During a June 8 meeting, Southeastern Service Center Council Chair Gerald Gandolfo, CTA Board Member Tyrone Cabell, and local presidents begin the discussion of how best to implement CTA’s ambitious State of Emergency Phase 2 action plan in their own area of operations. The Service Center Council includes Chapters in the legislative districts of about a dozen lawmakers.

The target date for a new State Budget is June 15th. In order to stave off even more devastating cuts to schools, public safety and vital programs, we need two Republicans in both the State Senate and Assembly to vote for a new budget that extends current revenues. We cannot allow a small group of Republicans to stop our forward progress to rebuild the California economy.

Phone Bank Times/Locations:

San Mateo Labor Council
Location #1: Labor Council, 1153 Chess Drive, Foster City
Tuesdays, 6/14, 6/21, 6/28, 5:30 – 8:30PM
Location #2: IBEW 617, 1701 Leslie Street, San Mateo
Wednesdays, 6/15, 6/29, 5:30 – 8:30PM
Thursdays 6/23, 5:30 – 8:30PM
Contact: Julie Lind, 650-572-8848 or [email protected]

South Bay Labor Council
Location: Labor Council, 2102 Almaden Rd. San Jose
Tuesdays, Thursdays (through June 30th), 5:30 – 8:30PM
Contact: Derecka Mehrens, 408-266-3790 ext. 566 or [email protected]
Sign up at http://www.atwork.org/rsvp

Alameda Labor Council
Location: SEIU-UHW, 60 Thomas L. Berkeley Way, Oakland
Monday & Wednesday, 6/13 and 6/15, 6-8:30PM
Contact: Jean Cohen, 510-632-4242 or [email protected]  

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First elected to the State Senate in 2004, Senator Dutton, who represents California’s 31st State Senate District that includes portions of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, won a second term in November 2008 when he captured nearly 60 percent of the vote.

After being the point-person for Republicans on major issues like the budget and transportation, Senator Dutton was unanimously selected Senate Republican Leader-elect in early 2010. He assumed control of the caucus following passage of the 2010-11 budget.

The GOP Senate leader’s position against the tax extension was re-stated clearly in his reaction to the governor’s updated budget proposal, the May Revision.  Sen. Dutton wrote:

Senate Republicans believe Governor Brown is moving in the right direction by making education and law enforcement funding a top priority. We also applaud the governor for embracing Republican proposals of paying down state debt and providing some job-creation incentives.  But the May Revise goes too far on taxes and not far enough on reforms.

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Connie Conway was elected on November 4, 2008 to represent the 34th Assembly District, which comprises most of Tulare County, all of Inyo County and parts of Kern and San Bernardino County. She was re-elected on November 2, 2010.

She was elected Assembly Minority Leader, leader of the Republican Assembly Caucus,  in November 2010.

She recently reaffirmed her position against the tax extension:

“In our ‘Roadmap to a No Tax Increase Budget,’  Assembly Republicans showed that we can protect funding for the classroom and law enforcement without raising taxes. We call upon the Governor to stop trying to raise people’s taxes and start working across party lines on a no-tax increase budget compromise. Protecting our core priorities, reforming state government and bringing back private sector jobs – without raising taxes – must continue to be our focus as we work to get California back on track.”

Fourteen CTA Capitol insiders subjected themselves to arrest outside Assembly GOP Leader Conway’s office in May as part of their efforts to persuade her to support the tax extension. The “Conway 14″ were held in a local jail for 18 hours before being released.

If you are a constituent of Assemblymember Conway, please contact her at:

Capitol office: 916-319-2034

Visalia office: 559-636-3440

Email: [email protected]

Contra Costa Times Staffer Steven Harmon is reporting that talks between the governor and a handful of moderate Republicans on the tax extension issue may hinge on whether these GOP Assembly Members and Senators can resist the pressure generated by their no-tax colleagues and vote for the desperately needed tax extension.

The governor reportedly is still seeking to have lawmakers approve a short-term extension of the taxes while the issue is sent to the voters for their approval this fall.

Schools — which have already been devastated by more than $20 billion in cuts — would likely be hit by an additional $5 billion in slashes if the tax extension is not approved. The uncertainty about whether voters would ratify the tax extension in the middle of a school year would cause additional disruption in the education of more than nine million California students.

