Unlike his first two years, Governor Jerry Brown began this budget cycle from a position of immense political strength. The Democrats controlled a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers of the California Legislature, allowing them to increase taxes without a single Republican vote. In addition, voters passed Propositions 30 and 39 in November 2012, adding several billion in state revenue. With an improving economy, the state also collected billions more taxes than initially projected.The improved economic and political situations gave Brown and the legislative Democrats the opportunity to broaden the debate over the 2013-2014 budget. Since Republicans were unable to hold up a budget or even prevent tax increases, the fight shifted from getting a budget passed to passing the transformative budget Brown had wanted to implement since his election in 2010. The centerpiece of this new endeavor was a massive restructuring of state money for K-14 education. In addition, Brown wanted to continue paying down the "Wall of Debt," or the nearly $30 billion the state had accumulated over its previous borrowing spree.Sequestration had a minimum effect on California's economy or state budget. The larger fear was long-term federal budget cuts, particularly defense and academic research, both major jobgenerators in California.
Governor Jerry Brown used the relatively easy budget negotiations during this budget cycle to set himself up to run as the elder statesman seeking reelection for an unprecedented fourth term as governor. The state's youngest governor in the 1970s and '80s, Brown is now California's oldest governor and longest-serving chief executive. He won election handily by one of the largest margins in state history.However, it was not budget politics or even elections that occupied Sacramento's attention this fiscal year, but rather a series of three separate political corruption investigations and convictions in the state senate that tarnished the Golden State. These cases not only generated a great deal of negative media attention, but they cost the Democrats three seats, as the caucus was forced to suspend all three senators. This denied the Democrats their supermajority in the senate, and therefore the legislature as a whole. After an impressive electoral victory in 2012 gave the Democrats their first supermajority in over a hundred years, Democratic lawmakers slinked into the 2014 elections without much to crow about.This budget cycle marked the last year of the state's current legislative leadership, and much of the budget negotiations were marked by tranquil, respectful discussions. Even when the Democrats needed Republican votes on two ballot measures, Republicans were willing to negotiate, in sharp contrast to previous years.
Résumé L’article analyse la crise budgétaire de Californie en la replaçant dans le contexte plus général national, tout en soulignant les spécificités politiques de la Californie, notamment la pratique de la démocratie directe. On découvre ainsi un processus budgétaire pris en otage par une minorité de républicains conservateurs et une vie politique contrainte par les impératifs contradictoires issus des initiatives populaires depuis 1978.
This report will begin with an explanation of California's budget process. It is followed by a narrative of how the budget process played out this past year and an analysis of the enacted budget. Finally, the report reviews the 2012 election impact on the budget and politics in California, along with an outlook for the future.
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