Standard & Poor's hasn't lowered California's worst-in-the-nation credit rating, but the ratings agency is a little squeamish about recent developments in the Golden State.
In a review released Tuesday, S&P raised concerns after income tax revenues fell short in April and a judge ruled that state Controller John Chiang cannot withhold legislative pay based on budget quality.
The Legislative Analyst's Office estimated last week that California is running about $3.5 billion behind Gov. Jerry Brown's forecast for the fiscal year in personal and corporate income taxes.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge, meanwhile, sided with state lawmakers who alleged Chiang violated the constitution last summer when he withheld their pay for 12 days for submitting a budget he considered out of balance.
"This decision, in our view, may open the door for the Legislature to potentially rely on budget maneuvers that may be politically expedient but fiscally unreliable when devising deficit solutions," S&P wrote.
"We believe that the Steinberg decision, coupled with what we see as reluctance among legislators to make additional difficult spending cuts, increases the risk of a less structurally balanced budget for fiscal 2013."
– Kevin Yamamura
BY THE NUMBERS
The Obama administration on Tuesday awarded California community health centers $122 million under the embattled Affordable Care Act. The largest grants, of $5 million each, will go to centers serving cities including Davis, Visalia and East Palo Alto. Other centers got smaller grants, such as $4.8 million for a Madera center and $500,000 for one in Yuba City.
– Michael Doyle
WORTH REPEATING
"It was a very different world — you know, an 'everybody-thought-they-were-rich' kind of world."
ADAM PROBOLSKY, Republican pollster and analyst, talking to Politico about why Newport Beach in Southern California and other wealthy enclaves across the country that gave big to the GOP in 2008 aren't donating as generously to Republican presidential candidates this year
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