Next 10

Green Innovation Index

The Green Innovation Index is a new report by Next 10 that analyzes key economic and environmental indicators to help us better understand the role green innovation plays in reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming while growing our economy.

Brand New Report

The Carneros Innovation Dialogue discusses innovative approaches to help spur investment in clean technologies. It has been submitted for consideration by the California Air Resources Board and its Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee.

Press Coverage

Read up on the press coverage Next 10 has received since its launch.

September 14, 2008
Editorial: Party! It's time to play budget game!
Sacramento Bee Editorial

INVITE SOME FRIENDS OVER, FIRE UP YOUR COMPUTER AND SHOW THE CAPITOL HOW IT'S DONE. What sort of cuts and tricks would be involved in bridging the entire $15.2 billion budget gap? What would that do to schools, or to local governments, or to health care? These are some of the decisions lawmakers are confronting and avoiding. They're also some of the same choices you'll face if you play the California Budget Challenge, a nonpartisan, Web-based tool that allows you to create your own state budget.

August 4, 2008
Another state budget fiasco emphasizes the need for serious change
Lisa Pampuch, The Gilroy Dispatch

Meanwhile, do you think that you can do better than the supposed pros in
Sacramento? Give balancing the state's budget a try. Next 10, a nonpartisan
group focused on California issues, has a web-based game called California
Budget Challenge that allows players to make policy choices and see how they
translate to fiscal realities as they try to balance the state's budget.
It's available online at www.next10.org/budget/challenge.html.

July 28, 2008
KGO Newstalk Radio, San Francisco, AM 810
Ed Baxter and Jennifer Jones

KGO's morning anchor, Ed Baxter interviews Noel Perry, Founder of Next 10
about the updated California Budget Challenge. The interview is between the
8-9 am hour, specifically at the 11:45 mark.

Listen here...

May 23, 2008
Mega-Millions mess
Opinions and Editorial, Chico News & Review

Maybe you can do better. A Palo Alto nonprofit organization named Next 10 has come up with an innovative interactive “California Budget Challenge” that you can take by going to www.next10.org. The challenge takes only a few minutes and is remarkably educational about the budgeting process and possible sources of revenues (carbon tax, anyone?).

May 20, 2008
Governor Schwarzenegger Showcases California Businesses' Environmental Innovations
Green Liver, Imperial Valley News

California companies are producing a growing share of green technology patents-44 percent of all U.S. patents in solar and 37 percent in wind-and numerous energy efficient products and services. According to Next 10's "California Green Innovation Index," California represents almost half of all green-tech investment in the U.S., and all signs point to continued growth. In fact, venture capitalists last year invested $1.78 billion in California green technology companies.

May 18, 2008
Club tries, fails to solve budget riddle
Lisa Vorderbrueggen, Contra Costa Times

Blame the heat. Or maybe it was just too hard to choose between an affordable college education and health care for poor people in wheelchairs. But the 40 hardy folks of the Lamorinda Democrat Club gathered in a community room with no air conditioning on an unseasonably warm Friday night just couldn't balance the out-of-whack state budget. The exercise was courtesy of Next 10, a Palo Alto-based nonpartisan organization that brought its portable version of the online California Budget Challenge to Orinda. Audience members debated and then registered their votes on individual wireless voting devices about where to spend, where to save and whether to raise taxes.

May 7, 2008
Great Valley Center Conference

“Tradition” is not often a word used to describe innovation, but Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, believes California can build on its tradition of innovation to reduce carbon emissions and the effects of climate change while at the same time promoting the state’s economic health.

April 19, 2008
Governor Defines Modern Environmental Movement at Yale Climate Change Conference

With the centennial of President Theodore Roosevelt's landmark 1908 Conference of Governors as the backdrop, the Governor spoke about how the modern environmental movement must evolve if we are to meet the even greater challenges that lie ahead... According to the Next 10 "California Green Innovation Index," California patents account for 44 percent of all U.S. patents in solar and 37 percent in all U.S. patents in wind technologies.

April 19, 2008
Students join effort to fight school cuts
Dana Hull and Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News

In Palo Alto, Gunn High School students playing the "2008 California Budget Challenge" game during economics classes last week chose to increase K-12 education by $9 billion. "If you expand enrollment at state colleges, you will build a highly skilled workforce," said senior Noah Azarin, 18. Instead, the students slashed child care for poor people. They increased existing taxes and approved new ones on carbon emissions and "services."