CTA, school supporters, and labor unions around the state are focusing their attention on persuading four of 13 Republican State Senators or Assembly Members to support Gov. Brown’s budget proposal and to vote for an extension of the state’s temporary taxes.

Securing two GOP votes in the Senate and two in the Assembly is vital.  State law requires a super-majority — a two-thirds vote — in each house to move the tax extension.  Without the extension, the state could see more than $10 billion in additional cuts, with about half of them coming from already decimated education programs.

Throughout California, CTA members are contacting these lawmakers, urging them to understand how students, schools, and teachers, other educators, and school support professionals are being harmed by already implemented cuts.

All Californians who care about public services — ranging from medical care to law enforcement and fire protection — are expected to be adding their voices to those of educators in this important budget battle.

If you are a constituent in one of these districts, please take the time to contact your lawmaker and ask them to save our schools from any more budget cuts!

“Governor Brown is sincerely addressing the state’s long-term fiscal problems and has convinced us of the need to extend the 2009 tax increases,” CRA’s president, Bill Dombrowski, said in a statement. “This is part of an overall budget that addresses the mountain of debt facing the state. We support a vote to extend the tax increases.”

Read more

Jean Ross, California Budget Project

California faces an ongoing $10 billion budget gap roughly equal to the cost of recent tax breaks, including those enacted in 2008 and 2009 that allow the state’s wealthiest corporations to lower their tax bills while enjoying record or near-record-high profits.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/06/05/3675856/governors-budget-is-best-path.html

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) 2 June 2011 — A newly released survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California finds that voters support the governor’s budget proposal that would balance cuts with new revenues, although they are ambivalent on the whole about raising taxes.

Released on June 1, the survey features the responses of 2,005 adult residents throughout the state, who were contacted by phone or cell phone and interviewed in English or Spanish during the week following the release of the governor’s updated budget, the May Revision. The results have a sampling error or +/- 3.6%, according to PPIC President Marc Baldassare.

A full 64% of respondents support the governor’s budget proposal (See chart below).

A super-majority – 69% — would be willing to pay higher taxes to support public education:

Only 22% would support cuts in K-12 education, and only 30% would support cuts in higher education:

Even the subgroup of “likely voters” holds similar beliefs by an overwhelming margin:

For more information about the survey, see http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=981

As the Governor and the Legislature struggle with ways to close the state budget deficit, education is being further threatened. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, an “all-cuts” budget could mean the loss of an additional $4.1 billion in K-12 funding, or $695 per student. Over 20,000 educators received pink slips this year, and school districts are being forced to plan for the worst as they prepare for the next school year. The Legislature must act NOW to prevent this all-cuts scenario from becoming reality.

View a report that shows the potential impact on each school district in the state, as well as the number of educators’ jobs that are currently on the line.

What can you do to stop this?  First of all, share the information with your friends, most of the public is unaware of how the State Budget affects them locally.  Then use our toll-free number (888-268-4334) and speak directly with your legislator’s office. Tell them you are a constituent and you vote. Then tell them how you feel about the cuts to education and what your priorities are.

A team of Association  and ACSA active and retired members provides information to a Pamela Schneider, staff for the Senate’s Public Employment and Retirement Committee, during the June 1 lobbying day at the state Capitol.

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) 1 June 2011 — During a pension lobby day Wednesday at the state Capitol, CTA members belonging to the State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) and administrators and superintendents from the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) met with lawmakers and legislative staff to press legislators to protect the pension system.

Among the points they made, CTA and CTA-Retired (CTA-R) members and ACSA representatives emphasized that public employees contribute to their pensions and that retirement funds are not a “taxpayer giveaway,” as critics have charged. The average CalSTRS member retires at age 62 after 27 years of service. Fully 70% of CalSTRS members are women, and retirees on average receive a benefit of $3,300 a month.

Teachers also are not eligible to contribute to or receive benefits from Social Security as a result of their education work.   Even worse, teachers who contributed to the Social Security system through non-education jobs prior to beginning their teaching careers will have their Social Security benefits reduced or eliminated because they have dedicated themselves to a teaching career.

In terms of benefits to the state, each $1 contribution to state and local pension plans creates $7.91 in economic output, according to CalSTRS.  Retiree spending from benefits creates more than $34.5 billion in economic output for the state.  Economic activity generated by the retirement plans has created about 61,000 jobs.