Articles for category State Economy
Republican lawmakers are prepared to let voters decide whether to close California's stubborn budget deficit with higher taxes in exchange for major changes in state spending, public pensions and regulatory policies.
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Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2011
The nation's biggest pension fund is on target to notch one of its strongest annual returns in the past 20 years, performance that is helping the fund regain its health and its confidence.
But state residents still are being stung by the California Public Employees' Retirement System's funding gap, showing the deep hole into which many pension funds have dug themselves.
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State revenue has rocketed to a projected $6.6 billion beyond expectations, a windfall that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to use to stabilize education spending and help repair California's battered finances.
In the revised budget plan that Brown released Monday, schools would receive about $3 billion that would otherwise have been deferred, aiding districts' ability to plan the academic year. The proposal also devotes some of the unanticipated money to business tax credits and to delaying a portion of the tax increases the governor had sought earlier this year. [Read More...]
The state's annual contribution to CalPERS will fall slightly in the upcoming fiscal year, the pension fund announced today.
CalPERS said the state's contribution in the new fiscal year will hit $3.51 billion. That compares with $3.68 billion in the current year. [Read More...]
More than a thousand teachers, state workers and others fanned out across the south lawn of the Capitol on Friday to pressure Republican lawmakers to extend expiring taxes to avoid further budget cuts.
The event capped a week of demonstrations by the California Teachers Assn., whose members lobbied lawmakers, staged rallies and, on two occasions, got arrested for refusing to leave the Capitol after the building closed. On Friday, David Sanchez, the union’s president, said that his arrest -– and those of 25 others –- brought attention to the cause of public education.
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With Wisconsin convulsed by unrest over a bill to curb public employee unions, a similar measure is steaming toward passage in Ohio, a bigger labor stronghold with a vital role as a political battleground. [Read More...]
In a victory for all public retirees, the California Supreme Court on April 13 refused to hear the County of Orange’s appeal seeking to reverse retroactive pension increases given to retired Orange County sheriffs’ deputies.
The refusal to hear the case means the decision made earlier this year by the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles stands. That court ruled the 2001 labor agreement retroactively giving Orange County deputies a 3 percent at age 50 formula for retirement is valid and does not violate the provisions of the California Constitution. [Read More...]
Republicans and pension busters have been whacking CalPERS like a pinata for the past year. But here's something they don't like to talk about: CalPERS is a huge job creator in California. And weakening it would be a major drag on the state's economy.
CalPERS has invested more than $17 billion in California-based companies, properties and projects, helping to generate nearly one million jobs throughout the State, the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Committee was told on Monday.
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Associated Press April 12, 2011
When it comes to shaping the future of Social Security, Sen. Dianne Feinstein says "everything should be on the table," including gradually raising the retirement age.
Sen. Barbara Boxer takes a different view. She is co-sponsoring legislation that would require a two-thirds majority vote before Congress could proceed with any legislation that would reduce benefits, increase the retirement age or transition the program to private accounts.
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Sacramento Bee
Published Friday, Apr. 08, 2011
With the budget stuck in neutral, Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers are leaving Sacramento to bolster their case for and against taxes.
The dueling roadshows reflect the fact that the parties remain at loggerheads after talks broke down last week. Facing a remaining $15.4 billion deficit, Brown is still seeking an election on taxes.
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