April 18, 2008
Gunn students tackle state budget
Arden Pennell, Palo Alto Weekly

As California lawmakers struggle to craft a budget to address the state's $14 billion deficit, Gunn High School students have a few suggestions: Cancel tax credits for businesses. Fund education — a lot. Oh, and increase the vehicle-licensing fee threefold. These were among student choices during an in-class simulation this week led by nonprofit Next10, a group that aims to educate citizens to make choices about the state's future.

April 16, 2008
A fine balance
Kristina Peterson, Palo Alto Daily News

On Tuesday, the three economics classes Habib teaches at Gunn High School participated in the 2008 California Budget Challenge, an interactive online game run by Next 10, a Palo Alto-based nonpartisan, nonprofit group focused on state issues. After spending lavishly on education and health care, the 10:15 a.m. class sped through revenue-raising options as they searched for ways to resolve California's $16 billion budget deficit, ultimately settling on a $6 billion carbon tax to help produce a surplus.

April 13, 2008
Scant support for California budget changes
Judy Lin, Sacramento Bee

Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill thinks it's a sensible way to help balance the state budget: lower the extra amount families can write off on their state income taxes for dependent children. "These options are really hard," said F. Noel Perry, founder of Next 10, a nonprofit organization aimed at informing the public about the budget process. Perry said most high school students who take the group's Web quiz – called the California Budget Challenge (www.nextten.org) – don't successfully balance the budget.

March 26, 2008
Torlakson's seeks to end two-thirds budget vote
Lisa Vorderbrueggen, Contra Costa Times

State Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, has introduced legislation that would allow lawmakers to pass a budget and raise taxes with a majority rather than two-thirds vote. The California Legislature must close an $8 billion remaining budget gap before July 1 and the two major political parties are deeply divided over how to solve the state’s poor, long-term financial outlook. Next 10, a nonpartisan Palo Alto-based group that “focuses on innovation and the intersection between the economy, the environment, and quality of life issues for all Californians” has unveiled its online 2008 California Budget Challenge.

March 26, 2008
Numbers game, Upland students tackle budget
Canan Tasci, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Students were introduced to a hands-on lesson from Next 10, a nonpartisan/nonprofit organization with a mission to educate, engage and empower Californians to improve the state's future... "In class, we talk about theoretical topics, but these questions are appropriate because they are realistic and they're talking about our current problems," said Richard Huang, 17.

March 26, 2008
Take the California State Budget Challenge
Tim Lantz, KFBK

If you've spent any time complaining about the lack of meaningful action to solve the budget crisis at the State Capitol, then KFBK's Tim Lantz has a story for you.

Listen here...

March 26, 2008
How Would You Balance California's Budget?
C. Johnson, Sacramento News 10

Think you can do a better job of balancing California's multi-billion dollar budget than state lawmakers? Here's your chance. The non-partisan group Next 10 unveiled its 2008 California Budget Challenge online game Tuesday. Players can craft their own state spending plan, using many of the same policy options state leaders must consider. Next 10's founder F. Noel Perry says the game is an engaging way to teach the state budget's many complexities and how it's shaped.

February 17, 2008
California’s burning ambition: Steered by Schwarzenegger, the Golden State plans to be at the forefront of fighting global warming
Juliette Jowit, The Observer

'Something remarkable is beginning to stir, something revolutionary, historic and transformative,' Arnold Schwarzenegger told UN heads of state. 'California is mobilising technologically, financially and politically to fight global climate change.' By 2006, the specialist consultancy Next 10 says, California was already employing 22,000 people in clean technology and had claimed more patents than any other state in the field. And the sector is growing fast. Last year, by some estimates, venture capital into 'clean technology' in California doubled to nearly $1.8bn (£917m). Many, including Schwarzenegger, are convinced clean tech will prove the next big driver of California's economy.

December 21, 2007
Matthew Newman: Consumers need carbon content labels
Matthew Newman, Sacramento Bee

This holiday season, Californians will spend billions on gifts from far-flung parts of the world. Recent scares about high levels of toxic chemicals in children's toys will lead many to research the safety and origins of the products they buy. But something important will be missing for consumers truly looking to make a sound shopping decision: the carbon content of the products they buy. The phrase "carbon content" refers to the amount of carbon dioxide released during a product's production and distribution. For the majority of products, there is simply no way for consumers to know which is the best choice from a global warming standpoint.

November 19, 2007
Report hails state's clean energy push
Ngoc Nguyen, Sacramento Bee

If every state adopted California's energy-saving standards, the nation as a whole would consume 8 percent less electricity. Last week, a public policy group and an economic consulting firm launched a California Green Innovation Index, which tracks the state's clean energy technology boom. According to the report by Palo Alto-based Next 10 and Collaborative Economics, California is the top state for U.S. venture capital investment in green technology, with $884 million pumped in last year.

