BY JIM CARLTON California Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a revised budget plan that relies on deeper spending cuts and higher taxes to bridge a projected state deficit that has widened to $15.7 billion from $9.2 billion since January. The Democratic governor said Monday he had no choice but to cut even deeper into social services to help close a budget gap that has shot up due to lower-than-expected tax revenue and delays and court-ordered impediments to spending cuts. Mr. Brown proposes to nearly double spending cuts to $8.3 billion for fiscal year 2012-13 from a January estimate that $4.2 billion ...BY JIM CARLTON California Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a revised budget plan that relies on deeper spending cuts and higher taxes to bridge ... Continue reading →

California's deficit, as projected ahead of the fiscal year #infographic #dataviz http://on.wsj.com/Ks1YSL Continue reading →

We already knew that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration might not be the most consistent -- with its wavering on whistleblowers and mixed messages on transparency, and uncertainty about medical marijuana. Now, even more confusing news has emerged about the gov's policies. As detailed by the Wall Street Journal, the number of governor-appointed commissions has grown under Cuomo -- even though he swore to cut down on government bureaucracy. The Journal claims that Cuomo, having once slammed the "unwieldy number of commissions and task forces left behind by his predecessors" has "assembled an array of his own roundtables on a sweeping range of public-policy matters: at least 10 new work groups, 11 councils, four task forces, two teams, two commissions and two committees." Though the Democrat ... Continue reading →