Campaign / Budget Reform

A reform measure that would end a lucrative tax break for corporations and wealthy investors has stalled in the state legislature.

Gov. Brown proposed a revised budget that would send an extra $2.9 billion to schools this year, including $1 billion in funding to help districts implement more rigorous academic standards.

State coffers contain about $4.5 billion more than expected in personal income tax payments. Business taxes have also rebounded, signaling an economic recovery.

Operations are back to normal at airports across the country as federal officials stop the furlough of air traffic controllers.

Californians have paid tens of millions of dollars the past three years in state fees that had been scheduled to die - but never did.

California's state auditor found shortcomings in management and oversight of special license plate programs meant to provide funding for causes like Lake Tahoe, anti-terrorism efforts and state parks.

Procrastinators who have yet to file their taxes have until midnight. Some retailers are offering freebies Monday to help relieve your tax-day woes.

For money-minded shoppers, it could have been a great weekend to buy big-ticket items. Starting April 1, a blizzard of sales tax hikes kicks in for more than 20 cities and counties statewide.

"It's one-stop shopping for all this information on our website," said Gary Winuk, chief of the FPPC's enforcement division. "The idea is to hold people accountable."

These automatic spending cuts would sap $500 million in federal funding from California putting priorities like education, health care and public safety at risk. The cuts could cost California 225,000 jobs.

Taxes will need to be done soon. Here are some key numbers to know when filing your 2012 tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

As Gov. Brown joined an effort aimed at getting Calif universities to offer more courses online, his administration released details of a proposal to expand online learning at K-12 schools.

The first paycheck of 2013 contained a nasty surprise for many workers: a tax hike that shrank their take-home earnings by two percent or more.

The spending plan for community colleges reflects the new focus in the California 112-campus community college system on increasing graduation and transfer rates through a combination of technology, smoother pathways to Cal State University and, for students, tough love.

Gov. Jerry Brown will give more than $2 billion extra to K-12 districts next school year and ask lawmakers to direct more funding to impoverished students and English learners in his budget plan.

With the cost of going to college already more than $30,000 a year at many California campuses, is it possible to earn a bachelor's degree for just $10,000?

Gov. Jerry Brown will push this year to upend the way schools are funded in California, hoping to shift more money to poorer districts and end requirements that billions of dollars be spent on particular programs.

After CA schools eliminated art programs and increased class sizes to survive budget cuts, they are getting more money thanks to voter-approved taxes and economic recovery.

The passage of Props 30 and 39 and a new Democratic supermajority in the legislature mean influxes of revenue for schools and possibly making changes in revenue and how it gets distributed.

People who pay for petition drives in support of statewide ballot measures can no longer hide their identity, thanks to a regulation adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Deferred payments to California schools and community colleges will fall to their lowest level in five years this academic year, and repayments for previous deferrals is starting sooner than expected.

Californian's, particularly those within the education community, have more to engender hope than ever before in recent memory. From the state level to the federal, doors are opening for the changes we seek, but we can't wait to be invited across those thresholds.

California's two public university systems retreated from various tuition hikes as Gov. Jerry Brown suggested the moves would be ill-timed coming just a week after voters approved a tax increase for education.

So by picking a fight with labor, the pro-Prop 32 faction risked losing not just on that measure but also on other fights important to conservatives, including Prop 30 and races for Congress and the Legislature.

After previously threatening downgrades if Prop 30 had failed, Moody's Investors Service said that voter approval of the tax initiative positively impacted the credit ratings of K-12 districts and colleges.

As the election results came in, it became clear that the handful of billionaires and CEOs who sought to silence our voice were in for a rude awakening. Their deceptive measure, Prop 32, didn't just fail, it tanked by a 12-point margin.

Under the measure, out-of-state businesses will have to calculate their tax liability based on the percentage of their sales in California.

Despite $44 million in personal donations, Molly Munger's measure lost about 3-1...The margin on Wednesday morning was roughly 72.3 percent no and 27.7 percent yes.

