State Budget
Blog
Read the latest on the Southern California wildfires
State Budget Watch: Lawmakers Should Heavily Scrutinize LA’s Wildfire Funding Ask
Included in the city’s requests are expected relief items, such as a $291 million state loan to help the city pay for debris removal and repairs to damaged city property pending FEMA repayment. But some of LA’s funding list shows city leaders haven’t yet learned their lessons from decades of ...
California
Read the latest about California's ineffective government homelessness programs
A Website About Being Transparent That Isn’t
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has launched a new initiative – accountability.ca.gov – which it characterizes as “bring(ing) together thousands of locally reported data points to provide a clear picture of local communities’ work on California’s most pressing issues, including homelessness.” In case your stomach is full after eating that word ...
Blog
State Budget Week - Learn How the Newsom Education Budget Will Impact You
The Newsom Education Budget: No Bang for the Buck
In the 2019-20 budget–Newsom’s first enacted budget–California spent $103 billion in state, local, and federal funds for education, which translated to $17,423 per pupil. In the governor’s new proposed budget, total education spending comes in at a whopping $137 billion, which pencils out to $24,764 per pupil. All this added ...
Commentary
State Budget Week - Learn How the Newsom Public Safety Budget Will Impact You
The Newsom Public Safety Budget: Budgets are a Reflection of Values
Governor Gavin Newsom spoke recently at Cal State Stanislaus highlighting his workforce initiatives and used the opportunity to introduce his 2025-2026 budget… State budgets are exceptionally complex documents full of granular data but a birds-eye view of spending places our tax dollars in a number of buckets of broad spending ...
Blog
State Budget Week - Learn how the Newsom Budget Will Impact California's Tax Burden
The Newsom Budget on Taxes: Yes, Governor, California Is a High Tax State
California imposes the highest top marginal state income tax rate and one of the highest state and local sales tax rates in the country. It is simply illogical to claim that a state with the highest income tax rate and a very high state and local sales tax rates is ...
Blog
State Budget Week - Learn how the Newsom Transportation Budget Furthers the "Train to Nowhere"
The Newsom Transportation Budget: Newsom Continues to Embrace Costly, Unrealistic State Bullet Train
Progress. The California high-speed rail project has made progress. If progress can be defined as finally laying the first track for a bullet train that is at least a couple of decades behind schedule. Hard to put any faith, though, in the promises and bragging when the HSR is running ...
California
Newsom promises efficient and accountable state budget, delivers bloated and ineffective spending plan
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday unveiled the initial details of his $322.2 billion state budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Based on his presentation, Californians should be worried. He claims that his budget will promote an “efficient and leaner” government, yet his plan is neither. The Newsom budget would ...
California
Newsom’s wrongheaded special session is a misuse of gubernatorial power
Gov. Newsom’s call on December 2 for a mere $25 million fund for the Department of Justice and other agencies to prepare for potential litigation against the Trump administration underscores that the special session is for show, not substance. In any event, there was no need to call a special ...
California
Learn more about how expensive and complications reparations would be
Three Questions That Probably Doom California’s Reparations Push
As California seriously debates the logic of paying reparations to black Americans, it is important to review the implausibility of a reparations plan. Although I would likely accept payment should money ever actually be offered (ungallant to refuse, really), reparations are a notably bad idea. As I noted in a ...
Blog
The Prop 47 Budgetary Shell Game – Who you Gonna Believe? Them, or your Lying Eyes?
In 2014, Californians voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposition 47, known by its supporters title the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Prop 47’s advocates made a strong case, promising that both crime and incarceration rates would decline. At the same time, supporters argued that “massive” savings from ending the practice of ...
Read the latest on the Southern California wildfires
State Budget Watch: Lawmakers Should Heavily Scrutinize LA’s Wildfire Funding Ask
Included in the city’s requests are expected relief items, such as a $291 million state loan to help the city pay for debris removal and repairs to damaged city property pending FEMA repayment. But some of LA’s funding list shows city leaders haven’t yet learned their lessons from decades of ...
Read the latest about California's ineffective government homelessness programs
A Website About Being Transparent That Isn’t
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has launched a new initiative – accountability.ca.gov – which it characterizes as “bring(ing) together thousands of locally reported data points to provide a clear picture of local communities’ work on California’s most pressing issues, including homelessness.” In case your stomach is full after eating that word ...
State Budget Week - Learn How the Newsom Education Budget Will Impact You
The Newsom Education Budget: No Bang for the Buck
In the 2019-20 budget–Newsom’s first enacted budget–California spent $103 billion in state, local, and federal funds for education, which translated to $17,423 per pupil. In the governor’s new proposed budget, total education spending comes in at a whopping $137 billion, which pencils out to $24,764 per pupil. All this added ...
State Budget Week - Learn How the Newsom Public Safety Budget Will Impact You
The Newsom Public Safety Budget: Budgets are a Reflection of Values
Governor Gavin Newsom spoke recently at Cal State Stanislaus highlighting his workforce initiatives and used the opportunity to introduce his 2025-2026 budget… State budgets are exceptionally complex documents full of granular data but a birds-eye view of spending places our tax dollars in a number of buckets of broad spending ...
State Budget Week - Learn how the Newsom Budget Will Impact California's Tax Burden
The Newsom Budget on Taxes: Yes, Governor, California Is a High Tax State
California imposes the highest top marginal state income tax rate and one of the highest state and local sales tax rates in the country. It is simply illogical to claim that a state with the highest income tax rate and a very high state and local sales tax rates is ...
State Budget Week - Learn how the Newsom Transportation Budget Furthers the "Train to Nowhere"
The Newsom Transportation Budget: Newsom Continues to Embrace Costly, Unrealistic State Bullet Train
Progress. The California high-speed rail project has made progress. If progress can be defined as finally laying the first track for a bullet train that is at least a couple of decades behind schedule. Hard to put any faith, though, in the promises and bragging when the HSR is running ...
Newsom promises efficient and accountable state budget, delivers bloated and ineffective spending plan
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday unveiled the initial details of his $322.2 billion state budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Based on his presentation, Californians should be worried. He claims that his budget will promote an “efficient and leaner” government, yet his plan is neither. The Newsom budget would ...
Newsom’s wrongheaded special session is a misuse of gubernatorial power
Gov. Newsom’s call on December 2 for a mere $25 million fund for the Department of Justice and other agencies to prepare for potential litigation against the Trump administration underscores that the special session is for show, not substance. In any event, there was no need to call a special ...
Learn more about how expensive and complications reparations would be
Three Questions That Probably Doom California’s Reparations Push
As California seriously debates the logic of paying reparations to black Americans, it is important to review the implausibility of a reparations plan. Although I would likely accept payment should money ever actually be offered (ungallant to refuse, really), reparations are a notably bad idea. As I noted in a ...
The Prop 47 Budgetary Shell Game – Who you Gonna Believe? Them, or your Lying Eyes?
In 2014, Californians voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposition 47, known by its supporters title the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” Prop 47’s advocates made a strong case, promising that both crime and incarceration rates would decline. At the same time, supporters argued that “massive” savings from ending the practice of ...
