California Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to trim a $25.4 billion deficit shows “great promise” and may lead to “substantial improvement” in the state’s fiscal health, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said.
The budget is a good starting place for lawmakers to begin working on a compromise, according to a report released today by the office, the fiscal and policy adviser for the most populous U.S. state.
“We credit the governor’s efforts to craft a budget plan that is heavily focused on multiyear and ongoing solutions,” Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said in the report. “As such, his proposal shows great promise to make substantial improvements in the state’s budgetary health -- both in the short run and over the long term.”
Brown, a 72-year-old Democrat, this week proposed an $84.6 billion general-fund budget that calls for $12.5 billion in spending cuts, mostly to welfare programs and public universities, and $12 billion of additional revenue raised in part by asking voters extend for five years higher income, sales and vehicle-registration taxes set to expire this year.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-12/brown-s-california-budget-shows-great-promise-analyst-says.html