January 31, 2008

'T' is for taxes (and more)

• 'T' is for taxes
Senate leader Don Perata, D-Oakland, is upping his rhetoric in support of increased taxes in the state to close the budget hole. In an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Perata said the Legislature should consider a temporary tax to balance the books.

''We should try to figure out how to put a (temporary tax measure) on the November ballot,'' he said.

That will be a tough sell for Republican lawmakers, 46 of 47 of whom have signed no tax pledges.

• 'T' is for two cents
Tom Stienstra, the outdoors writer for the Chronicle, has a suggestion for those opposed to closing state parks to balance the budget.

Send in your two cents to the governor. Literally.

"The baseline math is that the budget the governor sent to the legislature cuts $9 million from state parks, closing close 48 park units. For 37.5 million state residents, that figures to 24 cents each per year. That figures to 2 cents a month for each resident," he writes.

There's no mention of the 41 cent postage.

• 'T' is for tons
Anthony Wright at Health Access, the health care consumer rights group, has a roundup of all the post-mortem reactions to the demise of AB X1 1 in the Senate Health Committee.

•'T' is for too few
As in votes. Perata took up his legislation to require lenders to notify mortgage borrowers by mail 120, 90 and 45 days before any significant hike in monthly payments.

But the bill, because of an urgency clause, required 27 votes (and thus GOP support) and couldn't muster sufficient support.

Every Democrat in the upper house backed the measure (Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, abstained at first but ultimately came around). So did moderate GOP Sen. Abel Maldonado.

Which left the measure one vote shy.

There were no more Republican votes to be had -- just like during last year's budget standoff -- and so Perata had to shelve the legislation, SB 926. Senate Democrats have said they will reintroduce the measure again.

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on January 31, 2008 9:18 AM