A key component to last week’s final action on the state budget
was the passage of
SB 71, a bill that provides for a sales tax exclusion for
“green technology” projects in California. SB 71, authored
by Senator Alex Padilla, and
championed by Governor Schwarzenegger, authorizes the
California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation
Financing Authority (CAEATFA) to approve projects for financ
Today, Senate and Assembly Democrats announced that they would
pursue the governance reform proposals developed by
California Forward, a list of nearly two dozen reforms
that are currently included in two ballot measures slated for the
November 2010 ballot. Recently, California Forward had
indicated that they would not pursue signature-gathering to place
those measures on the ballot independently, but would rely on the
Legislature to put them before the voters.
Contra Costa Times reporter Lisa Vorderbrueggen has posted a
Yesterday afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed ABX8 2, a
measure that contained budget year budget changes that
legislative Democrats argued addressed $2.2 billion in budget
year savings. Governor Schwarzenegger agreed with
legislative Republicans, indicating in his
veto message that the bill “does not actually implement
spending reductions.” The problem is that the bill outlines
reductions to a 2010-11 state budget that does not yet exist.
The language of the bill goes something like this:
