Here is something for you Californians to worry about.

[MyLittlePony 340]

California's budget deficit has grown to a projected $16 billion and the state will have to make severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters reject tax hikes in November, Gov. Jerry Brown announced Saturday. The Democratic governor said the state's shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January because tax collections have not come in as high and the economy isn't ramping up as fast as the administration had hoped. The deficit has also gone up because billions of dollars in state cuts have been blocked by lawsuits and federal requirements.

If they pulled there heads out there azz they get tuff on the borders.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/california-facing-higher-16-billion-shortfall-213905732--finance.html

By JUDY LIN | Associated Press – 1 hr 34 mins ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion — much larger than had been predicted just months ago — and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday.

The Democratic governor said the shortfall grew from $9.2 billion in January in part because tax collections have not come in as high as expected and the economy isn't growing as fast as hoped for. The deficit has also risen because lawsuits and federal requirements have blocked billions of dollars in state cuts.

"This means we will have to go much farther and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in an online video. "But we can't fill this hole with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools. That's why I'm bypassing the gridlock and asking you, the people of California, to approve a plan that avoids cuts to schools and public safety."

Brown did not release details of the newly calculated deficit Saturday, but he is expected to lay out a revised spending plan Monday. The new plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1 hinges in large part on voters approving higher taxes.

The governor has said those tax increases are needed to help pull the state out of a crippling decade shaped by the collapse of the housing market and recession. Without them, he warned, public schools and colleges, and public safety, will suffer deeper cuts.

"What I'm proposing is not a panacea, but it goes a long way toward cleaning up the state's budget mess," Brown said.

Democrats, who control the Legislature, have resisted Brown's proposed cuts so far this year. Republican lawmakers criticized the majority party for building in overly optimistic tax revenues.

"Today's news underscores how we must rein in spending and let our economy grow by leaving overburdened taxpayers alone," said Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway in a statement.

The governor pursued a ballot initiative because Republican lawmakers would not provide the votes needed to reach the two-thirds legislative majority required to raise taxes.

Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, acknowledged that lawmakers have "limited and difficult choices left to solve the deficit." Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he wasn't surprised by the deficit spike given that state tax revenue have fallen $3.5 billion below projections in the current year.

"We will deal with it," Steinberg said Saturday. "And we know that more cuts are inevitable but we will do our very, very best to save more than we lose, especially for those in need."

Under Brown's tax plan, California would temporarily raise the state's sales tax by a quarter-cent and increase the income tax on people who make $250,000 or more. Brown is projecting his tax initiative would raise as much as $9 billion, but a review by the nonpartisan analyst's office estimates revenue of $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2012-13.

Supporters of the "Schools and Local Public Safety Protection Act of 2012" say the additional revenue would help maintain current funding levels for public schools and colleges and pay for programs that benefit seniors and low-income families. It also would provide local governments with a constitutional guarantee of funding to comply with a new state law that shifts lower-level offenders from state prisons to county jails.

A second tax hike headed for the November ballot is being promoted by Los Angeles civil rights attorney Molly Munger, whose initiative would raise income taxes on a sliding scale for nearly all wage-earners to help fund schools.

Anti-tax groups and Republican lawmakers say both tax increases will hurt California's economic recovery. State GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro has embarked on a statewide campaign to discuss alternatives to Brown's tax hikes.

The governor is expected to propose a contingency plan with a list of unpopular cuts that would kick in automatically if voters reject tax hikes this fall. In January, he said they would result in a K-12 school year shortened by up to three weeks, higher college tuition fees and reduced funding for courts.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Why_Me

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Leatherneck 693]

It'll be real news when this state is not swimming in red ink. CA is one of those places that will have to crash and crash hard before Sacramento and the liberals that vote for them finally get it.

Cuts to schools and public safety, but let the legislators keep their daily per deim, their taxpayer paid leased luxury cars and cell phones. But do nothing about the $100,000 yearly salaries (per member) for boards and commissions that meet once per month... and hands off that $100 billion high speed rail boondoggle.

[mawilson 2,133]

It'll be real news when this state is not swimming in red ink.

That's easy... secede and stop sending money to DC. If Californians didn't have to pay federal taxes, the state income tax could be raised from its current level (5-10%) to 10-20% which would be still be lower than most developed countries. Bam, problem solved. The state is swimming in cash instead of red ink.

[Leatherneck 693]

It'll be real news when this state is not swimming in red ink. CA is one of those places that will have to crash and crash hard before Sacramento and the liberals that vote for them finally get it.

Cuts to schools and public safety, but let the legislators keep their daily per diem, their taxpayer paid leased luxury cars and cell phones. But do nothing about the $100,000 yearly salaries (per member) for boards and commissions that meet once per month... and hands off that $100 billion high speed rail boondoggle.

[Leatherneck 693]

That's easy... secede and stop sending money to DC. If Californians didn't have to pay federal taxes, the state income tax could be raised from its current level (5-10%) to 10-20% which would be still be lower than most developed countries. Bam, problem solved. The state is swimming in cash instead of red ink.

Oh no, those clowns in Sacramento would have that cash spent before noon.

[MyLittlePony 340]

This story was already posted.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

This story was already posted.

This story is published all the time. Déjà vu for California. Around July, or August, the state will start issuing IOU's again. The banks love them, and will honor them, same as any government warrant, or check, because when the state finally passes a budget deal, the banks get to collect interest on the IOU's.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

California's credit rating is going to go down the tubes.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/california-dream-act-cover-college-costs-illegal-immigrants/story?id=14701143

California 'Dream Act' Will Help Cover College Costs for Illegal Immigrants

By KATTI GRAY

Oct. 9, 2011

Illegal immigrants will be able to apply for financial aid and merit-based scholarships to help pay their way through California's public colleges and universities, now that Gov. Jerry Brown this weekend signed the state's groundbreaking and controversial Dream Act, which ramps up existing allowances for the students in question.

Since 2001, California law has extended in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants as long as they have attended a California high school for at least three years, earned a high school diploma or GED and have proof that they are working to obtain citizenship. Under rules newly signed by Brown, beginning Jan. 1, 2012, illegal immigrants can apply for and receive scholarships derived from non-state funds and, beginning Jan. 1, 2013, for financial aid partially comprised of state funds.

"The future of California's economy depends on the ability of these students to graduate, to perform well and to contribute. This creates an opportunity," Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, a Democrat from Los Angeles who sponsored the 2012 measure, told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV.

Dream Act supporters have said they also will push for illegal immigrants to become eligible for driver licenses, a next move in a bid for full U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Therein lies the problem, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigrant Studies, a non-partisan Washington, D.C., research organization whose tagline is "Low-immigration, Pro-immigrant."

"The reason [the Dream Act] matters," Krikorian said, "is that it's an attempt to legitimize the presence of illegal immigrants. … People say, 'How can you object to letting the young people who are living here get tuition?'

"That's a different debate than the one over whether or not to legalize immigration. … The point of [the Dream Act] is not to give financial aid to a few students but to create political momentum in Washington for amnesty for all illegal immigrants."

Edited May 13, 2012 by Why_Me

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Coolness. California again leads the rest of the country in basic human fairness.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Coolness. California again leads the rest of the country in basic human fairness.

California leads the rest of the US on being a plague.

[MyLittlePony 340]

Remove the crack heads and illegal aliens off the welfare system should help the budget little.

[Darnell 8,478]

proof that they are working to obtain citizenship I smell a lot of marriages coming up. Geez I hate La Raza.

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

Me, worry?