#ca budget

[loscerritoscommunitynews]

Commerce City Council Approves '24-'25 Capital Improvement Budget

July 29, 2024 LCCN Staff Report The Commerce City Council announced that it approved the City’s 2024-2025 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The plan aims to enhance infrastructure, implement projects that meet the community’s needs, and improve the City’s appearance. “I want to commend the Measure AA Advisory Committee for reviewing and approving the CIP plan and the staff for ensuring funding…

Commerce City Council Approves '24-'25 Capital Improvement Budget

[creativeorangecounty]

Support Increased Funding in State Budget for SB 933:

Yesterday, SB 933 (Allen) passed out of the state Senate and moves on to the Assembly. The Senate has included some funding for Visual and Performing Arts education in their version of the budget. But, we're not there yet - the Assembly and Senate Conference Committee is meeting over the next week, and they still need to vote to support including this funding in the final budget they send to Governor Brown. SB 933, the Arts for Every Student Act, proposed by Senator Ben Allen, will help provide our students with robust visual and performing arts instruction, and bring California into better alignment with the state Education Code. Learn more about SB 933 and our fight for $50 million in funding here.

[yeson34-blog]

Learning about Prop 34

Did you know the death penalty actually costs MORE than life in prison without possibility of parole?

When I found out I was all

It's true.

So I wanted to know -- what costs so much? Where does all this money go? I was like

So I read the study myself. A federal judge and a law professor wrote a research study examining California's death penalty. It turns out that whenever prosecutors seek the death penalty, there are ADDED costs.

Death penalty cases have longer trials, more experts, and a mandatory double trial. And when I learned that death row inmates get special privileges in prison like a legal team for life that taxpayers pay for, I was all

The weird thing is... we spend all this money but hardly anyone ever gets executed. Over the last 30 years, we've executed 13 people. Most death row inmates die of old age.

According to the study, those 13 executions cost about $307 million each for a total of $4 billion.

When I learned that, I was upset, but I kept my cool.  I was like

But then I pulled myself together, and realized we need to focus on public safety. I want to make sure my family and community are safe. I was all

It turns out that while we waste billions on the death penalty, 46% of all  homicides and 56% of reported rapes go unsolved every year in California.

We should be using our public safety resources effectively, not wasting  them on a broken system.

That's where Prop 34 comes in. 

Prop 34 replaces the death penalty with life in prison with no possibility of parole. Killers will stay behind bars forever, and we can stop the waste on special death row lawyers and extra privileges for death row inmates.

Then I learned that the official state analysis of Prop 34 by the non-partisan Legislative Analysts Office says Prop 34 will save $130 million every year.

And here's the kicker: Prop 34 guarantees that California will never execute an innocent person.

I have a word for that, and it's

So when my friends convinced me to vote YES on 34, we were like

Then we had a dance party.

[nicosan1]

Michael Mishak of the LA Times highlighted the continued plight of poor families hit hard by State budget cuts in Tulare County, just down Highway 99 from my hometown in Fresno County.  

The article highlights a family, the Dickersons not unlike many I know from my hometown who suffer greatly from the poor job market and Valley economy and who will get hit the hardest with Governor Jerry Brown's current budget.  

For Patricia Dickerson, a mother of five who has been unable to find work since losing her job two years ago, the coming $60 reduction in her monthly welfare payments may mean a shutoff of her electricity. Last week, she clutched a Nora Roberts romance novel while waiting in a long line at a county welfare office. At home, a stack of letters from the state has gone unread. "My fantasy," she said, holding up the book. "I don't like to read bad news right now."

Worse so their situation is compounded by their local Assemblywoman Connie Conway (R), the State Republican Assembly Leader, who refuses to allow tax extensions to get a vote in the June ballot, revenue that could mean the difference between home and homelessness.

"I don't think Californians are uncaring people," Conway said. "I think they are right to go to the government and ask, 'Are you making the best use of the tax dollars I'm paying you?' It's a very fair question."

And we have a right to ask if our leaders are cruel, stupid and uncaring.  Unfortunately some of the "leaders" don't have a grasp on what the consequences of their actions or inaction have on working folks.

Sadness.