California schools’ rendezvous with rock bottom is over. A massive grassroots campaign, an eleventh hour surge in advertising and strategic targeting of likely voters pulled Proposition 30 over the halfway mark yesterday, giving both Gov. Jerry Brown and California public schools and community colleges a victory.

California voters reaffirmed their support for unions in defeating a provision that would have banned the way labor traditionally raises money to fund political activity.

California voters haven't passed a statewide tax hike since 2004, during more favorable economic times, and Prop 30 struggled to get past a gantlet of competing statewide tax measures and an opposition campaign with enough money to air attack ads in the final month.

Restricting just unions and their workers will result in a political system that favors corporate special interest over everyone else. If campaign finance reform is to pass, it must be a fair and even-handed effort to close loopholes in the law, rather than a purely partisan effort to eviscerate political opponents.

It would be easy for voters to be tempted by the misleading advertising for Prop 32. But all the ads for 32 ought to come with a warning label: beware of buyer's remorse.

Props 32 and 33 will hurt working people, but the two reclusive billionaires have refused to step out of the shadows and defend their measures, preferring to hide behind advertising campaigns fronted by PR firms.

Prop 32 furthers the interest of the few and the elite. It does nothing to even the playing field. This is not right. This is our American democracy. Vote no on Prop 32.

Supporters of Prop 32 claim their initiative cuts the money tie between special interests and politicians. Not close to being true. And an $11 million donation from a shadowy Arizona nonprofit illustrates why.

Backers say Prop. 32 would stop special-interest money from influencing politicians, but the measure actually would tilt the playing field unfairly to the right.

Proposition 38 is a damaging detour from that pathway and a direct threat to California's near-term fiscal stability, putting us right back at the bottom of a multibillion-dollar budget hole.

But if they are in it for themselves, they aren't likely to fool the voters, who have a remarkable knack for rejecting any ballot initiative with a stink behind it. In the end, the initiative process is still the people's. Voters decide, and their judgment over the billionaires is the final verdict.

...a sign, in this era of super PACs and Citizens United, of the increasingly sophisticated use of the populist tool by the wealthy to influence politics in the most populous state.

The budget approved earlier this year includes $6 billion in cuts that would be imposed if Propn 30 fails. The biggest cuts , $5.4 billion, would fall on public schools...Public universities would endure another $500 million cut and would raise tuition again.

...it will prevent $6 billion in cuts to schools and colleges and it will begin to address California's debt. That's why teachers are supporting Prop. 30. Our students are counting on us.

Of the roughly $200 million sunk thus far into the committees supporting or opposing the various initiatives, a third -- $68 million -- has come from out of the deep pockets of four people.

The battle over Prop 32 follows conflicts in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere where efforts to dilute the strength of organized labor have produced political tumult, a flood of TV ads and widespread demonstrations.

The need is urgent, but not so urgent that voters should approve a funding scheme that could end up wasting precious taxpayer dollars. Vote no on Proposition 38.

Charles Munger Jr. has given another $9.9 million to a committee with a dual mission: defeat Proposition 30 and support Proposition 32.

Prop 32 claims to be a reform measure, but in reality, it is a deceptive measure that would disproportionately weaken some special interests while leaving others essentially unaffected.

Republican activist Charles Munger Jr. has given more than $10 million to an independent committee supporting the Proposition 32 campaign finance provisions and opposing the Proposition 30 tax increase, according to a new state filing.

The battle to curb political clout has moved from Wisconsin to California, where wealthy conservatives are championing a ballot measure that would bar unions from donating to candidates. Labor leaders describe it as the starkest threat they have faced in a year of nationwide challenges to diminish their once-formidable power.

Prop 30 is no substitute for long-term reforms, but it is a measured and sensible response to this crisis. Prop 38 would raise more money for schools overall but would pile on bureaucracy and restrict flexibility. We recommend voting yes on Prop 30 and no on Prop 38.

...for the sake of education and other state programs that are vitally important to many of our citizens, we are holding our breath and recommending a yes vote on Proposition 30.

A poll shows that just 34 percent of registered voters plan to vote for Proposition 38, while 52 percent oppose it. Analysts said they can not remember a state measure coming back from that large a deficit with only several weeks to go before an election, particularly one asking most Californians to raise their own taxes.

