Fact Sheet The State-City Fiscal Relationship in California By Dean Misczynski, Marisol Cuellar Mejia Nov 18, 2011
press release Post-Election Survey: Proposition 8 Results Expose Deep Rifts Over Same-Sex Marriage Dec 3, 2008
Occasional Paper, Report State-Local Fiscal Conflicts in California: From Proposition 13 to Proposition 1A By Elisa Barbour Dec 7, 2007 Fiscal relations between California’s state and local governments have been contentious for the past three decades. The conflicts in intergovernmental relations can be traced back to Proposition 13, approved by the voters in 1978, as well as to subsequent state ballot initiatives that have fiscally constrained state, city, and county governments. By giving the state government more control over local revenue and also limiting state and local taxing and spending power, the voter measures have engendered a “zero-sum” political atmosphere in which fiscal considerations have dominated intergovernmental policymaking. However, many of the problematic aspects of the post-Proposition 13 local fiscal system have been the product not of ballot initiatives but of government actions or inactions. Within voter-imposed fiscal constraints, California’s state and local governments have had substantial room to shape fiscal and governance outcomes. This paper traces the evolution of the state-local relationship in California since Proposition 13 and concludes that California governments need to move beyond fighting over fiscal resources and to focus instead on the core problems facing the state.
press release Where The Rubber Meets The Road: Will Governor’s Popularity Translate Into Political Capital? Jan 15, 2004
press release Public Schools Serving Poor Students Are Being Shortchanged In California, Study Finds Feb 25, 2000
Report California’s Rising Income Inequality: Causes and Concerns By Deborah Reed Feb 1, 1999 Income inequality has risen sharply in California over the past two decades, increasing faster in the state than in the nation as a whole. The growing gap between rich and poor in California results not only from rising incomes among the well-off but also from a precipitous drop in income among those in the mid-to-lowest levels of the income distribution. This study examines a number of possible explanations for the growing divergence in earnings among male workers in California. The study finds that immigration and rising returns to skill account for more of the widening gap than any of the other possibilities considered.
Occasional Paper, Report Proposition 13: Some Unintended Consequences By Jeffrey I. Chapman Sep 24, 1998 Commissioned by PPIC for the Tenth Annual Envisioning California Conference, Sacramento, California, September 24-26, 1998.
