Kevin Kiley: “Yesterday, California's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office revealed that the State has an $18 billion deficit--an…”

“Yesterday, California's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office revealed that the State has an $18 billion deficit--an $18 billion deficit. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office noted that this is the fourth straight year that the State has had budget problems, even though revenue has been increasing. The LAO, the Legislative Analyst's Office, also noted in their report on the State budget that the State's economy is not in good shape. Indeed, job growth this year has amounted to zero, nothing. There has literally been no job growth in the State of California. In addition, consumers in California are increasingly pessimistic about our State's economy, so these problems have all been building and building and have, in particular, accelerated during the governorship of Gavin Newsom. In his first year as Governor, our State budget was $208 billion. Now, the budget is $322 billion. It has increased by more than 50 percent. Can Californians say they are getting 50 percent more for their tax dollars? Of course not. The problems in our State have continued to grow. We continue to lead the Nation in homelessness, unemployment, taxes, regulations, and poverty. I would hope that this latest report from the Legislative Analyst's Office will be a wake-up call for the politicians in Sacramento that we need to start doing things differently. We need to have less of a tax and regulatory burden. We need to support small businesses and workers.”