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Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Governor's Possible State Budget Deal with GOP Reported to be "Dead"

From “Jerry Brown declares budget talks dead,” Capitol Alert, 3/29/11

Brown did not specify what he would do next…

Brown is considering alternative ways to put tax extensions on the ballot, either by a majority in the Legislature or by a ballot initiative. He suggested in his release that he may be skeptical of the majority-vote approach, saying the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority.

Full article at http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/03/brown-budget-talks-with-republ.html#ixzz1I2KX8500

If the talks are truly dead, the issue of the November ballot initiatives (see earlier blog posts) arises. One, as noted in prior posts, would impose a 60% cap on public pensions, clearly for new hires. Exactly what it intends for existing workers - the initiative is badly drafted and may be amended at this stage - is unclear. It does explicitly cover UC and thus would override the Regents' changes in the UC pension plan of last December.

In negotiations, sometimes what appears dead revives. But the reverse may have occurred here:


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