For most, “budget” means a set amount of money they’re able to spend over a defined period of time, such as the funds available in a household account. To California lawmakers, “budget” holds a different meaning. In their world, it typically defines an opportunity to freely spend a massive harvest of other people’s earnings on programs that support the politically connected and further a policy agenda that has caused a growing flight from the state.

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In a recent article – “We fact checked the most common claims about San Francisco crime”, the San Francisco Chronicle outrageously attempted to defend the state of crime in San Francisco as well as the recall facing District Attorney Chesa Boudin.   The Chronicle may feel that while crime is up, it isn’t as bad as it used to be or, it’s no worse than other places.  However, that is not what the facts show or how San Francisco’s crime victims feel.

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Newsom promised in his 3-hour marathon Jan. 10 budget press conference that details about potential tax relief for Californians would be forthcoming in his May Revise budget proposal. However, Newsom unveiled one unexpected proposal to lower the tax burden of Californians with his gas tax proposal.  According to the Sacramento Bee, he “proposed suspending the gasoline and diesel fuel tax inflation-related increases expected in July.”

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When Inside California Politics host Frank Buckley asked California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon whether he feels differently about the new attempt to bring single-payer health care to California (AB 1400) versus the last bill in 2017 (SB 562), Rendon replied, “that was really you know a cynical attempt I think to get headlines, this is a real proposal with a real funding mechanism.…”  And what a funding mechanism it is.

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In July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city’s emergency outdoor dining ordinance permanent. Adopted in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program empowered restaurant owners to convert adjacent on-street parking spaces into “parklets” where they could serve pandemic-weary patrons. The city’s parklet initiative, and similar liberalizing policy changes across the state, have kept California’s restaurant industry alive amid recurring lockdowns and surging coronavirus case numbers.
 

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