Thursday, January 24, 2013

Governor Brown Pleases Republicans with State of State Speech

Governor Jerry Brown gave an optimistic State of the State speech in Sacramento Thursday morning. He sounded positive notes in the wake of recent ballot victories that included passage of his Proposition 30 tax initiative and legislative races that gave Democrats 2/3rds “super-majorities” in both houses of the legislature. Brown’s speech is getting praise from both sides of the aisle in Sacramento, including Republicans who say Brown is pushing a Republican agenda and, in the words of one Republican leader, “channeling his inner Republican.” The speech lays out an agenda of fiscal discipline and moves to rein in complex laws and regulations like California’s land-mark Environmental Quality Act. Christopher Martinez reports from Sacramento.