The revised budget Gov. Jerry Brown released Monday does not seem any more likely to win Republican votes than the governor’s original plan, which stalled in the Legislature over the question of whether to extend billions of dollars in expiring taxes.
Days before Gov. Jerry Brown releases his revised budget proposal for the coming year, Republicans in the state Assembly have offered their own outline they say would balance the budget without renewing temporary taxes that have expired or about to do so. The plan would protect Kindergarten through community college education, giving the schools the same amount Brown has already proposed, and avoid any more cuts in the state’s four-year public universities.
As California’s economy struggles to regain its footing and lawmakers remain vexed over how to balance the state’s budget, the idea that the Golden State has lost its luster is beginning to take hold. The public’s mood is gloomy, and policymakers from the left and right are looking to other states with stronger employment growth in search of answers to what ails California. But even as the state’s collective psyche turns deeply pessimistic, recent economic indicators hint that a turnaround may already be taking place. And some serious research suggests that California’s “business climate” might not be as bad as critics say.
A new model for a more human-scaled nursing home that is taking hold across the country has been stymied so far in California, in part because regulations written with big institutions in mind do not work for smaller facilities run in a unique way.
Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers last month passed what might have been the biggest package of spending cuts in state history, more than $11 billion in reductions to almost every part of the government. But when the next fiscal year ends less than 15 months from now, many of those cuts will have failed to deliver their promised savings.
Support for federal health reform in California remains as strong today as it was a year ago despite attacks from the new majority of Republicans in Congress and federal court decisions declaring the law unconstitutional, according to a new, independent poll released today.
When Jerry Brown was running for governor last year, he vowed to break the partisan deadlock that had prevented legislators from fixing California’s yearslong budget mess. With his decades of experience in politics, including two previous terms as governor, Brown said he had the savvy it took to bring Republicans and Democrats together to find a solution.
One of the budget bills Gov. Jerry Brown sign3evThursday seeks to make more than $1.5 billion in cuts to state spending on health care for the poor, mostly in Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families insurance program. Most of the cuts will be achieved by reducing by 10 percent the reimbursement for doctors, hospitals and other providers that care for the poor. The bill will also increase premiums in the Healthy Families program, implement co-payments in Medi-Cal and limit doctor visits and the reimbursement for over-the-counter medications.
California’s community clinics are in an odd place. They’re reeling from state budget cuts, struggling to make ends meet, while at the same time preparing for what could be a major expansion as the federal health reform bill rolls out. The hundreds of clinics play a crucial role in providing health care for the uninsured and under-insured, in urban neighborhoods and rural outposts.
California voters think major reforms of the state’s criminal justice system are needed, and they support changes that would focus on prevention and rehabilitation programs targeted at young people, according to a new poll released Thursday.