly. He won his primary unopposed with twice as many votes as his Republican rival.

AD 5 -- Dan Leahy pulled a surprisingly strong 14,389 votes unopposed as a Democrat. Incumbent Republican Roger Niello tallied just 18,105 votes in a three way primary against two nobodies. This district has picked up substantial numbers of Democrats lately, and could be competitive if Leahy is funded and runs a strong grassroots race.

AD 8 -- In this battle of outside interests, labor proved its mettle with Supervisor Mariko Yamada topping West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon by just over 1,000 votes (17,009 vs. 15,961). Cabaldon had a strong field campaign and coffers filled by EdVoice, but the CTA-led coalition hammered away with massive mailings that focused on Cabaldon's failure to pay taxes on time and his car being booted in Sacramento. It appears to have done the trick.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Today is the last day to register to vote. Personally, I'd like to see same-day registration. After all, we are living in the era of cheap and tiny computers. This is a fundamental fairness issue, legal voters simply should not be turned away. Nonetheless, here's the voter reg SoS page. Other interesting stuff:

[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.

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Moments before cutting billions of dollars to California’s most vulnerable citizens, the Assembly Republican "Yacht Caucus" today voted against an effort to close the yacht tax loophole in an effort to narrow the state’s $14 billion budget gap. 
 
Some 20 Assembly Republicans voted against closing the loophole, which would increase state revenues by $5 million in 2007-08 and $21 million in 2008-09 and each year thereafter.
 
They included Assemblymembers Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia; Joel Anderson, R-La Mesa; John Benoit, R-Palm Desert; Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto; Mike Duvall, R-Brea; Ted Gaines, R-Roseville; Martin Garrick, R-Carlsbad;  Guy Houston, R-San Ramon; Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar; Kevin Jeffries, R-Riverside; Rick Keene, R-Chico; Doug LaMalfa, R-Biggs; Bill Maze, R-Visalia; George Plescia, R-San Diego; Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster; Jim Silva, R-Huntington Beach; Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita; Audra Strickland, R-Camarillo; Mike Villines, R-Fresno; Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel.
 
Seven other Republicans "took a walk" on the bill by failing to vote, helping to defeat the Assembly measure. They were Assemblymembers: Paul Cook, R-Yucaipa; Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands; Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield; Alan Nakanishi, R-Lodi; Roger Niello, R-Sacramento; Todd Spitzer, R-Orange; and Van Tran, R-Costa Mesa.

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It looks like the Republican's favorite tax cut -- a tax cut for yacht buyers -- is going to be history. Both the Senate and Assembly Budget committees have voted for its elimination.

Only Republican Assemblymember Roger Niello struggled to make a logical argument protesting its elimination while moments before slashing benefits for the lowest-income Californians (he eventually stayed off the bill). But even GOP stalwarts like Assemblymember Chuck DeVore and four other Assembly GOP'rs ended up voting for it.
 
Kudos to Assemblymember Dave Jones and others for spearheading the drive to rid our tax code of this provision.

Image courtesy Costumzee.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

If you listened to Republican legislators, even those who know better like Assembly Budget Committee Vice Chair Roger Niello, or columnists like Dan Weintraub of the Bee, their tired budget mantra is that the current budget problem has to do with too much spending. They typically point to spending increases in recent years as evidence.
 
But like so much of California's budget, it’s a little more complicated than the simplistic glance that the right wing and quickie posts like to spend at addressing the real problems facing California.
 
Some have taken a quick look at General Fund spending totals over the past for years and come to the shortsighted conclusion that Government has grown by over $25 billion, or over 35 percent. But this does not come close to being an accurate measurement of spending growth or the growth of Government.
 
A more accurate description of spending levels the last for years is the analogy of a balloon that was squeezed at one end which forces an expansion at the other end. In the end, actual state spending has grown less than the growth of population and inflation over the past four years.
 
Here are some details: