Daily Headlines

Democratics who control the state legislature were already eager to spend more money than was proposed in Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget, which would grow by 5.5 percent.U-T San Diego

But Barrera, from the state chamber, said DeSaulnier's bill would create a burden on small businesses. As the bill stands, there is no limit on the amount of compensation an employee can demand in a lawsuit and no minimum length of time the worker will have needed to be employed to qualify for the benefit. An employer with three employees could have all three workers take a leave at once, she said.Associated Press

Lawmakers and candidates are increasingly feeling they can accomplish more at the state level than in Washington, where many would be serving in the minority.Los Angeles Times

Ever squinted to read the directions on a medicine bottle but couldn’t make out the small print? California lawmakers have the prescription to solve that problem.Los Angeles Times

The Obama administration’s efforts to raise private money to carry out the president’s health care law have provoked such a strong partisan uproar that potential donors have become skittish about contributing, according to several people involved in the fund-raising program.The New York Times

Do your kids love chocolate milk? It may have more calories on average than you thought.Associated Press

Just months after California voters passed Proposition 30 to stave off education cuts, a push is under way to ensure that the next stream of higher education funding flows out of the ground.The Sacramento Bee

The chances of a deal between Democratic and Republican lawmakers that would overhaul the tax system, trim government spending and reform safety net spending programs appear to be fading.Reuters

In his revised budget plan released this week, Governor Jerry Brown calls for the state’s enterprise zone program to be completely “reshaped.” California has 40 of these “distressed” neighborhoods where the state offers tax credits in order to encourage investment and hiring.KPCC

Hope is fading for a global deal to regulate the airline industry's greenhouse gas emissions ahead of a fall deadline, even though failure could push the industry back to the brink of a trade war over the European Union's emissions trading system.Reuters

Farmers want lawmakers to overhaul the complex milk-pricing formula to give them more for the dairy byproduct that has become a profit center for cheese makers.Los Angeles Times

The battle against what Gov. Jerry Brown called "the pre-eminent threat to all humanity" continued Friday on a residential rooftop in North Long Beach. Brown was in town to celebrate a solar power installation at the home of Maribel and Jose Mendoza and their four boys.Long Beach Press

The Japanese government upgraded its assessment of the economy on Monday, as emerging signs of an upturn in exports and factory output added to growing evidence that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressive polices are beginning to reignite growth.Reuters

Russia’s economy grew at the weakest pace since 2009 in the first quarter as the euro area’s longest recession hurt demand for commodity exports and investment at companies including OAO Gazprom cooled.Bloomberg

Gov. Jerry Brown had hardly finished presenting his annual budget revision last week before state Sen. Ted Lieu lit up on Twitter with a burst of criticism of a major part of the plan, a bid to shift more state aid to poor and English-learning students.The Sacramento Bee

Sunbathers flocking to Southern California beaches are used to feeding the meter or paying a parking attendant. Not so along the less developed north coast where it's customary to ditch cars on the shoulder of Highway 1 to surf, swim or picnic.Associated Press

Doug Coe, a normally confident engineering manager for the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, walked into the nearby Oakland project office looking as if he were fighting back tears. Joel Sayre, then a bridge spokesman who worked there, remembers tensing in alarm.The Sacramento Bee

Jerry Brown – who made "lower your expectations" a catchphrase of his first governorship – is back in that mode during his second stint, especially on spending.Dan Walters in The Sacramento Bee

Reforming the law, then, requires striking a delicate balance between preserving its protections and curbing its unnecessary job-killing costs and delays. A bill that goes before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday might not resolve all the valid complaints about the law, but it moves the state in the right direction. Written by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), SB 731 tackles some of the common, legitimate complaints about the law.Los Angeles Times

The California state treasury is flush with new revenue: $7 billion from Proposition 30, which raised income and sales taxes; and $1 billion from Proposition 39, which raised taxes on out-of-state businesses. Then, there's a $4.5 billion windfall of tax collections, expected to last only the upcoming fiscal year.The Orange County Register

Last year 4,062 regulations were at various stages of implementation inside the Beltway. The government completed work on 1,172, an increase of 16% over the 1,010 that the feds imposed in 2011, which was a 40% increase over 722 in 2010.The Wall Street Journal