State Budget
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 ...
Blog
California State Senate Hands Newsom Decade-old Political Lightning Rod in Redevelopment Agencies
Since 2011, the California State Legislature has been itching to bring back redevelopment agencies. Governor Jerry Brown’s nixing of the 70-year-old program scored the California state budget several billion dollars during the Great Recession in 2011. At the time of their elimination, redevelopment agencies collected around 12 percent of all ...
Health Care
Sally C. Pipes Comments on CA Medi-Cal expansion in CALmatters story
Democratic legislators are advancing a bill that aims to provide free health care to low-income undocumented seniors — an idea that they floated earlier this year, but which failed to make it into the state budget because of concerns over its cost. The bill, authored by Los Angeles Democrat Maria Elena ...
Blog
Don’t Take All That Talk About Economic Growth or a Recession to the Bank (Yet)
It seems you can’t scroll through your social media feed or morning newsletter without reading commentary about inverted yield curve and recession. A 2020 economic recession is the talk of political pundits, financial talking heads, and presidential hopefuls, but the verdict is out on whether the longest sustained economic growth ...
Blog
Split-Roll Forces Challenge Prop 13: How Will Californians React?
Supporters behind the split roll ballot measure that would remove Proposition 13’s tax protection for commercial properties had it been approved are apparently junking the initiative in favor of what they believe will be a “new and improved” plan. “They claim they are strengthening the measure to help it pass,” ...
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 ...
California State Senate Hands Newsom Decade-old Political Lightning Rod in Redevelopment Agencies
Since 2011, the California State Legislature has been itching to bring back redevelopment agencies. Governor Jerry Brown’s nixing of the 70-year-old program scored the California state budget several billion dollars during the Great Recession in 2011. At the time of their elimination, redevelopment agencies collected around 12 percent of all ...
Sally C. Pipes Comments on CA Medi-Cal expansion in CALmatters story
Democratic legislators are advancing a bill that aims to provide free health care to low-income undocumented seniors — an idea that they floated earlier this year, but which failed to make it into the state budget because of concerns over its cost. The bill, authored by Los Angeles Democrat Maria Elena ...
Don’t Take All That Talk About Economic Growth or a Recession to the Bank (Yet)
It seems you can’t scroll through your social media feed or morning newsletter without reading commentary about inverted yield curve and recession. A 2020 economic recession is the talk of political pundits, financial talking heads, and presidential hopefuls, but the verdict is out on whether the longest sustained economic growth ...
Split-Roll Forces Challenge Prop 13: How Will Californians React?
Supporters behind the split roll ballot measure that would remove Proposition 13’s tax protection for commercial properties had it been approved are apparently junking the initiative in favor of what they believe will be a “new and improved” plan. “They claim they are strengthening the measure to help it pass,” ...
