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California’s Budget Deficit Is Not the Problem | Connecting California

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California’s Budget Deficit Is Not the Problem | Connecting California


California’s constitution is full of guarantees and formulas that ratchet up spending on favored programs, writes columnist Joe Mathews, even when revenues drop and the budget is out of balance. California Governor Gavin Newsom during a news conference on May 10, 2024. Courtesy of AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli.

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You can tune out Gov. Newsom when he talks about the state’s big budget deficit. Ignore the pleas of Democrats who control the legislature, too. And turn the volume down when Sacramento lobbies complain about the proposed cuts.

California’s ballooning budget deficits, and the cuts to services they cause, are not a crisis. They are not really news. They are, sadly, normal and predictable.

And they are grounded not in budgeting mistakes—lapses of discipline in collecting revenue or controlling spending—but in our state constitution and in a reality so paradoxical it would make Kafka blush:

Our constitution requires the state to balance its budget. But balancing the state budget requires violating the state constitution.

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How’s that? Because on fiscal matters, our constitution is effectively a ratchet. The document is full of guarantees and formulas, approved by voters, that ratchet up spending on favored programs, even when revenues drop and the state budget is out of balance.

Meanwhile, the constitution also has plenty of voter-approved limits on taxes and fees. These limits ratchet down revenues in slower economic times and make it harder for the state and local governments to raise revenues to cover budget increases.

Californians may have forgotten about the ratchet. The past decade was an unusual one for the state budget, as stock market growth and federal pandemic relief sent government revenues soaring and created surpluses.

But with those revenue sources gone or declining, California’s Kafkaesque constitution is reasserting itself and producing deficits projected recently to range anywhere from $27 billion to $70 billion.

That leaves Gov. Newsom stuck and left to do with the budget what all California governors must:

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Violate the constitution.

First, he’s not offering a balanced budget. The spending delays, draw-downs on reserves, and cuts he’s proposing to state operations eliminate only about half of the deficit.

Second, to close the gap, he’s violating the state’s education funding guarantee, a voter-approved formula called Prop 98.

Our constitution requires the state to balance its budget. But balancing the state budget requires violating the state constitution.

Prop 98 is, famously, so complicated that no one really understands it. (It involves three complex formulas to determine state funding, and it’s never clear really clear which formula will apply in which year.) The main effect of Prop 98 is to keep pushing education spending up; it’s one of the biggest spending ratchets in our constitutional budget ratchet.

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Newsom’s maneuver is a sneaky ploy to reduce Prop 98’s ratchet effect by changing the inputs to the formula. Newsom’s budget proposes to travel back in time and reclassify certain moneys spent on education in previous years as non-education spending.

This maneuver is intended to lower the funding base underneath the formulas—helping him “balance the budget” while allowing the ratchet to do its work.

The problem (besides the inherent ridiculousness of having to bend the law in this manner) is that the lower funding base would mean tens of billions less in school funding in future years.

Yes, my fellow Californians, “screw the kids” remains the real, if unofficial, state motto.

The powerful education lobby is crying foul, as are some Democrats and local governments. Newsom defends himself by saying he’s required to balance the budget.

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The problem with this blame game—and demands that Newsom reverse the cuts—is that it defines the discussion as being about the budget. The real problem is California’s broken constitution.

Finding tens of billions of dollars in cuts for anything is hard. Health programs have all kinds of court-ordered, statutory, and, in some cases, constitutional protections. Cuts to prisons and state agencies require concessions from politically powerful labor unions. Tax increases run up against Prop 13 and other state revenue limits.

That doesn’t mean I’m trying to let Newsom, the Democratic supermajority in the legislature, and other powerful Sacramento interests off the hook for the state’s budget problems. It’s the exact opposite. The governor, Democrats, and interest groups are responsible for the budget mess—because they’ve had plenty of time to fix the constitution, and haven’t even tried.

Gavin Newsom has been in statewide office since 2011. California Democrats have had full control of Sacramento since that same year. And powerful unions and other lobbies have held sway for far longer than that.

All of these politicians and lobbies know very well that the California constitution is broken. They have long had the power to come together and give the state the new constitution it needs—without all the fiscal ratchets that drive up spending and limit revenues.

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But they haven’t been willing to lead and change the system. They have focused instead on building their own power within this broken system. Jerry Brown and other California leaders have spent the past decades dismissing calls for a constitutional rewrite (including my own, via the book California Crackup) as unrealistic.

