PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW-Public hearings-California Budget Committee

Submitted by Anna on Fri, 05/29/2009 - 11:23

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW-Public hearings-California Budget Committee. Submit your comments for the public record by Tuesday June 2.

Here is the schedule of Public Hearings on the California State Budget. Noreen Evans is Chair of this committee.

Noreen Evans – Chair, email: Assemblymember.evans@assembly.ca.gov, Phone: (916) 319-2007 FAX: (916) Fax (916) 319-2199.

If you can not attend the meetings, please fax and email your comments FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD today. I have included the names, emails and fax numbers of the members of this committee. We need a united voice, raise revenues to balance the budget.

Talking Points:

Tell Democratic legislators that the majority of registered voters want Democrats to act like the majority and proactively develop a reasonable budget with increased revenues and thoughtful methods for streamlining programs-not 100% budget cuts. Ask them to stop cutting deals with the Republican Governor and the small number of Republican bullies in the State legislature that destroy the quality of life in California with dangerous cuts to social programs, health care, education and closing over 200 parks.

Request that our leaders proactively develop a reasonable budget with increased revenues and thoughtful methods for streamlining programs. Any negotiations should be from a position of majority power.

Ask Democratic legislators to develop a unified message that can be supported by the grassroots. The public has no idea about what is going on. The public does not respect Democrats because they act like battered victims and they are always reacting and responding to the minority Republican bullies rather than leading and standing firm on their values and principals.

PARTIAL LIST OF REVENUE IDEAS:

· Restore the vehicle license fee rates that we had under Republican Governors
· Increase taxes on alcoholic beverages
· Increase taxes on tobacco
· Increase taxes on gasoline
· Impose an oil extraction tax on oil companies just like every other oil producing state
· Close the loophole that allows corporations to avoid reassessment of the value of new property they purchase
· Increase the top bracket of the state income tax from nine point three percent to 10 percent for families with taxable income over $272,000 a year and to eleven percent for families with taxable incomes over $544,000 a year
· Prohibit corporations from using tax credits to offset more than fifty percent of the taxes they owe
· Repeal the “permanent” tax breaks passed as part of the 2009 February budget “deal” which gives Corporations untold billions of dollars due to the crisis we are facing. We will experience massive, permanent revenue losses — about $2.5 billion yearly for these combined loopholes amounting to potentially 25% to 30% of the state’s corporation tax revenue — without requiring that a single new job be created or even a sunset clause on the breaks in case the state doesn’t benefit from them.
· Repeal the law that allows corporations to get refunds for taxes already paid for losses in previous years — so-called carry-backs. So they can now manipulate the formula to take larger losses in California and can get refunds based on that manipulation -at a cost to every struggling program and taxpayer in California
· Rescind AB900 which is now estimated will cost with debt service $600,000 per 13,000 prison and 40,000 jail beds for a savings of $31,800,000,000, plus operational costs (BTW/ subsidiary of Halliburton is the primary builder of prisons and the corporations which run the for-profit prisons are heavy contributors to the Governor and Republicans)
· Tax internet sales as is done by many states
· Pass legislation forbidding any proposition that does not carry its own funding stream to be placed on the ballot
· Get rid of the 2/3 vote to approve budget…..Follow Lakoff’s suggestion: The Democratic leadership should immediately take the initiative on a 2010 ballot measure, a supremely simple one-sentence measure. It would go something like this: “All budgetary and revenue issues shall be decided by a majority vote in both houses of the legislature.”

Oppose spending cuts to:
· Public Education
· Health Care
· State Colleges and Universities
· Homecare Services
· State Parks

Lynn Hamilton-Member Sonoma County Democratic Central Committee, Member California Democratic Party Executive Board, Delegate California Democratic Party, Chair Progressive Democrats Sonoma County, Former Mayor City of Sebastopol

Budget Committee Hearing Schedule and Policy for Testimony:

Public Comment is welcome under the topics outlined for the time frames noted. The public is asked to present principal concerns related to the May Revision reduction proposals in the budget areas outlined.
The Conference Committee requests that stakeholders collaborate with others who share a similar perspective or voice, in an effort to make the optimal use of public testimony and avoid repetition of points.
If representatives of groups choose to speak, they are welcome to acknowledge others in the hearing room or in attendance in an overflow room as part of their testimony.
Written testimony is welcome and encouraged. To facilitate this in the hearing for those not able to testify due to the number of issues and expected attendance, comment cards will be available for submission to the Conference Committee.
All comment cards, as with any written testimony submitted, will be received, read, and taken into consideration by the Conference Committee.

Monday June 1

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON THE BUDGET
10:30 a.m. – Room 4203