Disqus - Latest Comments for capitolweekly

Re: Local roads, streets in sorry shape

capitolweekly — Wed, 26 Oct 2016 22:03:50 -0000

Right you are. We fixed. Cheers ...

Re: CA120: Poll shows angry two-thirds back Judge Persky recall

capitolweekly — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 11:44:58 -0000

From the editor: Comments related to the identity of the victim have been deleted.

Re: Major new cuts eyed for greenhouse gases

capitolweekly — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:24:00 -0000

Thanks for your comment. I've changed the copy to reflect that the vote was mostly along partisan lines. Here's the link to the final Assembly vote on the bill ... http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/0... -- John Howard

Re: Study: Stakes high for internet poker

capitolweekly — Wed, 28 May 2014 19:33:11 -0000

here's a link ... http://capweekly.wpengine.n...

Re: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fox-and-friends-punked/article/2508198

capitolweekly — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:33:22 -0000

Rofl I lost a basketball game. Epic.

Re: 9/11: When truth became a casualty of war - Listening Post - Al Jazeera English

capitolweekly — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:40:01 -0000

A first-rate presentation, critical and thoughtful. The poor performance of the U.S media -- broadcast and most print outlets -- was critical in pushing public opinion to supporting the Iraq invasion. The post-invasion coverage, as you point out, largely was government messaging. The image of Cheney citing the NY Times as a source for a story he planted the day before is classic. Notwithstanding, the NY Times was then -- and is now, ever more so -- the best American newspaper. Ms. Goodman and others on this show may tritely dismiss the paper's mea culpa, but a mea culpa it was.

Re: Capitol Weekly: Capitol Ministries replaced by new nationwide Christian group

capitolweekly — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:20:22 -0000

Note: A commenter on this story claiming to be Danielle Drollinger was in fact not who she said she was. Anyone found impersonating others on this site will, like the previous posted, be banned from the site. --Eds.

Re: Capitol Weekly: Looking for answers amid the state’s growing spending

capitolweekly — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:10:21 -0000

Well, you're right, the VLF was sort of buried in with the education stuff, and I didn't mention the dollar figure in the piece. But the VLF backfill, starting in the 2004-05 budget year was about $5 billion annually. That grew to about $6 billion annually by last year. The VLF is actually a 2 percent property tax on the value of your car. The growth of the backfill has to do with the growth in the cumulative value of the cars that were registered in California. So, in that five year period, it's safe to say the total hit on the state general fund from the VLF cut was somewhere between $25 and $30 billion.

The total of that money could close the state's current gap, but the state's problems are more structural than that. The basic problem is that state spending is increasing, and much of that spending is for ongoing programs like education. The Medi-Cal population is aging, like the rest of the state, and so it's more expensive to provide health care to that population, even though the numbers have remained static.

As far as how the VLF is calculated, yes, it will show up as a spending item in the budget. I'll post a link to the governor's budget, and try to find the item that notes the VLF backfill.

-Anthony

Re: Capitol Weekly: Looking for answers amid the state’s growing spending

capitolweekly — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:27:50 -0000

Actually, the VLF is mentioned:

But much of the increased “education spending” has nothing to do with education at all. Much of that money goes to backfill money to local governments for the cut in the vehicle license fee.

The bonds that were passed by voters in 2004 also come out of the education budget, thanks to the magic of the state’s Kafkaesque budget process. In 2005, the state passed the so-called triple-flip, which effectively shifted ¼ cent of the property tax to pay off the state’s debts – property tax money that is normally earmarked for schools.

The initial backfill from the full VLF cut grew to about $6 billion per year. In the February budget, the VLF was increased from about .66 percent to about 1.25 percent, still short of the 2 percent that it was before Schwarzenegger took office. That reduced the amount of the backfill to local governments by about half, but it is still about $3 billion per year. As I note in the article, because of the weird accounting of the California budget, that money shows up as part of the education budget.

-Anthony

Re: Capitol Weekly: Two-day gathering targets care, early learning for children

capitolweekly — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:16:45 -0000

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