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By Kevin Yamamura and Dan Smith
(The Sacramento Bee) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger estimated Monday that California’s budget will fall out of balance by $5 billion to $7 billion this fiscal year, on top of a $7.4 billion gap already projected for 2010-11.
If true, state leaders would confront at least a $12.4 billion to $14.4 billion problem when Schwarzenegger releases his budget in January. California currently has an $84.6 billion general fund budget.
The Republican governor spoke with The Fresno Bee editorial board Monday after signing a bill placing a water bond on … Continue Reading
By Martin Hill
(L.A. County Libertarian Reporter) The most recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) reveals that the majority of jobs for the top principal employers in six counties are government jobs.
In the six southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Imperial, more than half of the top employers in those counties, on average, are government entities.
Table 13 on Page 96 of the 104 page document lists Principal Employers By County in the SCAG Region for 2008.
San Bernardino County tops the list of private employers with six out of ten … Continue Reading
(The Sacramento Bee) California’s state budget crisis is so severe that the Pew Center on the States, a Washington-based policy think tank, is using it as an example of conditions that imperil other states.
Nine other states, the Pew report says, … Continue Reading
(California Chamber of Commerce) The California Chamber of Commerce has released a report of California legislators’ floor votes for the first year of the 2009-10 legislative session, focusing on priority bills to the state’s business community.
This is the 34th vote record the CalChamber has compiled. The CalChamber publishes this report in response to numerous requests by member firms and local chambers of commerce that would like a gauge by which to measure their legislator’s performance.
To help readers assess legislators’ vote records, the charts group bills … Continue Reading
Apologies and Clarifications on Nov. 6 Brengle Column
By David Whitehead
The original column I posted on this thread contained opinions regarding the sudden firing of Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Ken Brengle.
These opinions, which were intended to stir constructive debate, have instead delivered an unbalanced viewpoint because representatives from the TACC are legally enjoined from telling their side of the story.
For this reason, I have decided to remove the original text and comments from this thread and have deleted a follow-up column posted a … Continue Reading
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By Steve Wiegand
McClatchy Newspapers
(The Sacramento Bee) It took long months of delicate negotiations – and the last-minute deletion of a project dear to the heart of the state’s most powerful legislator – for California lawmakers to craft what could turn out to be one of the most pivotal water deals in state history.
Now comes the hard part:
The plan’s proponents must convince a debt-weary, politician-leery electorate that it’s a deal worth what could be a $25 billion-plus price tag by the time it’s paid.
“We’re done with part one,” Assembly Speaker … Continue Reading
WASHINGTON (Reuters – The New York Times) – Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hustled on Thursday to count votes and round up support for a sweeping healthcare overhaul that was headed to a close floor vote on Saturday.
Failure in the Democratic-controlled House would be a huge political blow to President Barack Obama, who has made an overhaul of the vast $2.5 trillion healthcare system his top domestic priority.
Obama planned to visit the Capitol on Friday for a pep talk to House Democrats before the vote. House leaders have struggled to win over some party moderates with lingering … Continue Reading
(Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce) Consider the plight of the hard-working employee who’s earned the right to obtain benefits from their employer after years of loyal service – a coverage plan that works for the employee and is affordable for the employer. All of a sudden, that efficient agreement is interrupted by a government attempt to interfere and mandate the terms of the employee’s coverage while possibly instituting new fees (or even fines) to the employer.
For some reason, the Congress and our President (and quite frankly our State Legislature, too) insists on interfering in the perfectly efficient way that … Continue Reading
A look at key issues in the health care debate:
(The Associated Press)
THE ISSUE: Which former presidents have attempted comprehensive health care reform and why hasn’t anyone succeeded?
THE POLITICS: Many have tried. Only Lyndon Johnson achieved transcendent reform, with passage of Medicare and Medicaid protecting the elderly and poor, but universal coverage has been an elusive goal for over a century. Franklin Roosevelt promoted national health insurance but gave priority to jobs and retirement security during the Depression. Harry Truman fought for a single insurance system to cover everyone but ran into Republican opposition and the cries of “socialized medicine” heard … Continue Reading
AB 793 and AB 943, two harmful legislative proposals that would have put businesses in Redondo Beach, were defeated in October when the Governor vetoed both pieces of legislation.
The Chamber reviewed each proposal through its Government Relations Council and sent letters to local legislators and the Governor urging opposition to both proposals.
AB 793 would have revised the statute of limitations law for any workplace claim or lawsuit relating to compensation so that the statute of limitations is renewed each time an employee’s compensation is “affected,” including each time it is paid. AB … Continue Reading
