Red Bluff Daily News

ByJonathanJ.Cooper The Associated Press SACRAMENTO As Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to release his revised state budget this week, he's hearing a chorus of calls from Democratic lawmak- ers, liberal interest groups and even some Republi- cans urging him to signif- icantly boost spending to help California's poorest residents. Brown's budget comes af- ter tax collections in April, the state's biggest revenue month, fell $1 billion short of expectations and cast uncertainty on what the state can afford. The governor is required to release his budget by Sat- urday. He then hands the process over to lawmakers who have a month to mold their own spending plan by June 15. In January, Brown pro- posed a $122.6 billion spending plan that avoided sweeping new initiatives or substantial increases in ongoing programs, even as the state saw a revenue spike thanks to an improv- ing economy. Instead, warning that a recession may be imminent, Brown urged spending the surplus revenue to rehab state buildings and pre- fund employee retirement benefits — costs that can more easily be curtailed if revenue plummets. He also wanted to set aside an ex- tra $2 billion in a rainy-day fund. "It would be short- sighted in the extreme to now embark upon a host of new spending only to see massive cuts when the next recession hits," Brown told lawmakers then. By law, about half the state's spending goes to K-12 education and higher education. One of every $5 in Brown's January budget went to health care, and 9 percent was for prisons. The state has already committed to about $1 bil- lion in new spending since January. Much of it was part of an agreement to modify health insurance taxes to fund Medi-Cal, the publicly funded health plan for the poor. The agreement included promises to boost funding for developmental disability services and save money for future health care costs for retired state workers. Other new costs include raising the minimum wage by 50 cents Jan. 1 on its way to $15 by 2022, which will cost $3.6 billion annually once fully implemented. New state-worker contracts also will cost more than planned after the admin- istration made labor con- cessions to corrections offi- cers that it's likely to match for other union bargaining units. Despite the governor's re- luctance to bless new ongo- ing costs, legislative Dem- ocrats are pushing several initiatives to help people they say continue to strug- gle through the economic recovery. "We're very focused on assuring that people get access to food, people get access to shelter, and much of the devastation that was done in 2008 gets slowly re- paired," said Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, who heads the Assembly Budget Committee. The Senate wants $2 bil- lion to build more than 10,000 permanent housing units for the homeless. The money would come from Proposition 63, a 2004 bal- lot measure that increased taxes on the wealthy to pay for mental health treat- ment. Democrats are also push- ing to repeal the maximum family grant in CalWorks, which prevents families from getting additional welfare benefits if they have another child while receiv- ing state assistance. The legislative women's caucus is seeking $800 million to increase child- care provider rates and of- fer care to more families. Advocacy group Parent Voices says 194,000 chil- dren are waiting for child care. "California is one of the most expensive states in the country, so I want to be able to provide for them," said Vaea Sanft, 31, a fa- ther of two from East Palo Alto who joined hundreds of parents rallying for child- care funding last week in Sacramento. Republicans have their own budget ideas, though they face long odds in a Legislature dominated by Democrats. The top legislative Re- publicans sent Brown a let- ter asking him to priori- tize funding for Denti-Cal, a dental program for peo- ple with low incomes. State watchdogs have said the program pays so little that many dentists won't partic- ipate. CALIFORNIA Brown preps revisions to budget amid tighter revenue RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Gov. Jerry Brown discusses the increase in school funding in the past four years as he unveils his proposed state budget plan at a Capitol news conference in Sacramento. JESSICA CHRISTIAN — THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER Demonstrators march in a circle during a demonstration in front of City Hall in San Francisco on Monday calling for the resignation or firing of police chief Greg Suhr. By Janie Har The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO More than 100 people are hold- ing a peaceful protest at City Hall in their contin- ued push for the removal of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr. The protest comes two days after five activists ended a hunger strike af- ter they were taken to a hospital. The "Frisco Five," as they're called, refused to eat solid food for 17 days to protest at least two shoot- ing deaths of minorities by police and the revelations that officers exchanged racist and homophobic text messages. Organizer Ben Bacsierra announced Monday at the protest that most of the five will start eating solid food again Monday. "They wanted to con- tinue (the hunger strike), but we wanted them on the front lines," Bacsierra said. "This is a peaceful, totally legal First Amendment practice of our rights." On Monday morning, people walked in a cir- cle in front of City Hall, chanting and singing for Suhr's ouster. Organizers urged people to skip work or school and join them at the picket line on Monday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A police spokeswoman