Lawsuit filed over Schwarzenegger plan to sell, then lease back, state buildings

Call us cynics, but things are not looking so good for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to help plug the state's budget deficit by selling off 11 state properties -- including the state courthouse in San Francisco's Civic Center, and the Public Utilities Commission property on Van Ness Ave. The state plans on leasing back the buildings for public use.

Today, a suit was filed challenging the legality of the sale. Just as interesting: the plaintiffs are two men who were removed from a state board by Schwarzenegger because they opposed the sale.

The plan is aimed at netting the deficit-ridden state up to $1.2 billion this fiscal year; but a recent report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Office predicted that selling the buildings will end up costing taxpayers $6 billion more over 35 years than simply keeping them under state ownership.

The plan has been criticized by lawmakers in the past, but the Legislature actually approved the sale back in 2009, and legislative leaders signed off on it again during this year's tense and much-delayed budget negotiations.

Posted By: Marisa Lagos (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | November 16 2010 at 05:30 PM

Jerry Brown: Not "many good ideas" for solving California's $25.4 billion deficit (VIDEO)

Gov.-elect Jerry Brown returned to Sacramento after a week-long vacation to meet with a host of people over the state's budget deficit that, while he was away, ballooned to $25.4 billion over the next 20 months.

Brown's people advised reporters that there would be a "photo shoot" in the Attorney General's office at the Department of Justice downtown, but reporters being reporters, Brown was asked a few questions, too. Brown being Brown, he answered most of them.

He said the special session to be called by outgoing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next month is a "great opportunity" for the Legislature to deal with the $6 billion hole in the current year's budget, which was enacted a little more than a month ago.

Brown said he wants the various interest groups and others with a stake in state government to reach out to him with suggestions for fixing the problem. He has pledged that as governor he would put any tax increase in front of voters, who showed immense distaste for new taxes in the election earlier this month.

Without tax increases, the only major way to reduce the deficit is to reduce spending unless Brown and the Legislature decide to implement a series of one-time solutions or budget gimmicks that serve to kick the problem down the road. It should be an interesting process, especially given that Prop. 25 approved Nov. 2 allows a budget to be passed on a simple majority vote (read: no Republican votes needed). However, taxes and now even most fees -- thanks to Prop. 26 -- will require a two-thirds vote.

Brown did not say (OK, he wasn't asked in the short time we had) whether he would seek to raise taxes. Here is some Shaky Hand Productions footage of him discussing the challenge of closing the deficit. "Not a lot of people have many good ideas on how to deal with it," he says, while meeting with education folks. Watch here:

On another note, Spanish-language media outlets pressed Brown on whether he had vacationed in Arizona, as has been reported in the Sacramento Bee. He has received criticism over the report due to the passage of the controversial Arizona immigration law that many Latinos and others view as racist. He did not respond to the question.

Posted By: Wyatt Buchanan (Email) | November 16 2010 at 04:55 PM

Is the LAO sending subliminal messages?

Here's a little Friday afternoon parting shot (cheap shot?) on the week that was for the state's deficit-ridden budget.

But first let's recap for those keeping score at home: The Legislative Analyst's Office projected that California faces a $25.4 billion deficit over the next 20 months, including a $6 billion hole in the budget that was passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a little over a month ago and 100 days late.

Yesterday, Schwarzenegger -- who refuses to be called a lame duck -- said he would call a special session of the Legislature on Dec. 6, when the new Legislature is sworn in, to deal with the $6 billion gap. Today, the governor insisted to reporters that the $6 billion deficit could not have been anticipated just five weeks ago and you can read more on that in tomorrow's paper.

All of that said, we're wondering if the Legislative Analyst's Office is sending not-so-subliminal messages to people following the deficit debacle. The report outlining the deficit released earlier this week -- titled "California's Fiscal Outlook" -- included a graphic on the cover showing a compass atop a pile of money. Check out which direction the needle is pointing.

Posted By: Wyatt Buchanan (Email) | November 12 2010 at 04:26 PM

Budget negotiations move to L.A. due to an ailing Schwarzenegger

A quick update for the state budget junkies out there and the folks who aren't getting paid in this record-breaking impasse. For the record, the fiscal year started 84 days ago.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been ill since Monday and no negotiations have taken place. The Speaker of the Assembly and President Pro Tem of the Senate, each bringing their top budget staffer, are headed to Los Angeles where they will meet with the governor at 1 p.m. at his private office in Santa Monica. The top Republicans are headed down as well with a handful of staffers.

