UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE CRISIS.  Restoring balance to the unemployment insurance program is key to returning solvency to the system. Cal-Tax’s Carol Evans, noting the legislative analyst’s list of options (cutting benefits, raising taxes, or both), comments that a more thorough analysis of all program elements is the state’s best chance to regain a solvent program. And that analysis is under way by a working group of employers. Soon to be released, it will have a vast array of ideas. (Want to read more? Click here.)

FUELING STATE AND LOCAL BUDGET CRISES. Lavish pay and pension benefits showered on public employees have surfaced as a major cause of state and local government budget woes. Cal-Tax takes note of news media reports around the state of budget problems, including the Los Angeles Daily News report of public payrolls outgrowing inflation. (Want to read more? Click here.)

COMPETITIVE CONTRACTING. Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub describes how the Legislature stymied then-Governor Gray Davis from granting a generous pay deal to state-employed engineers who were backing his recall fight. The courts have ruled against other pieces of the sweetheart deal that were designed to undercut a voter-approved initiative to let private-sector engineers design more bridges and highways. The March 18 column is called: “Highway robbery: Another Davis legacy bites the dust.” (Want to read more? Click here.)

IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY. In the aftermath of the March 2 election in which Props. 57 and 58 represented bipartisan victory, the hard work is just beginning, writes Lenny Mendonca, director of the economics think tank McKinsey Global Institute. In this commentary, originally published in the San Jose Mercury News, Mr. Mendonca said the debate now focuses on where to cut and where to tax, but the overlooked “third way” to close the budget gap is to boost government productivity. (Want to read more? Click here.)

Surplus Property is Wasteful. Two state senators believe more than $1 billion could be captured to help solve the state’s budget problems by either selling or improving management of surplus state property. They raise questions about a state-owned golf course in the Oakland hills, a vacant warehouse on prime San Diego property and the pittance in rent the state gets for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Want to read more? Click here.)