Sen. Leno Discusses Ways To Address State Budget Crisis

California faces a "projected $25.4 billion budget gap over the next 18 months [and] "we must brace ourselves for even more" cuts to health care and social services, Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) writes in a San Francisco Chronicle opinion piece. Leno writes that voters should consider "mitigating the dismantling of our state infrastructure by extending temporary tax increases enacted two years ago," as well as other tax-related initiatives, concluding, "These are the questions we need to ask in the coming months."

• "What Do Californians Want To Pay for?" (Leno, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/5).