Jerry Brown hails economic recovery in State of the State address

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

This post has been corrected. See note at the bottom for details.

Gov. Jerry Brown sounded optimistic tones about California’s economy and restated his case for new taxes in his annual State of the State address in Sacramento on Wednesday.

“California is on the mend,” Brown said, saying that lawmakers and a recovering economy had cut the state deficit from $26 billion to $9 billion.

He defended his tax initiative, which raises the sales tax and levies on high earners for the next five years as “fair” and “temporary,” while calling for more permanent tax reform.

Brown called out Republican leaders for reacting to his speech publicly a day before it was delivered. “My speech wasn’t finished 24 hours ago. I didn’t know that you were psychics …” Brown said to laughter. “After the speech, I want to check with you on some stock tips.”

[For the record, 11:50 a.m. Jan. 18: A photo on an earlier version of this post was of Gov. Brown’s 2011 State of the State speech, not of today’s speech.]

RELATED:

Jerry Brown’s tricky balancing act

Jerry Brown aims to place tax hike measure on 2012 ballot

Jerry Brown argues for his budget plan in State of the State address

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Caption: Gov. Jerry Brown deliver his State of the State address in Sacramento Wednesday. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press