Prop 32 isn't about reform. Its backers are billionaires and corporate special interests that are trying to rig the system to their favor while the middle class pays the price. And now with the Kochs stepping out of the shadows to drop big money into the effort to pass it, Californians have a crystal clear understanding of what this is really about – and what the consequences are if this deceptive measure passes.

Proposition 32 was intentionally crafted to create special exemptions for billionaire businessmen and corporate special interests, giving them even more political power to write their own set of rules.

Business leaders don’t generally like taxes. But several Bay Area CEOs said they back the tax increases called for in California’s Proposition 30 because the alternative is so much worse.

Proposition 38, which is being pushed by lawyer Molly Munger, would increase education spending by hiking income taxes on most residents...What the ad for Proposition 38 doesn’t say is that it makes California’s education funding problem much worse before it gets better.

It is not real campaign finance reform. It is using campaign finance reform as a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is written to empower corporate special interests and would actually make things worse in Sacramento.

The ad's sponsors, the California Future Fund and the American Future Fund, are the kind of shadowy political organizations that the spot criticizes for influencing California politics...Little is known about either group, although American Future Fund reportedly has ties to billionaire conservatives Charles and David Koch.

As frustrated as Californians may be with Sacramento, the real pain of a no vote will not be at the state Capitol. It will be realized by the parents and students who will be confronted with shorter school years, fewer resources and higher tuition bills.

Prop 32 would tilt the system in favor of corporations and business trade groups. Voters have every reason to worry about the impact of big money in the political system. However, Proposition 32 is no reform.

Big business already decides much of our environmental policy. If Prop. 32 were to enter the equation,...our reputation as a green leader in the global environmental movement would be as torched as the coal in our power plants.

While the preamble of the prop expresses what sounds like excellent ideas, those ideas are not found in the actual text of the proposition.

A sound, well-funded education system is required to keep our economy strong for the next generation. That is why teachers are backing Proposition 30.

The Kochs massive donation to Prop. 32 was not a principled ideological stand. It was an investment – an extended warranty on their California possessions. It was also a signal that there is money to be made in California, both from its natural resources and from its taxpayers.

If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is. Voters should heed that advice on Prop 32, written to seem like it will fix a broken political system when it is not what it seems.

If Gov. Jerry Brown and civil rights attorney Molly Munger agree on one thing, it's that California needs to raise taxes to give schools more money. Voters who share that view now have to consider two distinctly different paths devised to accomplish the goal.

The $4 million donation from the Koch Brothers-linked group also is evidence that it must be concerned that voters are now seeing Prop 32 for what it is...a sham.

Proposition 32 underscores the political system's domination by moneyed interests who are attempting to bar unions from using payroll deductions to raise money for political activity.

The California School Boards Association has endorsed the measure and urged all school districts to do the same, saying it would increase the amount of money going toward schools by $3.6 billion in the fiscal year ending in June.

Proposition 32 purports to be an even-handed attempt to reduce the influence of special interests in California. It is anything but balanced. The most telling way to assess the motive and the effect of this initiative is to follow the money.

As Gov. Jerry Brown and wealthy civil-rights attorney Molly Munger brace for a fall showdown over their initiatives to raise taxes for schools, educators are agonizing over picking sides.

A group with ties to the conservative billionaire Koch brothers has dropped $4 million to pass a ballot measure that would severely limit the political activity of labor unions.

In an unprecedented show of unity, Modesto City Schools teachers, support staff, managers, the superintendent and school board members together will campaign for the passage of Gov. Jerry Brown's constitutional amendment, Proposition 30.

Statewide civil rights organization backs revenue measure to protect schools and social safety net from $6 billion automatic cut this year.

If Prop 30 does not pass, state spending reductions to educational programs would take effect immediately. California schools would be forced to make drastic cuts to their curriculums during the middle of the instructional year.

Voters on Nov. 6 will decide on Proposition 30, an initiative sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown that could bring revenue to California schools or at least stave off deeper cuts.

