No sticks, but one Stone and plenty of name-calling

In a letter sent to Southern California newspapers, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone peppered his critique of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax plan with plenty of exclamation points, bold words and an extra helping of unsavory name calling.

Stone repeatedly referred to the governor as “Gov. Brown(nose).”

Stone, a Republican pharmacist from Temecula, called on voters to reject the governor’s tax proposals in November. He said new taxes shouldn’t be on the table until Brown stops caving in to unions, special interests and illegal immigrants.

“Until this Governor stops "Brown-nosing" the special interests in Sacramento and truly begins to show real courage, demanding that all state employees share responsibility for fixing our budget woes, NO ONE should support his tax increases!!" Stone wrote on county letterhead.

With the state facing a $16-billion deficit, Brown wants voters to pass a quarter-cent increase in the sales tax and hike taxes on individual incomes of more than $250,000.

Gil Duran, the governor’s spokesman, noted that Stone was the same politician who last year led an unsuccessful campaign to split California into two states – with 13 mostly inland, conservative counties breaking away to form a separate state of "South California.''

“Mr. Stone was unsuccessful in his attempt to secede from California last year, but it appears he has had better luck seceding from reality,’’ Duran responded in an email.

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--Phil Willon in Riverside

Photo: Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone. Source: Riverside County.

 

 

 

U.S. attorney lobbies against limits on wildfire liability

Benjamin Wagner, the U.S. attorney in Sacramento, has launched an unusual and intense lobbying effort to stop Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to limit legal liability for wildfires.

In a letter sent Friday to state Senate and Assembly leaders, Wagner said the proposal would undermine a high-stakes federal lawsuit against Sierra Pacific Industries, California's largest timber company. The civil trial, which involves alleged negligence causing the 2007 Moonlight fire, is scheduled to start on July 2 and could leave the company on the hook for $600 million.

Wagner wrote that his "deep concerns" are shared by the other three U.S. attorneys in California. He called the proposal an attempt to "tilt the legal playing field in the final days before the trial," and he urged lawmakers to "reject this unseemly effort to protect the alleged wrongdoer in a major federal case."

Brown's plan would limit the amount of money government agencies can recoup for battling wildfires and restoring damaged public lands, preventing them from seeking what the proposal calls "excessive damages." The timber industry, which owns large swaths of territory in California and donated to Brown's campaigns, says the federal government has sought several times more than the true cost of repairing the damage.

Wagner said in an interview that the federal government is seeking as much money as possible because recovering from wildfires is a long and expensive process.

"This is not about sending a check to the Treasury," he said. "The money that is recovered in these cases goes right back into the national forests."

Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College, said it's rare for federal prosecutors to delve into the legislative process in Sacramento.

"Usually U.S. attorneys only interact with state politics when they're indicting somebody," Pitney said.

Wagner said he's not interested in shaping public policy, but is concerned that Sierra Pacific was working outside the courtroom to affect the outcome of the federal government's case.

"It appears to us that they're trying to get the Legislature to suddenly change the rules," he said.

Sierra Pacific did not immediately return a request for comment. Nor did representatives for Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles), but an aide to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said he plans to meet with Wagner to discuss the issue.

"The pro tem does not wish to affect any ongoing investigation or prosecution by the U.S. attorney," said Steinberg's spokeswoman, Alicia Trost.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown unveils revised budget plan

California continues courtroom push to cut costs

California's legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento
twitter.com/chrismegerian

U.S. attorney blasts wildfire proposal

Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget proposal includes a provision that would limit legal liability for causing wildfires, a clause that the U.S. attorney in Sacramento on Thursday blasted as a “fairly cynical attempt” to benefit the powerful timber industry.

The proposal comes as the federal government is suing Sierra Pacific Industries, the state’s largest timber company, for allegedly contributing to the 2007 Moonlight fire, which scorched 65,000 acres in Plumas and Lassen counties. The civil trial is scheduled to start on July 2.

