Want to step into a California legislator's shoes and help solve the state's budget issues?
Here's the Public Policy Institute of California's latest poll on the topic, released Tuesday, to help guide you.
• Among likely voters, 40 percent think the budget problem should be solved through a mix of cuts and tax increases, while another 41 percent think it should be solved mostly through spending cuts.
• But about half of likely voters oppose Gov. Jerry Brown's welfare cuts, and 75 percent oppose the school cuts he's threatened if tax increases don't pass.
• More than 60 percent would pay higher taxes to maintain funding at current levels for K-12 education, while slightly less than half would shell out more for higher education or health and welfare.
• But nearly two-thirds are opposed to raising the sales tax, while 68 percent favor raising income tax rates on the wealthy. Both provisions are in Brown's plan.
• Less than half – 48 percent – favor Brown's entire plan, cuts and tax increases included.
• Two-fifths of college graduates said they knew very little or nothing about the budget. Only 11 percent of all voters could identify both the top spending category (K-12 schools) and top revenue source (income tax).
So, you want to be a legislator? Seventy-one percent say you're doing a crummy job.
– Dan Smith
CAMPAIGN WATCH
Former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez will serve as a political analyst this year for Univision Communications, a national Spanish-language media firm. Besides assisting with election coverage, the Los Angeles Democrat will appear on the evening newscast as well as the Sunday program "Al Punto" and the morning program "Despierta America."
– Jim Sanders
>WORTH REPEATING
"Latest Beltway fantasy: someone else credible jumping into GOP presidential contest. Chances it will happen: zero."
RON NEHRING, former California Republican Party chairman, via Twitter
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
What You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at feedback@sacbee.com. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.