Voters continue to prefer the Brown tax initiative solidly over wealthy civil rights attorney Molly Munger, but a new poll shows signs that Prop 30 may be vulnerable to attack ads.

Billionaire corporate interests are waging a drive to stifle the political voice of workers and their unions in California that is certain to spread nationwide if not stopped now.

Sens. Feinstein and Boxer sent a letter to the sponsor of Prop 38, imploring them - to stop personal attacks against Gov. Jerry Brown - that they fear could sink the Brown tax measure, Prop 30.

Sacramento boasts a cottage industry of political message massagers, but when a chance to become the spokesman for a controversial initiative surfaced last year, none of the local firms stepped up.

...It is clear that Prop 32 is not what it seems. While it eliminates the collective voice of union members in politics, it is riddled with exemptions for corporate CEOs, billionaires and corporate special interests.

This year's most deceptive ballot measure would enhance Big Money's ability to corrupt California elections.

In an attempt to deny voters access to arguments against his self-serving ballot initiative, Mercury Insurance Company billionaire George Joseph and his Prop 33 campaign consultants have filed a lawsuit to hide the cost of Prop 33 from voters.

The California Democratic Party announced their endorsements for the November ballot propositions.

Apparently we union workers are far too successful at affecting public policy in California. Why else would corporate billionaires be gathering and spending huge campaign war chests, for the third time in 14 years, to pass a law that would force us to shut up?

...leaders from Common Cause California and League of Women Voters said that Proposition 32, dubbed "Stop Special Interest Money Now," is an age-old assault on union power dressed up as campaign finance reform.

Philip Morris has given $31.3 million of the $44 million raised by the tobacco industry to defeat Proposition 29...At least 20 of the 40 sitting state senators, including 14 Republicans and six Democrats, have taken tobacco donations over the years. In the Assembly, 36 of 80 members, including 25 Republicans and 11 Democrats, have accepted tobacco money.

The tax reform association notes that under the law, businesses can change hands but avoid paying higher property taxes by keeping property in trusts, partnerships and limited liability corporations to hold the land.

"You have a corporation and a chairman who have been found to ignore California law on several occasions, and now they're asking voters to say yes to a slickly advertised initiative campaign," Heller said.

Funding for CalWorks, the welfare-to-work program that is the state's main welfare service, was cut by $1 billion this year...while also reducing monthly checks by at least 8 percent.

Lobbyists have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season. The powerful interests that employ lobbyists spent nearly quarter of a billion dollars - $217 million from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30 - to persuade government to meet their clients' needs. The amount is a record.

A key mechanism of Amazon's business model, which was to exploit the price advantage it gained by not collecting sales tax, is beginning to come apart, in no small degree because of California.

California voters approved Proposition 13 to rein in property taxes that had doubled in 10 years. More than three decades later, that rebellion has mortgaged the state's future, saddling it with the nation's highest debt and lowest credit rating.

The report proposes a model law that would lower contribution limits, ban fundraising in non-election years and establish a public financing system for candidates.

Amazon.com is willing to spend big bucks to avoid collecting sales tax on Internet purchases in California...the company revealed it had already contributed $3 million to the More Jobs Not Taxes Committee, which was established less than a month after a state law taxing online purchases took effect.

Participants in the debt ceiling debate placed the spotlight on programs with a barely measurable impact on the deficit and put off to the indefinite future the things that really matter.

...the Democrats said they'd try to pick up enough seats in the 2012 elections to secure two-thirds margins, thereby cutting the GOP out of future tax issues. And the redistricting plans now nearing approval by the new independent redistricting commission could set the stage for achieving that goal, either in 2012 or in 2014.

Proposition 25 worked. California's Capitol has become less dysfunctional...This will be only the sixth time in the last 25 years that a budget has been enacted by the start of the fiscal year...

The $70 million spent in California on lobbying fees and political contributions came at the same time the banks were getting billions in federal taxpayer bailouts to keep them from collapsing.

In poll, 1 in 5 California residents said there were times last year when they couldn't afford enough food. The state ranks No. 16 for food hardship, with the Fresno and Inland Empire areas particularly hard-hit.