GovBlog: UC Berkeley » State

Same-Sex Marriages Begin in Vermont Today

Jesse Silva — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:09:53 +0000

Vermont began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today, becoming one of five states to allow same-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, and Maine are the others. New Hampshire will begin allowing same-sex couples to marry beginning January 1, 2010. California briefly allowed same-sex marriages, but stopped after the passage of Proposition 8 in November 2008.

California: LAO July 2009 Budget Package

Susana Hinojosa — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:33:37 +0000

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has issued the report: July 2009 Budget Package that summarizes the budget actions of the state Legislature and the Governor. The Legislature passed amendments to the 2009-10 Budget Bill on July 24, 2009. The Governor signed the budget package on July 28, 2009 and in doing so vetoed $489 million in General Fund appropriations. The new budget authorizes total General Fund spending of $84.6 billion and leaves an estimated reserve of $500 million at the end of FY 2009-10. Tables in the report of interest:

Expenditure-Related Budget Reductions in areas: K-14 education, higher education, local government, social services, transportation, health, employee compensation, criminal justice, and other; also includes increases in revenues/transfers to general fund, and increases in borrowing

2008-09 and 2009-10 Proposition 98 Funding comparisons

Another report, this one from the California Budget Project, Governor Signs Budget Revisions, also offers an analysis of the new budget. It notes that the majority of the Governor’s vetoes cut ($394 million) from health and human services programs, including the Child Welfare Services Program, the Health Family Programs, and the Regional Center services for developmentally disabled children. This publication provides a summary of the key provisions of the budget and the Governor’s line-item vetoes.

State Budget Update: July 2009

Susana Hinojosa — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:03:53 +0000

The recent report, State Budget Update: July 2009, by the National Conference of State Legislatures provides an excellent overview of the challenges faced by states trying to balance their budgets. In FY 2009 state lawmakers were required to close budget shortfalls that reached $113.2 billion. FY 2010 budgets face a gap of more than $142.6 billion. Budget negotiations required extension of regular sessions or convening of special sessions. Eight states did not meet their July 1 budget deadlines. As of mid-July when this report was written, six states still had not passed a budget for FY 2010. Credit is also due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds (ARRA) that helped some states balance their budgets. The report used information from legislative fiscal directors in June and July 2009 and includes information on budget gaps for all 50 states and Puerto Rico for FY 2009 and 2010. Tables provide information on budget gap number by year; FY 2009 budget gaps by state; and budget gap projections by state for FY 2011 and FY 2012. The report does also state that some of the information provided is preliminary and might change and that ARRA funds distorted many of the numbers.

California IOUs - FAQs

Susana Hinojosa — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:42:30 +0000

Want to know what a Registered Warrant or IOU is? Who gets paid in IOUs beginning July 2nd? California Controller John Chiang has created a Frequently Asked Questions about Registered Warrants (IOUs) website that will be updated regularly.

California Budget Battles: Mushrooms and Bull Testicles

Jesse Silva — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:04:43 +0000

The New York Times is reporting that California’s budget battles have gotten rather interesting in Sacramento between the state senate president pro tem and the governor. According to the article:

“Darrell Steinberg, the Senate president pro tem, sent Mr. Schwarzenegger a package of mushrooms in response to the governor’s saying the Legislature was “hallucinating” with its budget plan; the governor sent Mr. Steinberg a sculpture of a bull testicle, suggesting something like backbone, only not quite, would be needed to make tough cuts.”

Who said governmental processes are boring?

CA Supreme Court to Rule on Prop 8 Tues, May 26, 2009

Jesse Silva — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:41:59 +0000

The California Supreme Court has just announced it will issue its ruling on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, May 26th at 10am. The opinion of the court will be found here on Tuesday: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/.

California Propositions - May 19 Special Election

Susana Hinojosa — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:24:51 +0000

In a series of Budget Briefs, the California Budget Project has analysed the May 19th Special Election Ballot Propositions. Specific Budget Briefs:

What Would Proposition 1A Mean for California’s Future?

Proposition 1C: Should California Authorize the Sale of Lottery Bonds to Close the Budget Gap?

What Would Proposition 1D Mean for California?

What Would Proposition 1E Mean for California?

Finally a summary of the ballot measures:

The May 19 Special Election: What Does It Mean for Health Care?

State Measures to Balance FY 2010 Budgets

Susana Hinojosa — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:00:54 +0000

The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) released on May 4, 2009, State Measures to Balance FY 2010 Budgets, a report that in a series of tables documents the measures (proposed and enacted) that states are taking to close budget gaps. These measures include actions to cut budgets and also generate new revenues. Budget areas or topics include: Criminal Justice, Education, Employee Actions (for example furloughs and layoffs), and Other Actions (purchase freezes, delayed capital projects, agency consolidation, etc.).

Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriages

Jesse Silva — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:26:41 +0000

Maine’s Governor, John E. Baldacci, signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom. Maine becomes the 5th state to recognize same-sex marriages. More details can be found at the Governor’s website and the San Francisco Chronicle.

United States Congressional Serial Set Now Available through LexisNexis Congressional

Jesse Silva — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:38:56 +0000

UC Berkeley has recently acquired full-text access to the United States Congressional Serial Set (1789-1969) through LexisNexis Congressional. The Serial Set contains the legislative history of United States, and also includes many historic agency annual reports, House and Senate Reports, and many other official government documents (for a more complete summary of what is contained in the Serial Set, click here). Prior to this acquisition, citations to the Serial Set found in LexisNexis Congressional had to be searched in the Readex United States Congressional Serial Set database. With this purchase, you can now search LexisNexis Congressional for all your congressional research needs. Off-campus access to LexisNexis Congressional is restricted to current UCB student, faculty and staff, though anyone in the Library may access the database.