“This proposed legislation appears to be a fairly cynical attempt by Sierra Pacific Industries to undermine the federal government’s position in our pending lawsuit against that company,” said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner in a statement. “I hope that members of the Legislature see this measure for what it is: not a solid policy proposal but an attempt by one party to a lawsuit to tilt the playing field in its favor after three years of litigation in federal court.”

Brown's proposal covers some of the same ground as a bill introduced by Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills) earlier this year. That bill, which would also limit legal liability for wildfires, is supported by the influential insurance industry, which has given $225,000 to Brown’s proposed November ballot measure that would raise state taxes.

The timber industry has also reached into its pockets to support Brown’s tax campaign. Sierra Pacific has donated $10,000, and the California Forestry Assn. and Green Diamond Resource Company have pitched in another $15,000.

The Brown administration and Sierra Pacific did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lea-Ann Tratton, spokeswoman for the Consumer Attorneys of California, which opposes limits to legal liability, said there are ongoing negotiations in hopes any deal does not affect pending lawsuits.

The Moonlight fire started on land owned by Sierra Pacific, according to the federal government’s lawsuit, which called it an “incident of the kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of someone’s negligence.”

The federal government is seeking nearly $200 million to pay for stopping the fire and rehabilitating the land, as well as other costs. The largest wildfire settlement ever reached by the federal government was $102 million, which was paid by Union Pacific Railroad for the 2000 Storrie fire north of Sacramento.

ALSO:

Jerry Brown unveils revised budget plan

California continues courtroom push to cut costs

California's legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher

-- Chris Megerian and Anthony York in Sacramento

twitter.com/chrismegerian and twitter.com/anthonyyorkLAT

Photo: A wildfire in Southern California last year. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Twitter feud erupts between Jerry Brown press shop, columnist

A Twitter feud between Gov. Jerry Brown’s press secretary and writers from the Sacramento and Fresno Bee has found its way into the newspaper’s pages.

Thursday’s paper included an item on the tweeting exploits of Brown press secretary Gil Duran, including his sending a picture of a crying baby to the author of a critical tweet and a personal tete-a-tete with Bee columnist Dan Walters.

Walters started by riffing on a Brown remark that California was “not some tired country of Europe,” tweeting to his 1,540 followers that “California may be a tired American state.”

That earned a sharp response from Duran: “No, it’s just you that’s tired, Dan. Just you.”

This dust-up followed a back-and-forth between the columnist and the Brown press shop earlier in the week that covered topics ranging from hairstyles to Winston Churchill.

Duran has since dismissed the exchange as “a little joshing” between reporter and flack, but has maintained his fast tweeting pace.

“If you can’t stand the tweet,” he wrote, “stay out of the kitchen.”

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-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: A screenshot showing an exchange of tweets between the accounts for Gil Duran and Dan Walters. Credit: Twitter.com

California continues courtroom push to cut costs

Gov. Jerry Brown still hopes to slash spending on healthcare and home care for the poor, and his revised budget proposal includes cuts that have already been blocked by federal courts.

The spending plan, unveiled May 14, expects to save $261.8 million by reducing Medi-Cal reimbursement rates and $22.4 million by cutting back on In-Home Supportive Services.

If judges continue to block the cuts, there's a contingency plan with money set aside to cover the costs, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Brown’s Department of Finance. But it shows that Brown isn't giving up on his administration's courtroom budget battles.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts have been blocked by the federal government or the courts, according to the Department of Finance.

The court case involving Medi-Cal stems from the state’s effort to cut by 10% payments to doctors who provide services to poor patients. In January, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder blocked the cut, writing in her 30-page order that “the state’s fiscal crisis does not outweigh the serious irreparable injury plaintiffs would suffer.”

The California Medical Assn., which sued the state, hopes the administration backs down rather than  appeal.

