Posts Tagged: increase

Words of gloom accompany Brown’s budget

Gov. Brown unveils his 2016-17 budget plan, urging caution about potential economic downturns. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

by ALEX MATTHEWS posted 01.07.2016

California’s economy is on the mend and revenues are fat, but Gov. Brown offered some words of gloom as he unveiled a $171 billion budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1. “If you’re a betting person, you can easily conclude that deficits are more likely than surpluses,” Brown said Thursday as he presented his 2016-17 budget to the Legislature.

LAO: Ballot initiative would triple cigarette taxes

A cigarette smoker enjoying his habit. (Photo: Pe3k, via Shutterstock)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 11.30.2015

An initiative aimed at next year’s ballot to more than triple the tax on California cigarettes would raise at least $1.3 billion annually, with the money going to an array of health and other programs, according to the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser. The Legislative Analyst’s Office reported Monday that the proposal to add $2 in taxes to a pack of cigarettes would increase the per-pack taxes to $2.87.

CalSTRS eyes hike in death benefit

Students in a classroom get instruction from a teacher. (Photo: Areipa.It, Shutterstock)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.09.2015

Because the system is underfunded, the CalSTRS board has made no inflation adjustment in the death benefit since 2002. The board was told that it could have increased the death benefit by about 34.7 percent during the period.

CalPERS: Retirees begin to outnumber active workers

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

by ED MENDEL posted 08.24.2015

After a loss of $100 billion in the recent recession, the CalPERS funding level dropped from 100 percent in 2007 to 61 percent in 2009. It has not recovered, despite a major bull market in which the S&P 500 index of large stocks tripled. “Even with the dramatic returns we have seen over the past six years, because the demographics of plans in general have changed and plans are now by and large cash-flow negative, it’s been very challenging to dig out of that hole,” Andrew Junkin, a Wilshire consultant, told the CalPERS board last week.

Multiple bills have taken aim at Prop. 13, but the most popular among these bills pushes the so-called “split roll” property tax, which would eliminate Prop. 13 protections for job creators but leave them in place for homeowners. But a Pepperdine University study shows that the split roll could trigger the loss of nearly 400,000 jobs and cost California’s economy a total of $71.8 billion in output within the first five years.

Census: Amid diversity, California Asians gain ground

Taking in a ball game in Los Angeles. (Photo: Supanee Hickman)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 06.25.2015

California’s Asian population is the largest of any state in the nation, and its increase during a 12-month period was the largest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s Asian population reached 6.3 million through last summer, the latest period for which data is available, reflecting a 162,000 increase over July 2013. California’s Asian population represents nearly a third of the nation’s 20.3 million.

Senate OKs health coverage for undocumented children

Demonstrators seeking more funding for health care coverage gathered recently at the state Capitol. Inside, the Senate voted to expand coverage to undocumented choldren. (Photo: Alvin Chen, Capitol Weekly)

by Associated Press posted 06.02.2015

The state Senate today approved legislation that would make California the first state in the nation to extend health coverage to children who are in the country illegally and seek federal authorization to sell private insurance to those in the country illegally. The bill, now headed to the Assembly, would allow children under 19 from low-income families to qualify for state-funded Medi-Cal, regardless of their legal status.

The push back from schools hit with a huge CalSTRS rate increase, expected to be an additional $3.7 billion a year when fully phased in, is not that it’s unaffordable and will hurt students or unfairly lets the state and teachers off the hook. Instead, a coalition of school districts, including the giant Los Angeles Unified School District, wants a separate budget item for the CalSTRS rate increase within Proposition 98.

Bicyclists: Helmets mean safer ride

Amateur bicyclists compete in the Garrett Lemire Memorial Grand Prix National Racing Circuit in Ojai, Calif. (Photo: American Spirit, via Shutterstock)

by ERIC RATINOFF posted 03.12.2015

OPINION: As an avid bicyclist and an attorney who regularly works with clients who suffer traumatic brain injuries, I support Sen. Carol Liu’s vision that all cyclists wear helmets as a matter of safety. Recently, Sen. Liu introduced SB 192, which would mandate that all cyclists wear helmets as well as wear reflective clothing at night. Not only is this legislation personal (her nephew was killed by a drunk driver while he was riding) but she’s also able to back up her vision with statistics showing the need for helmets.

UC: Butting heads in a committee of two

On the campus of UC Berkeley, Sather Gate. (Photo: cdrin via Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 01.25.2015

Forty years later, the parsimonious Brown is still butting heads with the UC system’s president over money. The issue is simple: The state wants to know in detail how UC spends its money, the first step if the state is to give the system more money in the 2015-2016 budget.