California: Bill Lockyer

This photo is relevant. Really. State Controller John Chiang visited with the U-T editorial board this morning. I asked him if shared Treasurer Bill Lockyer's view that Big Five budget negotiations should be intensely focused and not deal with...

Bill Lockyer, in apparent seriousness, had this to say yesterday, according to the L.A. Times: How about two budgets? One for the liberal coast and another for the more conservative inland regions. "We'll have the budget for the coast that...

"A state panel Wednesday moved toward releasing $500 million for school, road and housing projects after it froze bond funds in December due to the budget stalemate," writes Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.

"The state's Pooled Money Investment Board agreed to release the money as soon as April if State Treasurer Bill Lockyer can sell $4 billion in bonds this month.

"The board halted funding in December for thousands of public works projects because the state could not access credit markets as lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kept the state budget in limbo.

"The state Department of Finance will set criteria for determining which projects will receive the first $500 million in bond funds, possibly focusing on health and safety projects or those in jeopardy of losing federal funding.

One of the complexities buried deep in the budget proposal adopted by the Legislature last month is a trigger that will reduce the volume of cuts and tax increases in the plan.

In short, the state must receive $10 billion in federal aid to avoid those cuts and taxes.

In today's Bee, Kevin Yamamura reports that "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Department of Finance estimated Wednesday that California will not receive enough federal stimulus money" by about $2 billion.

But Finance has only one of the two deciding votes; the other is granted to the state treasurer.

As Yamamura reports, "It's not clear what happens if the two men can't agree."

Here's how State Treasurer Bill Lockyer's Web site describes the trigger:

Lockyer is soliciting public feedback here. A hearing is set for March 17 with a final decision due by April 1.