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Like Finding $6.6 Billion In The Pocket Of Your Jeans After You Wash Them: California's Revised Budget
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
With California state revenue exceeding expectation, Gov. Jerry Brown wants to use to use an unexpected $6.6 billion "to boost education spending and help repair California’s battered finances," notes the LA Times.
Brown's revised budget plan, released Monday, puts about $3 billion more into school spending than initially proposed in January and seeks to eliminate several high paying "patronage posts" as well as "43 boards, commissions, task forces, offices and departments, such as the Departments of Mental Health and alcohol and drug programs whose services would be returned to the local level," notes Los Angeles Business Journal. The revision also suggests selling local property like the Los Angeles Coliseum and property in Ramirez Canyon near Malibu.
The new money chips away at what was a $15-billion deficit, however, it's "not enough to put the state in the black," notes the LA Times, and Brown it still sticking to "tax increases that are due to expire this year," as well as many initially proposed cuts.
Brown still wants local community redevelopment agencies out of the picture, reports Curbed LA via NYT, and University of California President Mark G. Yudof, issued a statement calling the repercussions "unconscionable" should the state adopt an "all-cuts" budget scenario that would see a reduction in UC state funding doubled to $1 billion.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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