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In left-leaning state academic circles, two schools of academic thought have emerged about how to fix California’s failed system of governance—and they both agree that the 2/3 vote requirement needs to be replaced with a majority or 55% vote.
Political scientists on the right, on the other hand, support the 2/3 vote requirement because it restrains the size of government.
University of California Berkeley professor of public policy… Read More...
State general fund spending has decreased by $20 billion since 2006-07—plummeting from a peak of $103 billion in 2007-08 to $86 billion in 2009-10, according to an analysis of California Department of Finance data by Kersten Communications.
State spending has dropped for every major program area (i.e. K-12 education, higher education, health and human services, and corrections) since the 2007-08 budget year.
The Governor’s January and… Read More...
The California Tax Reform Association (CTRA) and the Alliance for Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) released a report earlier this month based on newly collected data that shows the property tax burden has shifted from commercial and industrial property to residential property in virtually every county in the state since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978.
The 122-page report, titled “System Failure: California’s Loophole-Ridden Commercial Property Tax,”
Published on California Progress Report (http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site)
Created 08/18/2010 – 12:42pm
By David Kersten
California’s 32-year failed experiment with minority rule has proven the principal of majority rule is essential to the efficient and effective functioning of the California State Legislature.
Majority rule is a fundamental principal embodied by the United States Constitution, but something that has been hijacked by the initiative process in California to… Read More...
With the state and local governments facing large budget deficits, a group of community activists and labor and education leaders staged a series of protests on August 10 to deliver a giant $17 billion bill itemizing the ways Wall Street banks are shortchanging California residents and state and local governments.
The organizers released a report titled, “Wake Up Wall Street: While Californians Must Choose Between Education and Public
On May 14, 2010 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released is May Revised budget proposal which outlines a series of solutions to close the $19 billion budget gap projected for 2010-11. To view the proposal click here. Legislative deliberations on the proposal have already begun. Below is a list of the various analyses of the Governor’s May revision:
“The 2010-11 Budget: Overview of the May Revision.” Legislative Analyst, May 18… Read More...
The California Institute for Federal Policy Research (CIFPR) reports that House and Senate negotiators on May 20, 2010 reached a compromise on the conference agreement to H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act. The original legislation, the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, passed the House of Representatives on December 9, 2009. The Senate passed a similar package, the American Workers, State and Business Relief Act, as an amendment… Read More...
In San Francisco, since the passage of Proposition 13, the property tax burden has shifted from commercial to residential property