"It’s time for the Department of Health Care Services to stop relying on sweeping policy changes like this one for budget solutions, but rather sit down and come up with a long-term fix," said Molly Weedn, a spokeswoman for the association.

Brown has proposed two separate cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, which allows the elderly and disabled stay in their homes by paying for aides. First, he wants a 7% cut in aides' hours. If his administration succeeds in court, there would also be a 20% cut in hours that has been blocked so far.

The 7% cut to home care would cause a ripple effect. Even though it's a $99-million reduction, the program would suffer a total loss of about $800 million because the state would sacrifice hundreds of millions more in county and federal funding.

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Brown unveils revised budget plan

Brown gets no promise of federal help for Medi-Cal

California's legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher

-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento

twitter.com/@chrismegerian

Photo: Dr. Oliver Brooks, center, examines a Medi-Cal patient at an L.A. clinic in 2010. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

Governor, legislators could face pay cut like other state workers

A week after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed to effectively cut state worker pay by 5%, some members of a state panel that sets the salary for elected officials said Monday a reduction should also be extended to the governor and legislators.

Brown proposed to reduce the workweek for many state workers to 38 hours as part of an effort to eliminate a $16-billion budget deficit.  That caught the attention of members of the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which meets May 31 to take its annual vote on salaries for elected officials.

"The governor wants public employees to take a 5% pay cut, and legislators are public employees," said Commissioner Chuck Murray. "I would vote to bring legislators in line with what the governor is doing with other public employees."

Commissioner John Stites noted there is a precedent for such action. The commission slashed the pay of lawmakers and the governor 18% in 2009 after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a similar reduction for other state employees.

"I don’t see why it wouldn’t happen now," said Stites, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff’s sergeant. Commissioner Kathy Sands agreed it is "more likely" the panel will vote next week to reduce salaries for elected officials, now that the governor has proposed reductions for other state employees. But  it is unclear whether the other four commissioners would also vote for a pay cut.

California legislators are paid $95,291 annually, the highest base pay for lawmakers in the country. The governor is paid $173,987.

One thing the commission is guaranteed not to do is approve pay raises.

That is because California voters approved a ballot measure in 2009 that prohibited salary increases for legislators and the governor in years in which the finance director certifies that there is a negative balance of more than 1% in the state’s Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties. Finance Director Ana Matosantos has certified the negative balance, her office said Monday.

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No pay raise if deficit remains, elected officials warned

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--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Photo: California Gov. Jerry Brown speaks during a news conference May 14 in Los Angeles at which  he announced his newest budget proposal. Photo credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

California's legislative analyst says deficit may be even higher

This post has been updated. See the notes below for details.

California's budget deficit may be $1 billion larger than Gov. Jerry Brown's $15.7-billion estimate, the Legislative Analyst's Office said on Friday.

The bulk of the difference lies in questions over money from defunct local redevelopment agencies. Brown wants to use $1.4 billion in leftover assets to help plug the budget gap, and the state expects to collect property tax money that used to fund the agencies.

But the analyst predicts there will be much less money available, increasing the deficit by roughly $900 million.

[Updated 12:50 p.m. and 1:10 p.m. PDT, May 18: Earlier versions of this post said Gov. Brown's estimate may have been $900 million off. But in addition to the concern over redevelopment money, the legislative analyst's  report said Brown's revenue estimates may be "a few hundred million dollars" too high, which could further widen the budget gap to $1 billion or more.]

The analyst's report said there's "considerable uncertainty" surrounding the amount of redevelopment money, and lawsuits could further bog down the process.

Other than that, the report said, Brown's proposal appears reasonable. But an uncertain economy makes it difficult to predict how much tax revenue the state will pull in.

"This makes the adoption of realistic budgetary actions -- including realistic trigger cuts -- particularly important if the state is to continue making progress toward eliminating the stubborn structural deficit," the report said.