said Monday that the chief has said numerous times he has no intention of re- signing. The protest comes af- ter 33 people were cited inside City Hall for al- legedly trespassing and failing to follow disper- sal orders Friday. Last week, hundreds of people stormed the building with at least 100 people halting the Board of Supervisors' weekly meeting for nearly two hours. "The community is up- set. None of the city offi- cials are willing to step up and stand with this; rather they hope it gets brushed under the rug and it ends, but it's not going to," said Nick Dozier, 25, who spent a dozen days with the hun- ger strikers. UCSF medical student Joshua Connor attended the protest Monday with a dozen of his peers. "We've seen and wit- nessed the pain that the community is in as a re- sult of this police violence and police impunity," Con- nor said. People protest in SF ag ai ns t po li ce k ill in gs LAW ENFORCEMENT By Christine Armario The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The Com- mon Application used for college admissions at more than 600 institutions is changing a question it asks about student criminal re- cords, as the U.S. Depart- ment of Education urged schools Monday to consider dropping the question alto- gether. The Common Application for the upcoming school year will still ask whether students have been found guilty of a misdemeanor or felony but remove part of the question asking about any other crimes, spokes- woman Aba Blankson told The Associated Press. "We realized that was a place of ambiguity and so that could cause some angst for students," Blank- son said. Speaking in Los Ange- les, U.S. Education Secre- tary John King called it "an important step forward," but also urged the organi- zation to consider alterna- tive approaches outlined in a guide for colleges released Monday. The Department of Ed- ucation document encour- ages schools to remove questions about a student's criminal record in the early stages of college applica- tions, noting such inqui- ries can have a "chilling ef- fect" and discourage other- wise qualified candidates from applying. "Those who have paid their debt and served their sentences deserve an equal chance to learn and thrive," King wrote. The guide comes as stu- dents and civil rights orga- nizations have pushed uni- versities to drop questions about criminal records. While many of the nation's largest universities, includ- ing the University of Cali- fornia system, do not ask any questions about a stu- dent's criminal record, a majority still do. Others like New York University review a student's criminal record after making an initial ad- missions decision. Advocates in favor of dropping the question ar- gue it creates a barrier to college access at a time when higher education is considered vital to advanc- ing in the workforce. They also highlight data show- ing that black and other minority students are sus- pended and referred to law enforcement at dispropor- tionate rates. "This guidance will help tear down a signif- icant barrier which un- fairly excluded many Af- rican American and mi- nority student applicants seeking access to college classrooms," said Kristen Clarke, president and exec- utive director of the Law- yers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. While the Department of Education acknowledged there is limited research on any link between criminal history and campus safety, King said what information does exists suggests schools that admit students with a record do not have more crime than those who don't. The Common Applica- tion added questions about criminal records and disci- pline at the request of par- ticipating universities in 2006-07. In January, New York University asked the Common Application to re- view whether the queries do anything to make schools safer or discourage minori- ties from applying. COLLEGE Common Application is changing a question concerning criminal record By Janie Har The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO San Fran- cisco netted nearly $2 mil- lion from co-hosting the Su- per Bowl, with money com- ing largely from hotel taxes generated by visiting fans. But the cost analysis re- leased Monday by the con- troller's office did little to settle debate over the im- pact February's game had on the city. About 1 million people at- tended Super Bowl-related events in San Francisco, in- cluding a week-long fan fes- tival along the city's water- front. The game itself was held in Santa Clara, Cal- ifornia, some 50 miles to the south. Mayor Ed Lee praised the numbers, saying that the game was a major boost for the city. "Hosting Super Bowl 50 exceeded our expecta- tions,"Leesaidinastatement. But several supervi- sors disagreed, saying that the city barely broke even for a corporate party that clogged city streets and hurt small businesses. They were livid when they learned in January that police and emergency departments had agreed not to seek reimbursement for costs. Santa Clara offi- cials, on the other hand, ne- gotiated reimbursement for city costs. "To say we broke even is being generous, and that doesn't start to address the abysmal process or the im- pact to neighborhoods and small businesses," said Su- pervisor Aaron Peskin. The report estimated that Super Bowl events cost police about $4 million. Also, the report estimated that the city's public transit system lost about $2.5 mil- lion, because staff ran ex- tra buses and did not write parking tickets. The hotel tax generated more than $6 million. BUSINESS Controller: SF nets $2M from Super Bowl | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2016 8 A

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