November 15, 2007
New index measures greenhouse gas goal progress
Daniel Weintraub, Sacramento Bee

As California begins its quest to lead the nation toward a big reduction in greenhouse gases, the biggest question facing policymakers and the public is probably this: Can one state fight global warming while still growing its economy? The California Green Innovation Index is a product of Next 10, a nonprofit Perry founded two years ago to help citizens and policymakers understand the state's long-standing fiscal mess. Next 10's index can't settle the debate about whether the latest environmental policies are a hindrance or a help to the economy. But it will be a valuable resource for people on both sides of that divide who want to debate the issue with facts and not just assumptions and ideology.

November 15, 2007
Editorial: California's green future depends on high-tech innovations
Mercury News Editorial

For decades, California has led the nation with its clean and green policies. But inexorable population growth and aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction laws mean the next wave of environmental progress will need to be stronger, faster and more innovative than in the past. That's the worthy call to action coming from a groundbreaking new report on California's environmental progress and prospects. The study, from the Next 10 foundation of Palo Alto and Collaborative Economics of Mountain View, sets up a "green innovation index" that provides a much-needed report card for evaluating the state's current environmental fervor, activism and economy.

14 de noviembre de 2007
Nuevo Índice para medir lo Everde -- Servirá de guía para inversiones en empresas pro medio ambiente
Yolanda Arenales, La Opinion

Muchas de las innovaciones "verdes" de las que el resto del país y el mundo acabarán beneficiándose se incubarán en California, esto como parte de una fuerza económica y creativa que se ha iniciado en el estado. De hecho, la organización no lucrativa Next 10 ‹fundada por el capitalista de riesgo Noel Perry‹ y la consultora Collaborative Economics inauguran hoy miércoles el nuevo Índice de Innovación Verde de California, el cual analizará la correlación entre el medio ambiente y la economía.

Mea más...

November 14, 2007
California fighting global warming with technology, greenbacks
David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle

California is leading the way in the fight against global warming as its investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into green technology companies and its citizens have cut per-capita emissions of greenhouse gases by nearly 10 percent in recent years. So says a new report that praises the Golden State for making a fast start but warns that much more http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/190441.html and innovation are needed to truly make a difference in the crisis. The California Green Innovation Index, due to be released Wednesday by a local public-policy group and an economic consulting firm, shows progress on a number of fronts.

November 14, 2007
Going green won't hurt economy, study finds -- REPORT SAYS STATE LEADS IN CLEAN GROWTH
Matt Nauman, San Jose Mercury News

Having to choose a future California with either a robust economy or a cleaner environment represents a false choice, according to the authors of a study to be released today. Over the past several decades, the state has become a global energy-efficiency leader, according to the "California Green Innovation Index" - generating fewer greenhouse-gas emissions per capita than the rest of the United States, Germany or Japan. Yet, "California's economy has grown as a result of this first wave of green innovation," said Noel Perry, founder of the non-profit Next 10 foundation, which funded the study.

November 13, 2007
Now for the hard part -- Valley's air won't be clean until we confront pollution from vehicles.

Valley residents -- by a wide margin -- say that air pollution is the most serious environmental problem we face. That's the gratifying conclusion of a new statewide Field Poll, but it also raises a crucial question: What are we willing to do about the problem? Comfortable habits are awfully hard to change. But we know the cost of the status quo, and it's mighty high. Can we afford to keep paying it? We don't think so. We have to change.

November 9, 2007
Air tops Valley's list of worries -- Global warming is far behind in poll on environment.
E.J. Schultz, Fresno Bee

More Central Valley residents say air pollution -- not global warming -- is the biggest environmental problem facing the world, according to a new poll. In the Valley -- where dirty air contributes to high asthma rates -- 39% of poll respondents said air pollution is their biggest concern, compared with 19% who cited global warming, according to the Field Poll commissioned by Next 10, a nonpartisan voter-education group.

November 9, 2007
In a sign that Californians may be open to funding the global warming fight, a majority of residents support a carbon tax on businesses and individuals, according to a Field Poll released Thursday.
Judy Lin, Sacramento Bee

The poll, commissioned by the nonpartisan voter education group Next 10, was based on a statewide telephone survey of 1,003 adults conducted Aug. 10-28 in English and Spanish. It has a sampling error of 3.2 percentage points. The survey found 70 percent of Californians believe global warming is extremely or very important, compared to 52 percent of Americans who reported the same in a national poll earlier this year.

Despite apprehensions about climate change, 85 percent of Californians agree the state can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while expanding the state economy. "Californians are bullish about the future, and many feel it can be a leader," DiCamillo said.

