Budget Crisis | featured news

In a recession, state lawmakers are taxing personal vices. It’s good for you, they say, but it’s really better for their budgets.

California's budget crisis and overcrowded prisons have led to a new reality for thousands of convicted felons: parole is getting ...

Spurred by budget crises, California and Michigan together reduced their prison populations by more than 7,500 last year, contributing to what a new report says is the first nationwide decline in the number of state inmates since 1972.

After several days of debate, half of California lawmakers signed off on a budget deal that closes a $24 billion gap and shores up state finances, for now.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers failed on Wednesday night to agree to balance the state's budget by closing a $26.3 billion deficit, but officials said talks would continue.

President Obama, Governor Schwarzenegger and other esteemed politicos may routinely distance themselves from the potential windfall that would accompany legalizing and taxing cannabis, but amid California's latest and deepest financial crisis the state Board of Equalization has tagged a whopping revenue figure to such a notion.

Legislative leaders emerged from late-night budget negotiations Tuesday to announce they were closing in on a final agreement on how to address the state's $26.3-billion deficit.

Bank of America and other big institutions plan to enforce a cutoff, making it harder to cash vouchers. To protect IOU holders from third-party speculators, the SEC defines the vouchers as securities.

A pro-marijuana group is launching another television bid to legalize pot in California — this time with the pitch that legalizing and taxing the drug could help solve the state's massive budget deficit.

California's lawmakers failed to agree on a balanced budget by the start of its new fiscal year on Wednesday morning, clearing the way to suspend payments owed to the state's vendors and local agencies, who instead will get "IOU" notes promising payment.