State Budget

It doesn't take a botanist or even a nature nut to identify yellow star thistle along a favorite hiking trail. Every outdoor enthusiast has felt the familiar stab of introduction.

The largest state employee union will negotiate with Gov. Jerry Brown early next month, spurred by his proposal to put state workers on a shortened workweek that would cut their pay 5 percent.

The honeymoon is ending for Gov. Jerry Brown. For the first time in a major California poll since Brown took office, a plurality of likely voters disapproves of the job he is doing, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday.

All the world's a stage. Gov. Jerry Brown, burdened by persistent budget deficits and with much of his agenda still unfulfilled, has tried in recent weeks to lower expectations for his second year.

As the state budget's deficit widens, Gov. Jerry Brown is being thrust into a three-front political battle.

When Gov. Jerry Brown called the state budget "a pretzel palace of incredible complexity" last week, he was stating, in his inimitable way, the obvious.

One week after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed slicing state workers' pay by 5 percent, the Democratic governor and legislators find themselves targeted for a "share the pain" salary cut.

As Gov. Jerry Brown and labor unions negotiate to put state workers on a four-day, 38-hour workweek to cut payroll costs, they could learn a lot by looking east – to Utah.

Legislative Democrats aren't organizing a bake sale just yet, but they say they will desperately search for cash in the coming weeks to avoid the most severe cuts proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Here we go again. If it's May, California's state budget deficit has developed another beer gut – bloated and seemingly unmanageable.

California's nonpartisan legislative analyst said Friday that Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to shift state workers to a four-day week would create some serious problems.

The pile-on was in full effect within hours of Gov. Jerry Brown's announcement this week that California's budget deficit had grown to $15.7 billion, with The Week giving its national audience a summary of the Golden State's financial affairs.

One day after Gov. Jerry Brown proposed sweeping changes to state government work schedules, many employees were still deciphering what it means for them.

Like his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown moved to trim state worker salaries Monday as a way to help cut a ballooning budget deficit.

• This week: Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders will negotiate on Brown's budget proposal and alternatives to closing the deficit.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced Monday that the state budget deficit had grown by a remarkable 70 percent since January, but fiscal experts said the economy had little to do with it.

In a gloomy preview of his May budget release, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday that California's deficit has mushroomed to $16 billion, nearly $7 billion higher than he last estimated.

In one choreographed appearance at the office of the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters, Gov. Jerry Brown's campaign to raise taxes appeared on Friday to take shape.

State workers' pay is back on the budget chopping block.

Four months after the Assembly honored a judge's order to release member-by-member budgets, the house has decided not to make a permanent commitment.

California's fiscal mess – which is more political than financial – was brought into razor-sharp focus Wednesday by three events.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge David I. Brown affirmed his decision Wednesday that Controller John Chiang cannot unilaterally block legislators' pay if they submit a budget they consider balanced.

With tax revenue slowing to a trickle as the end of April draws near, the state's top fiscal analyst predicted late Wednesday that California would be "a few billion dollars" shy of Gov. Jerry Brown's budget projections through June 2013.

California voters are inclined to support Gov. Jerry Brown's sales and income tax increase, but by a less than overwhelming margin, a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California has found.

State Controller John Chiang cannot block lawmakers' pay based on his interpretation of the budget they pass, a Sacramento judge tentatively ruled Tuesday, handing the Legislature a significant win as it enters the busy season for budget writing.

Gov. Jerry Brown urged the Legislature on Friday to "man up" and make spending cuts, acknowledging the state budget deficit is likely larger than he previously thought.

As state leaders hope for a surprise uptick in revenue this spring, state Controller John Chiang reported Tuesday that California lagged last month by $233.5 million, or 4.2 percent.

Gov. Jerry Brown has agreed to extend the labor contracts of four state worker unions, pushing aside a potential obstacle to his quest for a tax increase later this year.

As Californians put the finishing touches on their income tax returns, tax collectors say the state's $9.2 billion deficit would drop to zero if all taxpayers submitted what they owe.

California state officials sued Orange County on Thursday to recoup $73.5 million in property taxes, the latest development in a feud stemming from last year's state budget.

Legislative Republicans rolled out a budget plan Thursday that relies on cutting state worker pay, eliminating affordable housing funds and using pots of money dedicated for mental health and childhood development.

California's Citizens Compensation Commission spent two hours Thursday discussing state officeholder compensation, but no decisions were made and none of its members suggested raising pay of legislators or other statewide officeholders.

In a show of good faith one year ago, legislative Democrats slashed Medi-Cal, cut universities and reduced welfare grants to slice the state deficit 13 weeks before the constitutional deadline.

Students at Elk Grove Elementary School joined kids from San Francisco to Los Angeles to blow bubbles Thursday in protest of state budget cuts to education.

After a months-long feud with his most liberal allies, Gov. Jerry Brown compromised Wednesday to eliminate a rival tax initiative for the November ballot.

The California Chamber of Commerce announced its opposition Monday to two of Gov. Jerry Brown's tax rivals but remained silent on the governor's own plan, tacitly giving his proposal a boost as he tries to thin the field.

California revenues missed the mark in February by 3.2 percent, or $146.3 million, state Controller John Chiang said Monday.

Gov. Jerry Brown has been unable to persuade supporters of two rival tax measures to abandon them so that his own initiative to raise taxes might succeed.

A fledging effort by Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to address deaths among young African Americans received a $5 million boost Monday.

In a hearing that included testimony from children as young as 6 years old, an Assembly budget panel on Wednesday rejected Gov. Jerry Brown's welfare-to-work cuts.

Gov. Jerry Brown is counting on $6.5 billion too much for his proposed budget, even with Facebook's stock sale on the horizon, according to a new economic review by the state's fiscal analyst.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday kept alive the possibility that California doctors, pharmacists and senior citizens can challenge the state's Medi-Cal reimbursement cuts.

The California Assembly spent nearly $200,000 in public funds fighting against release of member-by-member budgets allocating tens of millions in public funds, records show.

In the heady days of the housing bubble, California spent $18.3 million on three mobile hospitals for use in massive emergencies. But in a time of austerity, Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers chose last year to eliminate the $1.7 million to refresh supplies and ensure that an army of workers can build a 200-bed hospital in less than three days.

Contract talks kicking off this month between the state and four employee unions present Gov. Jerry Brown with a political dilemma: How does he deal fairly with his key labor constituency without exposing himself to charges he's kowtowing to them?

Gov. Jerry Brown acknowledged Saturday that his tax proposal for the November ballot has a "few issues," but he sidestepped the controversy in a high-profile speech at the California Democratic Party's annual convention.

California revenues last month lagged 5.5 percent behind what Gov. Jerry Brown expected in his just-proposed January budget, a development that Controller John Chiang termed "disappointing."

When Molly Munger's name surfaced last year as a potential partner on efforts to provide more funding for schools, California State PTA President Carol Kocivar had to turn to Google to find out who she was.

Federal health officials rejected California's bid to charge Medi-Cal co-payments for everything from drugs to hospital visits, dealing a new blow to the state budget but relief to low-income patients and their providers.

Gov. Jerry Brown's campaign to balance the state budget with new income and sales taxes took a double hit Monday.