Schwarzenegger's spokesman Aaron McLear said he did not know whether the governor is under orders from doctors not to travel, but said, "He's sick and he's not flying." The governor rarely gets sick, but has had a hectic schedule lately, including a six-day, three-country trade mission to Asia. McLear described the illness as a bad cold.

As far as the meeting happening nearly 400 miles from the capitol and reporters here, McLear said, "I think they are allowed to do state business in other parts of California besides Sacramento."

All of the top leaders, excluding Steinberg, live in Southern California.

Still, we don't expect much news to come from this, though we never say never.

Several other legislative staff members that are needed to hash out specific details won't be there. Neither will the press secretaries for Schwarzenegger, Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, or the Republicans.

Posted By: Wyatt Buchanan (Email) | September 22 2010 at 11:55 AM

Dems to hold online budget forum and they want your questions

Have a question -- or just want to sound off -- about the state budget but can't make it to Sacramento? Well, Democrats in the state Senate are giving you the opportunity to do that from home.

The Democrats are holding three days of online town hall meetings Aug. 24-26, with the second night being a Spanish-language broadcast. We're guessing the $19 billion deficit won't be solved by then.

Lawmakers could get a earful -- the budget is more than 50 days late and state Controller John Chiang said this week that California could begin issuing IOUs in the next few weeks.

"We're hearing a lot from our constituents (who are) upset that there's not a budget. Rightly so," said Alicia Trost, spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who will host the first town hall with Berkeley Democrat Loni Hancock.

Trost said lawmakers want to "better educate (constituents) about what's at stake and what choices lawmakers are facing this year." Senate Democrats did a similar online forum last year and it was popular as far as people viewing Senate videos online goes, Trost said.

The Spanish-language town hall will be hosted by Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, who is chairwoman of the Senate Committee Budget and Fiscal Review. San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno, who also is on the budget committee, will be part of the third night.

To submit questions anytime before the broadcasts and to watch them next week, go here.

Posted By: Wyatt Buchanan (Email) | August 20 2010 at 02:37 PM

"How many cows must die?" -- Cali GOP makes tenuous parallel between dead cow, state budget

It's a stretch, but hey, at least we got a laugh out of the dismal budget situation: The California Republican Party sent out a statement today linking Tuesday's shooting of a pregnant cow at the State Fair to the stalemate over the budget. The back story: the cow was shot by state fair police after she fled; both she and her calf died. The bovine was supposed to give birth in front of fair-goers (maybe that's why she ran.) Anyway, animal rights activists are up in arms about the incident and the "Livestock Nursing" program the cow was to participate in before her untimely death.

Paraphrasing is of no use here, so we'll just let you read the statement:

"Obviously, the stress of state budget uncertainty is taking its toll on these dedicated state employees, from fair management, to state fair police, to the U.C. Davis veterinary director who had to make the fatal decision to tragically down this pregnant cow and her unborn calf. We're not second guessing the call. Considering the circumstances, it may have been the best decision. But it's not fair to force people to make life-and death decisions when they're also coping with the prospect of fewer vacation days or reduced office supplies.

"With the state budget nearly a month overdue, the Democrat legislative leaders are happy to hang out in their own corral, unable to agree even among themselves how to close the state budget gap. This is inexcusable. This is bull. This is a new low for Democrats.

"Is nothing sacred to them anymore, not even cows?"

We're waiting to see what the Democrats have to say ... we're guessing they won't agree with the characterization.

Posted By: Marisa Lagos (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | July 28 2010 at 02:10 PM

Republicans, Democratic supporters ham it up at budget events

We don't have any actual budget news to report from the Capitol, but we can tell you there's a lot of cheese going around.

The California Republican Party, along with Democratic supporters, cheesed it up Monday in two public relations events that we'd bet will have absolutely no impact on lawmakers or the opinions of their constituents.

First there was the press conference Monday morning with the CRP where party officials presented Assembly Speaker John Pèrez, D-Los Angeles "with the CRP recipe to avoid 'half-baked' budget solutions."

Not to be outdone, Democratic supporters -- cited in their news release as "real Californians whose jobs would be impacted by the governor's budget proposals" -- sold "fully-baked" pies "representing Democratic budget principles with fillings representing the jobs those budgets protect." They also hocked some empty piecrusts "representing the GOP budget proposals," or, they said, the lack thereof.

Meanwhile, July ticks away with no budget compromise in sight.

Posted By: Marisa Lagos (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | July 20 2010 at 10:48 AM

Who's afraid of the governor's budget? (Hint: Not the governor.)

Not so fast, Mr. Mayor.

