CA legislature sizzling summer issues, high-speed rail and pension reform

Silicon Valley Mercury News/Steven Harmon, 7/3/12.  "California legislator to tackle sizzling summer issues"

"SACRAMENTO -- The state budget is out of the way, but the Legislature has a few sizzling items in its summer basket -- and it won't be a picnic.

A toasty semi-nutrition solution

Water bond burned for this year

Legislative leaders are promising action on high-speed rail and pension reform, the two most contentious issues of the current legislative session. But the complication is that almost nothing is being done in the Capitol these days without considering the impact it will have on Gov. Jerry Brown's November tax measure, which seeks to raise the state sales taxes by a quarter of a cent and income taxes on individuals making $250,000 a year or more.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, also plan to move an $11 billion water bond from the November ballot to 2014, acknowledging that voters are unlikely to approve an expensive fix to the state's water problems at the same time they're weighing a tax increase."   Read article, high-speed rail, pension reform.and water bond details are included.

Posted by Kathy Meeh