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This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.

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Jerry Brown May Be Un-Pimping Your State-Owned Ride

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Photo by GarySe7en via LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

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First cell phones and now the car. California, you're grounded. Why? Because you broke curfew to go on a date with that college boy, and you're $25.4 billion over your allowance.

On Friday, Jerry Brown ordered California agencies to immediately stop buying new cars and announced that all vehicles deemed non-essential for state business are to be sold within 120 days. "There is a lot of wasteful spending on cars that aren't even driven," Brown said in a statement," reports the LA Times, "and we can't afford to spend taxpayer money on new cars while California faces such a massive deficit."

California owns 50,000 cars, trucks, vans, buses, boats and aircraft, said a spokeswoman for the governor, according to the LA Times. Brown, who reportedly drives his state-owned 2008 Pontiac for work, wants to cut the 11,000 passenger cars and light trucks by fifty percent. Safe from repo are vehicles used by health and public safety agencies like California Highway Patrol and Caltrans. Brown is hoping the fleet reduction will save the state $16.5 million annually.

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