Governor’s 2010 agenda

Among the new proposals outlined by the governor in his State of the State speech Wednesday: * A $500-million jobs creation package that would fund worker training and payments to companies that hire new employees. * A $10,000 tax break for first-time home buyers. Buyers of both new and existing homes would be eligible. * A sales tax credit for green technology companies, such as those that produce solar panels, for purchase of manufacturing equipment. * Fast-tracking major public works projects. Developers of projects the administration chooses would be inoculated from some environmental lawsuits. * Scaling back pensions for new state workers. The pensions of existing state workers would remain unchanged. * A new constitutional amendment that would require the state spend more on higher education than prisons. California currently spends substantially more on locking up criminals than it does on public universities, where fees have been soaring and offerings cut back. Source: Governor’s office