State Budget
Blog
Coming to a March Primary Ballot Near You – More Ballot Box Budgeting
The March primary election is a month away. While we are already being bombarded with television advertising for the Democratic presidential race, there hasn’t been much discussion of ballot measures. That’s because in 2011, Democrats in the Legislature enacted a law moving all statewide ballot initiatives to the November ballot, ...
California
Adam Andrzejewski – Open the Books
Adam Andrzejewski is the founder of Open the Books, an organization dedicated to transparency in government. Open the Books has been at the forefront of holding state government accountable for how it spends taxpayer money. In California, Governor Newsom’s most recent state budget plan proposed $222 billion in General Fund ...
Blog
California Governor Never Met a Task Force He Didn’t Like
If you were able to make it through California Governor Gavin Newsom’s almost three-hour budget briefing, you’ve probably been following the enormous funding proposals included in the $222.2 billion budget estimate. You can save 167 minute of your time and read the blog post by PRI’s Tim Anaya. Governor Newsom ...
Blog
Taxpayers Exhausted from Newsom’s Marathon Budget Presser
Gov. Newsom’s announcement of his 2020-21 State Budget plan on Friday was another whopper, his speech clocking in at roughly 2 hours and 47 minutes. Last year, reporters who were used to covering a 30 minute press conference where caught off guard by Newsom’s lengthy presentation. Los Angeles Times reporter ...
Blog
A Bearish View on California’s Budget Surplus
Last week the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) published its latest fiscal outlook for California. The headlines were so great that you could almost hear the champagne corks popping in Sacramento. Not only has the state budget in California run surpluses for several years now, the LAO expects another surplus for ...
Commentary
State-Led Medicare For All Would Import All Of Canada’s Problems
Medicare for All is struggling to gain traction at the national level. Some progressives are hoping that left-leaning states will instead be able to lead the way. This month, California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the “State-Based Universal Health Care Act,” a bill that would let states take all the ...
Blog
Local Officials Could Learn Something from LA Student Savings Account Push
With great fanfare, the Los Angeles City Council – in partnership with the LA Unified School District – last week enacted new pilot program called “Opportunity LA” to establish “children’s savings accounts” for every first grader in the city. The accounts would be seeded with $50 for every student. According ...
Blog
Newsom Includes State Worker Raises in First Year Budget Spending Spree
Analysis of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s first year as governor is in the “Monday morning quarterback” phase as the media, supporters, and opponents measure his legislative priorities against his campaign promises. Since passing the largest state budget in California history at $214.8 billion, Governor Newsom has been given a free ...
Commentary
Why we should say no to Medicare for All
This month Sen. Bernie Sanders was released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack. The Vermont senator, a Democratic presidential candidate, used his health scare to renew his call for “Medicare for All,” which he claims will ensure everyone has access to the kind of “great health care” he ...
Blog
New Survey Results Should Give Lawmakers Pause Before Embracing Single-Payer Health Care
One issue that was pushed on the backburner in this year’s very eventful legislative session was single-payer health care. Surprisingly, even though the Senate actually passed a single payer bill (SB 562) last session, a single-payer bill wasn’t even introduced this legislative session. Now as our attention turns to the ...
Coming to a March Primary Ballot Near You – More Ballot Box Budgeting
The March primary election is a month away. While we are already being bombarded with television advertising for the Democratic presidential race, there hasn’t been much discussion of ballot measures. That’s because in 2011, Democrats in the Legislature enacted a law moving all statewide ballot initiatives to the November ballot, ...
Adam Andrzejewski – Open the Books
Adam Andrzejewski is the founder of Open the Books, an organization dedicated to transparency in government. Open the Books has been at the forefront of holding state government accountable for how it spends taxpayer money. In California, Governor Newsom’s most recent state budget plan proposed $222 billion in General Fund ...
California Governor Never Met a Task Force He Didn’t Like
If you were able to make it through California Governor Gavin Newsom’s almost three-hour budget briefing, you’ve probably been following the enormous funding proposals included in the $222.2 billion budget estimate. You can save 167 minute of your time and read the blog post by PRI’s Tim Anaya. Governor Newsom ...
Taxpayers Exhausted from Newsom’s Marathon Budget Presser
Gov. Newsom’s announcement of his 2020-21 State Budget plan on Friday was another whopper, his speech clocking in at roughly 2 hours and 47 minutes. Last year, reporters who were used to covering a 30 minute press conference where caught off guard by Newsom’s lengthy presentation. Los Angeles Times reporter ...
A Bearish View on California’s Budget Surplus
Last week the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) published its latest fiscal outlook for California. The headlines were so great that you could almost hear the champagne corks popping in Sacramento. Not only has the state budget in California run surpluses for several years now, the LAO expects another surplus for ...
State-Led Medicare For All Would Import All Of Canada’s Problems
Medicare for All is struggling to gain traction at the national level. Some progressives are hoping that left-leaning states will instead be able to lead the way. This month, California Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna introduced the “State-Based Universal Health Care Act,” a bill that would let states take all the ...
Local Officials Could Learn Something from LA Student Savings Account Push
With great fanfare, the Los Angeles City Council – in partnership with the LA Unified School District – last week enacted new pilot program called “Opportunity LA” to establish “children’s savings accounts” for every first grader in the city. The accounts would be seeded with $50 for every student. According ...
Newsom Includes State Worker Raises in First Year Budget Spending Spree
Analysis of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s first year as governor is in the “Monday morning quarterback” phase as the media, supporters, and opponents measure his legislative priorities against his campaign promises. Since passing the largest state budget in California history at $214.8 billion, Governor Newsom has been given a free ...
Why we should say no to Medicare for All
This month Sen. Bernie Sanders was released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack. The Vermont senator, a Democratic presidential candidate, used his health scare to renew his call for “Medicare for All,” which he claims will ensure everyone has access to the kind of “great health care” he ...
New Survey Results Should Give Lawmakers Pause Before Embracing Single-Payer Health Care
One issue that was pushed on the backburner in this year’s very eventful legislative session was single-payer health care. Surprisingly, even though the Senate actually passed a single payer bill (SB 562) last session, a single-payer bill wasn’t even introduced this legislative session. Now as our attention turns to the ...
