By Joe Garofoli on Political Punch: sfchronicle – (includes podcast)
San Francisco Democrat Phil Ting has a powerful seat as the head of the Assembly’s Budget Committee. Ting will be extra busy when budget hearings start in a few weeks especially with Gov. Gavin Newsom proposing all sorts of new programs, from offering a second free year of community college to expanding the earned income tax credit to a million more people.
The good news for Newsom is that there’s a $21 billion budget surplus this year. And Ting said that there is money for many of Newsom’s priorities.
But, Ting cautions, just because the Democrats have a two-thirds-plus supermajority in the Legislature doesn’t mean all those Democrats are San Francisco progressives. On an “It’s All Political” podcast with Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli, he ticks off what bills have a good shot of making it through the Legislature and which ones will have trouble. Listen here.