But state leaders are the ones who have lost touch with reality. They claim they can fix the budget, but they can’t because the constitution won’t let them.  And they won’t fix the constitution because they say it’s politically impossible. How long can they keep saying this—and keep pretending they are doing their jobs?

When the governor and legislators say they are trying to solve the problem, they aren’t telling the truth. This miserable budget, full of cuts to education, is a product of the budget system, and the constitution, that they themselves have chosen.



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Big Boy: World’s largest locomotive embarks on California tour

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Big Boy: World’s largest locomotive embarks on California tour


(KTXL) — Northern California residents will have an opportunity to see the world’s largest steam locomotive when Union Pacific’s “Big Boy” makes numerous stops in the state over the next several days.

Big Boy No. 4014 is in the middle of a coast-to-coast tour that will take the train from California to Pennsylvania in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. The train began the journey last month in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the locomotive’s home base, and arrived in Portola, California on Wednesday.

After stops in Oroville, Marysville and Lincoln Thursday, Big Boy will arrive for a multi-day stay in Roseville, California.

“We’re proud to welcome the Big Boy back to Roseville, a city that owes its founding more than a century ago to the railroad,” Roseville Mayor Krista Bernasconi said in a news release. “Big Boy’s return isn’t just a nod to our past; it brings visitors from across the region to explore the shopping, dining, events and attractions that make Roseville such a vibrant place to be.”

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The train will be on public display at 375 Atlantic Street in Roseville for two days: 1-5 p.m. on April 10 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 11.

While in the Golden State, the train will also make brief “whistle-stops” in several other area towns:

  • Oroville, April 9, 2-2:30 p.m., 2181 High Street
  • Marysville, April 9, 3:30-3:45 p.m., 7th Street Crossing
  • Lincoln, April 9, 4:30-4:45 p.m., 7th Street Crossing
  • Colfax, April 12, noon-12:45 p.m., Amtrak Depot, 99 Railroad Street
  • Truckee, April 12, 4:45-5 p.m., 10065 Donner Pass Road

Admission is free, though Union Pacific warns that guests should always stay 25 feet back from the tracks and never climb on the locomotive.

U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, former Oregon congresswoman who now serves in President Donald Trump’s administration, will be in town to celebrate the visit. The cabinet member plans to talk with the Big Boy’s “steam team” and learn more about the locomotive, officials said.

Union Pacific’s No. 4014 Big Boy makes a stop in Hempstead, Texas, on Oct. 4, 2024. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Big Boy No. 4014 was one of 25 locomotives commissioned for Union Pacific Railroad beginning in 1941. According to the company, they were built to haul heavy equipment during World War II between Ogden, Utah and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The locomotives are 133 feet long and weigh 1.2 million pounds. They are “hinged,” which helps the huge trains navigate curves.

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The Big Boys were eventually decommissioned, including the retirement of No. 4014 in December 1961 after traveling more than a million miles, according to Union Pacific.

But in 2013, the company reacquired the locomotive from a museum in Pomona, California. And in May 2019, Big Boy No. 4014 was returned to service, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.



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California Candidate Offers Donors Money-Back Guarantee

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California Candidate Offers Donors Money-Back Guarantee


Matt Mahan wants money to burn.
Photo: Casey Flanigan/Sipa USA/AP Photo

Finding new ways to raise money for political campaigns is a big cottage industry, particularly in California with its 14 expensive media markets. Now a novel wrinkle is being deployed by gubernatorial candidate and San Jose mayor Matt Mahan, as the New York Times explains:

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Two months ago, Silicon Valley could not have been more agog about Matt Mahan, the moderate Democrat who had just entered the California governor’s race as a tech industry ally opposed to a billionaires’ tax …

Mr. Mahan quickly raised millions, including contributions from Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder. But he has struggled to gain traction among voters. Now, with the June primary fast approaching, Mr. Mahan’s supporters have concocted a rather unusual campaign-finance strategy.

The pitch: Help us raise $35 million by April 17, and you’ll get your money back if we fall short.

No, donors aren’t being promised a win or a refund. But they will get their money back if Mahan doesn’t raise enough money to become viable in the home stretch before mail ballots start being cast in early May (the end of the all-by-mail primary is June 3, the date by which those ballots must be postmarked). The conditional nature of these donations, moreover, means they will be anonymous until such time as Team Mahan hits the target and the money is transferred into an official campaign account. It provides a nice hedging device for big-money folk nervous about the fragile shape of the ten-candidate field that is vying for two general-election slots. And the cup-rattling is off to a pretty good start, says the Times:

The campaign is organized by David Crane, an influential California political fixer whose advocacy group, Govern for California, is popular among tech executives. Mr. Crane has told people in recent days that the group’s “escrow” account has $13.5 million so far with $5 million more in the pipeline, according to communications The Times reviewed. Donors pitching it include Michael Moritz, a billionaire venture capitalist and one of Mr. Mahan’s biggest supporters, and Blake Byers, a tech executive and investor.

