News

Dear Legislators,

This week the Biden Administration announced that personal income rose 0.4% in April, consumers increased spending sharply, U.S. economic activity is at its highest pace in more than a year, and the unemployment rate is at an envious 3.4 percent.

Yesterday the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released its Multiyear Budget Outlook through fiscal year 2026-27, forecasting $52 billion of deficits over that period.

Dear State Legislators,

Last year we wrote to you about the alarming $500 million per year salary increase you granted to state prison guards under a contract extension executed in June 2021 and the state’s failure to comply with Subsection (c) of Gov. Code Section 19826, which requires a study of salaries of employees in comparable occupations before awarding a new contract. Because you did not commission such a study, we did, and the results were shocking. In our note, we implored you to hold the line in the next contract, which will come into effect upon the expiration of the current contract on July 2 — just six weeks from now.

We couldn’t agree more with Legislative Analyst Gabe Petek that it’s best to solve the deficit without using reserves, which are already woefully short of the amounts needed to protect essential services in the event of a recession.

We are pleased to present the second GFC Courage Award of 2023 to Senator Anna Caballero.

Special interest groups have filed suit against SB 1439, a bill supported by Govern For California and signed into law last year by Governor Newsom that restricts “pay-to-play” (“P2P”) practices.

We are pleased to present the first GFC Courage Award of 2023 to Senator Ben Allen.

The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) has forecast a budget shortfall of $25 billion for Fiscal 2023-24 even if a recession does not occur.

On Tuesday, Californians smartly rejected Proposition 30’s tax grab and elected a slate of exceptional legislators to serve in Sacramento.

We always encourage readers to explore Cal-Access to gain a sense of how campaigns are financed in California.