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The Overdue $99.1 Billion California Budget Papers Over Much of the Deficit. Coverage and analysis by David R. Doerr and Ron Roach of the Cal-Tax staff.

Tax $$$ Fraud and Waste: Misused and Abused Tax Dollars. This latest installment of the series, based largely on newspaper reports and government audits, notes $280 million in annual unemployment insurance fraud; Medi-Cal wheel chairs cost $36,000 – each; staggering workers’ comp costs, and $172 million in food stamps that went to ineligible people. Compiled by Cal-Tax staff.

Workers’ Comp: A System in Crisis. Sonoma County Supervisor Tim Smith, president of the California State Association of Counties, calls for significant cost containment measures as he reports on costs to counties that shot up 47 percent over three years, when county worker injuries actually declined.

The Blank Check Initiative is a Cynical Trick. Cal-Tax President Larry McCarthy calls the so-called Budget Accountability Act initiative a bait-and-switch tactic that would give greater powers for the Legislature to increase taxes and spending.

Teacher Union Fights to Hold Sacramento High Down. Daniel Weintraub, columnist for The Sacramento Bee, says Californians all over the state should be watching the nasty fight playing out this summer in Sacramento, where reform-minded school administrators and a supportive community are trying to put in a charter high school. Unfortunately, he notes how far the teachers’ unions, state and local, will go to fight it.

Irvine’s Ill-Conceived City Utility on Hold. The Orange County Taxpayers Association’s Reed Royalty argues against municipalizing a utility, in this case Irvine’s push that included a scam to buy a generator from Home Depot to get going by a certain time.