Mayor Kevin Johnson has abandoned his effort to put his latest “strong mayor” proposal on the June ballot, saying there is not enough support from council members. Johnson said he now plans to start campaigning to place the proposal on the November ballot. He also cited the city’s budget deficit as a reason to delay the initiative to November. “There’s not a lot of appetite from council members to put it on the ballot in June,” Johnson said. “Secondly, we had a budget workshop last week on Thursday and we have some significant challenges that we need to deal with going forward.” He said he will ask the City Council at tonight’s meeting to consider placing the proposal on the November ba

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has not been deterred by two court rulings that prevent his strong mayor initiative from being placed on the June ballot. His latest strategy is to ask the City Council to place a new strong mayor proposal on the ballot. But Johnson’s new plan, which he announced on his blog Monday afternoon, cannot include the existing strong mayor initiative. That's because Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster struck down the initiative last month, saying it broke state law. Johnson's blog entry does not explain the components of his new proposal. He described his new plan as a "collaborative executive mayor reform package." Joaquin McPeek, Johnson's spokesman,

While the strong mayor initiative is in the midst of a court battle, a second measure from the group that wrote the strong mayor proposal is much less controversial. At its Tuesday meeting, the City Council supported a proposal to create an independent budget analyst’s office. Councilman Steve Cohn said he thinks the council members “all agree there’s a need” for an independent budget analyst. The budget analyst proposal is separate from the strong mayor initiative, but both plans were written by the Sacramentans for Accountable Government (SAG) group. Council members asked staff to bring back a resolution so the council could vote to put the measure on the June ballot. The council al

In a ruling that will have immediate impact on the economy of Sacramento, Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette ruled Thursday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is within his legal rights to furlough state workers. The governor issued an executive order in December proposing to reduce state workers' hours by two days per month. Workers unions immediately sued in response, and today's hearing was meant to resolve the issue. "I cannot help but recognize the huge impact this will have on state workers," Judge Marlette said. Judge Marlette also noted that it was not his job to rule on whether the furloughs were the right solution to the problem, but only that the governor had the legal au