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-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento
twitter.com/chrismegerian

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown releases details of his revised budget plan for the coming fiscal year. Credit: Nick Ut / Associated Press

Fitch on new California budget problems: Don't panic

 
A Wall Street rating agency on Tuesday called California's new, eye-catchingly large $16-billion deficit "unsurprising" and said it expected little progress until after primary elections next month.

Fitch Rating's note suggested little ground for either panic or optimism about the state's prospects after Gov. Jerry Brown announced the deficit had nearly doubled since he released his initial budget proposal in January. The note briefly reviewed Brown's May budget revision, released Monday.

"The increase in California's budget gap projection is unsurprising given the disappointing actual tax collections through the current fiscal year, adverse court and federal actions, and higher spending needs," Fitch said.

"We believe that the state of California has the ability to address the expanded budget gap," the note continues, "although rebalancing the state's finances and cash flows through fiscal 2013 will not end the state's fiscal uncertainty."

That's because the slow recovery hasn't refilled California's coffers yet, and the state is still paying off debts it incurred to weather the last two recessions, the analysis concludes. It advises to expect little action until after the primary election June 5.

The deadline for the Legislature to pass Brown's $91.4-billion revised budget is June 15. The plan assumes voters will help close the deficit by passing $8.5 billion in taxes in November; the remainder of the deficit is closed by cuts to services, converting state workers to a four-day work week and use of one-time money and surplus state funds.

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Jerry Brown unveils revised budget plan

California deficit balloons to $16 billion

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--Nicholas Riccardi in Sacramento

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown discusses his revised budget proposal in Los Angeles. Photo credit: Nick Ut/Associated Press

 

California court leaders decry budget cuts

California judicial leaders warned that more than $500 million in new cuts Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in his revised budget Monday could imperil public access to the judicial system.

Read about it on LA NOW.

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-- Nicholas Riccardi in Sacramento

Photo: California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye criticized Gov. Jerry Brown's new proposed court cuts on Monday. Photo credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times

Jerry Brown releases revised budget to close $16-billion gap

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday released a $91-billion budget proposal that sharply cuts health and welfare spending, reduces state payrolls by 5% and freezes construction of new courthouses.

Brown's revised budget reflects a steadily worsening fiscal picture for California. On Saturday, he announced via YouTube that the state's deficit had grown to $16 billion, nearly twice what he projected when he released his initial budget proposal in January.

The gap grew, the budget revision states, because Brown over-estimated tax revenue by $4.3 billion and the federal government and courts blocked $1.7 billion in cuts the state wanted to make. The remainder of the difference reflects an increase in the amount of money the state is mandated to spend on education under a complex voter-approved formula.

To close the wider gap, Brown has heightened the cuts he wants to make to Medi-Cal, to $1.2 billion, and maintained another $1.2 billion in welfare and child-care savings he proposed in January.

He also wants to slash payments to people who care for the disabled by 7% and reduce the state payroll through a shorter work week or wage concessions. He proposed $500 million in cuts to the state's struggling court system, including a one-year freeze on all new construction projects.

The service reductions are expected to be harsher if voters in November reject Brown's proposed combination of a sales tax hike and increased levies on high earners. The governor presumes that $8.5 billion of the state's $16-billion deficit will be filled by his tax measure. If it fails, he would levy an automatic $5.5-billion cut to public schools, along with ending popular programs such as lifeguards at state beaches.

The situation would be worse were it not for Facebook. The budget presumes the social media company's IPO will kick $1.5 billion in tax revenues into the state's coffers by the end of the fiscal year in June 2013.

The release of the detailed budget revision, a much-anticipated spring ritual in the capital, kicks off the budget season in earnest. The Legislature has little more than a month to pass a budget by the June 15 deadline.

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Capitol on edge as Jerry Brown seeks spending cuts, tax hike

-- Nicholas Riccardi in Sacramento

Photo: Gov. Jerry Brown addresses the California Medical Assn. in April. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press