On Sunday, Willie Brown wrote in his Chronicle column (available online today here) that he spooked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a bit last week by telling him that if he were still Assembly Speaker, he would pass the governor's May budget proposal that includes wholesale and near wholesale elimination of some of California's safety net programs.

"Then I would hang it around your neck, because I know damn well that half the numbers are wrong and that you really don't want to make half the cuts that you are proposing. I'd have you over your own barrel," Brown wrote that he told the governor, whom he described as "taken aback."

At a weekly briefing with reporters today, the governor's spokesman Aaron McLear said Schwarzenegger wouldn't flinch if the Legislature sent down his own proposal.

"The governor would sign his May (proposal) if the Legislature passed it," McLear said, adding that it would also need to include reforms to state worker pensions, which Schwarzenegger has said is a necessary part of the deal this year.

Chances of Democrats approving such cuts are probably zero, though.

As far as actual budget news goes, well, there ain't much. The two Democratic leaders have a meeting scheduled for today that one staffer described as "dotting the I's and crossing the T's" on the Democrats' plan to deal with a $19.1 billion deficit. We're not holding our breath.

Posted By: Wyatt Buchanan (Email) | July 13 2010 at 12:30 PM

New web site provides one-stop shopping for government reform

When politicians talk about government reform, it's a pretty safe bet that the reform they're touting is good news for them and their supporters, but maybe not such a hot idea for the rest of the state.

That's one reason Noel Perry, the venture capitalist who founded the Next 10 organization, has joined with a trio of university groups to create a web site that provides a wealth of non-partisan information on a variety of reforms measures both on and off the California ballot.

"We want to make complex information more accessible," he said in an interview. "Our plan is to make this a clearing house of information on different initiatives and reform efforts."

The site, www.californiachoices.org, has only been in business for a couple of weeks, but already is pulling together information on reform efforts both in the news and under the radar. The "Reform Options" section, for example, not only lists the nuts and bolts of how reform can get done in California, but also provides information on specific suggestions circulating on issues like taxes, elections, the state budget and money in politics.

"We want people to become engaged in the debate," Perry said. "Our hope is that people can come to our site and quickly get informed about where people on both sides of an issue are coming from."

"Non-partisan" doesn't mean that Perry doesn't have strong opinions. He's convinced that California has deep problems and that something needs to be done to fix them.

As the introduction to the web site states, "Every route to meaningful reform will depend on informed and motivated voters like you agreeing to turn good ideas into reality at the ballot box."

Perry founded and funded Next 10 in 2005 in an effort to get Californians to look more closely at the state's future. The group's popular interactive California Budget Challenge, updated regularly, allows on-line visitors to draw up their own state budget, using real numbers and making real trade-offs, and then see what effect their choices have 10 years down the road.

The California Choices web site is a collaborative effort involving Next 10, the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford, the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley and the Center for California Studies at Sacramento State University.

-- John Wildermuth

Posted By: John Wildermuth (Email) | June 11 2010 at 02:37 PM

Solve the state's budget crisis, all by yourself

The election is over, so everyone in Sacramento can turn their attention back to pressing matters, like the state budget and $19 billion hole. And if you're a wonk, do we have a game for you: The Next 10 budget challenge.

That's right, ladies and gents, if you don't already have plans this Friday night, grab a tub of popcorn, some strong coffee and figure out what you would do as queen or king of the Golden State for a day. The "game," created by the independent, nonpartisan group Next 10, lets regular citizens "try their hand at solving the state fiscal crisis by creating a budget reflecting their values." It was recently updated to include the governor's revised budget and new policy options.

You know, because nothing screams "party" like choosing between education for kids and health care for the sick and elderly.

Seriously, though, the game -- sponsored on the Gate -- is an interesting way for voters to flush out their priorities. It walks participants through the budget, one area at a time, and lets you make decisions about spending and revenue priorities, and shows you the impacts of your choices. For example: do you think the state should increase per pupil spending at public schools to bring it to the national average? Done, but the budget deficit just grew by about $13 billion. UPDATE: Next 10 points out that this increase would only close half the gap, meaning Cali would still be below the national average, and out $13 billion.

Policymakers and political observers (yes, including journalists) often grouse that voters want to have their cake and eat it too -- for example, we often mandate spending at the ballot box, but pledge our absolute opposition to tax increases. And advocacy groups, from business to labor, are often slammed for supporting their cause at the expense of others. We have to wonder if voters would feel differently about their legislators, and the budget crisis, after they take the challenge. Let us know if it changed your mind.

Posted By: Marisa Lagos (Email, Twitter, Facebook) | June 10 2010 at 01:46 PM