Aging facilities would be improved under a $5-billion bond measure funded by fee increases for parking tickets, traffic school and lawsuit filings.

Incoming state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass on Tuesday said one way to solve California's continual budget mess is to revamp the state's tax code, possibly raising income taxes on the wealthy, levying sales taxes on services and closing tax loopholes.

NEW YORK -- Reversing decades of tough-on-crime policies, including mandatory minimum prison sentences for some drug offenders, many cash-strapped states are embracing a view once dismissed as dangerously naive: It costs far less to let some felons go free than to keep them locked up.

There are only three items:
* Balance a state budget that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared is "$20 billion out of whack."
* Create a ballot initiative that would produce $300 million to $500 million annually for foster care programs. 
Restructure California's tax system to make it conform to the modern world. Actually, she wants to create a blue-ribbon commission of "the best and the brightest" to tackle taxes. 

The governor's latest budget proposal calls for no fewer than 211 greenhouse-gas busters to be sprinkled throughout state government, at an annual cost of $55.4 million.
That's 77 more greenies than are on the payroll this year.