Brown Skeptical of LAO's Higher Revenue
Projections
California Governor Jerry Brown is dismissing calls from
Democrats to increase spending after the state's non-partisan
legislative analyst's office projected higher budget revenues than
he did.
The governor said it's too risky to spend money that might
never materialize. "One thing we know about economists - they
can't predict the future," he told the California Chamber of
Commerce's annual Host Breakfast Wednesday. "Somehow, we have
to plug in a number. But that's not money you can
spend!"
The LAO believes California will bring in slightly more than
$3 billion above what the governor projects in his updated budget
proposal. Legislative Democrats are expected to call for some
limited spending increases when they release their budget proposals
as soon as Thursday.
GOP Wins State Senate Special Election in
Upset
Republicans have picked up a California State Senate seat with
Tuesday night's special election upset in a heavily Democratic
Central Valley district.
Farmer and former congressional candidate Andy Vidak has
defeated Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez for the seat formerly
held by Democrat Michael Rubio. Rubio resigned earlier this
year to work for Chevron.
Vidak ended Election Night with 52 percent of the vote - just
enough to avoid a runoff. With his win, Senate Democrats hold
just one more seat than they need for a supermajority.
Meanwhile, Assembly Democrats regained their supermajority
Tuesday night as labor leader Lorena Gonzalez won an open San Diego
seat.
Distracted Driving Down, Number of Citations
Unchanged
California law enforcement agencies wrote 57,000 tickets last
month as part of a publicity campaign to reduce distracted
driving. The citations were for talking on cell phones
without a hands-free device … or using the phones to text, email or
surf the web.
Chris Cochran with the state's Office of Traffic Safety says
law enforcement is getting a lot better at figuring out which
drivers are using their cell phones - even if the phones aren't
visible through car windows. "If at night they see a car
swerving or slowing down, likelihood it's a DUI. If it's in
the daytime, likelihood it's somebody on their cell phone.
And they're able to just drive up right next to them and see it,"
Cochran says.
Cochran says the number of tickets during last month's
distracted driving campaign is about the same as the previous
year. But he says a recent study suggests fewer drivers are
using their cell phones illegally than last year.
He also says the number of tickets for texting while driving
has gone up.