Mahan’s money hustlers are his campaign’s strength and also one of his weaknesses. California progressives are intensely suspicious of the Silicon Valley bros who have been moving rapidly to the right in the last few years. Some have joined hands with Donald Trump and others have gravitated to “Abundance” Democrats, like Mahan, who have little tolerance for his party’s interest-and-constituency-group “base” and its policy preferences. If Mahan’s campaign did take off, it might stimulate a consolidation of support behind one of the more progressive candidates (probably Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, or Tom Steyer). That’s particularly true now that Trump’s endorsement of Republican Steve Hilton has likely limited the number of Democratic participants in the general election to one.

For the moment, any Mahan surge is hypothetical. His late entry into the race at the end of January means he wasn’t even being included in early polls. The one public poll where he does appear, a March 15 survey from Berkeley IGS, showed him tied for seventh place at 4 percent. Yes, he needs money to catch up, but he also needs a compelling message that goes beyond “lefties hate me!” Said lefties would undoubtedly shrug and support Mahan if he is in a general election with Hilton. But they have plenty of other options — at least one of whom, Steyer, has more money to burn than Mahan can ever raise — before it comes to that.

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Attorney disputes federal claims after ICE shooting in California; family seeks medical update

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Attorney disputes federal claims after ICE shooting in California; family seeks medical update


The attorney for the man shot by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Patterson is disputing federal claims and raising questions about what led up to the shooting, and what’s happening now at the hospital.

Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez’s fiancée and attorney say they still don’t know his condition and are struggling to get basic information from authorities.

They’re also disputing ICE’s version of events and point to court documents that they say tell a very different story.

“I have a lot of concern right now about getting info, finding out how is he doing, is he alive, is he recovering and what is his situation,” said Patrick Kolasinski, Hernandez’s attorney.

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Dashcam video captured the moments Tuesday morning when Hernandez tried to pull away from agents who were attempting to arrest him as ICE said he is wanted for questioning in El Salvador in connection with a murder. Kolasinski speculated that his reaction may have been driven by fear.

“I wasn’t with him, I can only imagine if you see what’s happening in immigration detention and find yourself about to be detained,” Kolasinski said. “It’s normal to try and flee.”

ICE claims Hernandez is a member of the 18th Street gang and is wanted in El Salvador. But his attorney says none of that is true. 

“Carlos is a family man who was on his way to work when he was detained by ICE. He has had no criminal contacts in the United States,” Kolasinski said.

Court documents from 2019 show Hernandez was charged with aggravated homicide, which was later reduced to simple homicide. The court documents also shows Hernandez was found not guilty.

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“He was, in fact, acquitted, so he cannot possibly have a warrant out for his arrest,” Kolasinski said.

CBS Sacramento reached out to ICE regarding the court document from El Salvador, but has yet to hear back.

“I think the problem is the training,” Kolasinski said. “You have a not dangerous person and when they try to flee. First of all, the car was way too far behind. When you do a traffic stop, you pull up close behind. If you’ve ever gotten a ticket, you’ll see CHP is on your bumper. Why? So this can’t happen.”

Hernandez’s attorney and his fiancée both say they’re now struggling to get basic information.

“Sheriff’s office, no one, no one responded to me, being searching for answers,” said Cindy, Hernandez’s fiancée.

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Cindy said she didn’t hear from the authorities first, but from her sister. After arriving at the hospital, she said an FBI agent took her into a room.

“He said, ‘I’m going to record you because I need to have this recorded, right?’ So I was expecting him to talk to me about Carlos. I literally asked how he’s doing, is he’s in the hospital. He said, ‘I cannot share any information. I’m not authorized.’”

CBS Sacramento reached out to the FBI and is awaiting a response. 

As they wait for answers, she said this goes beyond just one case.

“Right now it’s me and that’s the reason I’m here. I’m also representing our community,” Cindy said. “I don’t want this situation to continue and continue blaming these people, in this case, Carlos.”

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Right now, his family and his attorney say they’re still attempting to find out his condition. 

Kolasinski said Wednesday evening that Hernandez is detained under the U.S. attorney’s office. Kolasinski added that Hernandez underwent a medical procedure, but the family doesn’t know his condition. 



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