Sacramento: April 2008 Archives

In a startling revelation, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said this week that the state's budget deficit could grow to as much as $20 billion as he prepared to unveil a revised spending plan for the coming year that is likely to include deep cuts in education, health services and prisons.San Francisco Chronicle.

The new deficit figure - 30 percent higher than the latest estimates by lawmakers - reflects a deepening fiscal crisis that has polarized the budget debate in the Legislature as Republicans vow to fight tax increases and Democrats say they won't settle for cuts alone.

Schwarzenegger, insisting that he won't support raising taxes, says he wants to make fundamental changes in California's budget process. Experts said Tuesday that the governor's deficit estimate this week could help his campaign for those changes.

A bill to study adding greater portions of the San Fernando Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area passed through Congress on Wednesday and is headed to the White House, where President Bush is expected to sign it. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The study would look at a proposal to create a Rim of the Valley Corridor - adding some 500,000 acres of mountain land above the San Fernando, La Crescenta, Santa Clarita, Simi and Conejo valleys to the existing protected parkland.

The bill was co-authored by U.S. Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger predicted Thursday that California would face a budget deficit of more than $10 billion in the fiscal year that starts July 1. AP in Daily News.

"This is why we have to make all kinds of cuts across the board," he told a group of prosecutors and criminal investigators at a conference near the Capitol.

"I hate making those kinds of cuts, but we have no more money," he added later in comments to reporters. "We have to live within our means. We are out of whack every one of the next few years by $10 (billion) to $12 billion. You cannot tax your way out of that."

The California legislator who tried to banslapping children - only to get spanked by public opinion - is back for more.Mike Zapler in the Daily News.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, has again introduced her bill designed to crack down on hitting a child under 3 in the face or head. A similar effort last year became the butt of jokes in the national media - but also hundreds of headlines and hours of air time for Lieber - before stalling in the Assembly.

"We want to build on the groundwork that was laid last year," Lieber said. "Last year we started out with 95 to 100 percent of reaction being negative. Once people found out what we were trying to do with the bill, that was reduced to 85 percent negative.

Freshman Assemblyman Felips Fuentes, D-Sylmar, will be giving the Democratic response on Saturday to President Bush's weekly radio address.
In it, he will go after the federal government on the impact of federal policies -- particularly the census undercount and unfunded mandates -- as part of the reasson for the state's financial problems.
The link for the remarks is at:http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20080405RadioAddressEnglishCensusFuentes.mp3
Among his remarks: "For too long the Bush administration has taken California’s hard earned tax dollars and rewarded us with costly and ineffective unfunded mandates.
"Indeed, while Republicans in Sacramento propose cutting our state budget to the bone, laying off teachers and closing state parks, California’s federal tax dollars are being shuffled to states that refuse to pay for the services they need, states mostly controlled by Republicans."

Coping with a projected $500 city shortfall next year, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa heads to Sacramento on Wednesday to meet with state leaders to keep funding coming to the city.
Villaraigosa has a full agenda in meeting with state leaders, including Senate President Pro-Tem Don Perata, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Assembly Speaker-Elect Karen Bass and ., Senate Pro-Tem Elect Darryl Steinberg, among others. Members of the city's Assembly and Senate delegations also will be seen.