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4,777 Publications Found
January 3, 2008 - With the recent Southern California wildfires, there has been significant interest in the programs that are available to help disaster victims. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide information on the programs and funds available to deal with state disasters. We provide links to more specific information, such as program eligibility and rules.
December 13, 2007 - Presented to: Assembly Education Committee
December 13, 2007 - Presented to: Assembly Education Committee
December 3, 2007 - Presented to the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Transportation Hon. Mike Machado, Chair
November 29, 2007 - Presented to Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water Hon. Darrell Steinberg, Chair Senate Committee on Governmental Organization Hon. Dean Florez, Chair
November 27, 2007 - Presented by Elizabeth Hill to the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, November 27, 2007.
November 20, 2007 - Assembly Committee on Natural Resources Hon. Loni Hancock, Chair
November 16, 2007 - Tax expenditure programs (TEPs) are features of the tax code—including credits, deductions, exclusions, and exemptions—that enable a targeted set of taxpayers to reduce their taxes relative to what they would pay under a “basic” tax-law structure. The state’s TEPs number in the hundreds and are valued in the tens of billions of dollars annually, and are used mostly to encourage certain types of behavior or provide financial assistance to taxpayers. This report provides information on newly enacted TEPs and reviews selected existing TEPs as to their effectiveness and efficiency. One of these is the mortgage interest deduction, valued at about $5 billion yearly. This program is found to be an inefficient means of promoting home ownership, and options are offered for improving it, including capping the deduction amount or replacing it with a targeted tax credit.
November 15, 2007 - Presented to Legislative staff and education community.
November 14, 2007 - Elizabeth Hill describes California's Fiscal Outlook, 2007-08 Through 2012-13
November 14, 2007 - In order to balance the 2008–09 budget, the state will have to adopt nearly $10 billion in solutions. Addressing the state’s current budget problem is even more urgent because we forecast a continuing gap between revenues and expenditures. A plan to permanently address the state’s fiscal troubles must involve a substantial portion of ongoing solutions. This is not only because of the persistent operating deficits projected throughout the forecast, but also because of the downside risks inherent with the economy, General Fund revenue volatility, and a wide range of budgetary uncertainties. Making tough choices now will allow the state to move closer to putting its fiscal woes in the past.
November 14, 2007 - Presented to the Select Committee on College and University Admissions and Outreach.
November 1, 2007 - Presented to: Assembly Banking and Finance Committee
October 31, 2007 - Presented to Assembly Health Committee, Mervyn M. Dymally, Chair
October 18, 2007 - With the billions of dollars of state funds spent in recent years or available for expenditure (from existing bond funds) for land acquisitions for resource conservation purposes, it is important that the purchase price of these acquisitions be supported by a sound appraisal process. However, our review found that the quality and objectivity of state resource-related appraisals are impeded by both a lack of comprehensive standards and insufficient independence of the appraisal function from the land-acquiring agencies. We also found that limits on the public disclosure of appraisal-related information make public and legislative oversight of resource acquisitions difficult. In this report, we make several recommendations to improve the appraisal function for resource acquisitions, ultimately to protect taxpayers from being overcharged in these transactions.