June 12, 2007
Oakland forum sets California priorities; City's leaders invited to develop wish list of expenditures for state budget
Josh Richman, Oakland Tribune

If Oakland community leaders wrote the state budget, California would have more money for education, universal health care, fewer people in prison and higher taxes for the rich, corporations and commercial property owners. So say the results of a May 29 town hall meeting, in which 125 students, civic leaders, elected officials, teachers and community members gathered at the Oakland Museum and used an online tool to set their own spending priorities. Read more…

June 2, 2007
C'mon, we can't be all that dumb
Steve Wiegand, Sacramento Bee

It is tempting to assert that adult Californians are, generally speaking, morons. Granted, that assertion, if it were to be made in this space, would come from an adult Californian who clearly has more than a casual relationship with moronity. But geez, people, you're not even trying. At least it looks that way from the results of the latest survey by the folks over at the Public Policy Institute of California. Read more…

June 1, 2007
Clicking for California Dollars; Public Forum Lets People Set Budget Priorities
New America Media

SAN FRANCISCO - California’s budget is just a click away. And the billions are yours to spend. Noel Perry is determined to return California’s budget to the people. Read more…

September 24, 2006
Reforming California
Peter Schrag, Sacramento Bee

Ten years ago Gov. Pete Wilson's blue-ribbon Constitutional Revision Commission proposed a long list of ideas to reform California government. Most were promptly forgotten. Read more…

June 21, 2006
As We See It: How to compromise on the state budget
Santa Cruz Sentinel

Like many others in California, high school senior Lacey Padgett thought it is a good idea to tax the rich to balance the state's budget. Read more…

June 20, 2006
Davis, Brulte show students how budget is (un)balanced
Naush Boghossian, LA Daily News

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - If it was up to North Hollywood High's AP Government students to draft the state budget, they'd increase education spending by $2.5 billion, keep college tuition at current levels, retain the "three strikes" law and add $2.60 a pack to the cigarette tax. They'd also leave the state with a $2 billion deficit. Read more…

June 20, 2006
North Hollywood Students Get a Fiscal Schooling
Michelle Keller, Los Angeles Times

Sitting in a classroom at North Hollywood High School on Monday, senior Lacey Padgett thought taxing the rich to balance California's budget sounded like a fine idea.

But then former Republican state Senate leader Jim Brulte pointed out that celebrities including Tiger Woods and Serena and Venus Williams have relocated to Florida, where state income taxes are nonexistent. Padgett said the comment gave her pause.

"He almost made me change my mind," said the smiling 18-year-old, as she swept back her blond hair.

The learning moment came during a tutorial to North Hollywood High's Advanced Placement government class presented by Next 10, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit, whose mission is to illuminate Californians on the complexities of the state budgeting process. Read more…

June 20, 2006
Alumnos de North Hollywood discuten presupuesto estatal
Róger Lindo, La Opinión

No todos los días se puede contar en una clase sobre presupuesto de una secundaria pública con figuras de la talla del ex gobernador de California Gray Davis para abordar el caso hipotético -pero muy cercano a la realidad- de un impuesto vehicular, o del ex senador estatal republicano Jim Brulte para explicar que la idea de gravar a los ricos del estado termina por ahuyentarlos. Read more…

June 19, 2006
You, too, can be a state budgeter
The Orange County Register

Want to take a crack at balancing the California state budget, which has been bleeding red ink since the 1999-2000 budget? Check out the California Budget Challenge online at Next 10, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group working to improve California over the next 10 years: www.nextten.org. The Challenge is a Web-based tool that lets you, the citizens of California, modify spending and taxing parameters for the state budget for fiscal 2006-07, which begins on July 1. The calculations are based on the numbers from the Governor's Budget Summary 2006-07. Read more…

June 05, 2006
The pop quiz starts now
Steve Scauzillo, sgvtribune.com

Noel Perry is not into torture. He doesn't believe in the pop quiz as a way to embarrass busy Californians regarding their paltry knowledge of state spending.

"Did you know that only 11 percent of Californians knew that education was the No. 1 budget item?" he told me Friday during a phone interview he gave from his Bay Area office.

No, though I never met him, Perry seems to have loftier goals. The Bay Area venture capitalist wants to educate Californians so they can participate in civic discussions, maybe even vote with a better set of facts at their disposal. That's why he created the California Budget Quiz and the California Budget Challenge and put both on his Web site, www.nextten.org. Read more… (registration required)

June 08, 2005
Board of Contributors: Rising to 'The Budget Challenge,' or 'How I spent my 64th year'
Stephen Levy, for the Palo Alto Weekly

So far more than 10,000 Californians have 'taken the Challenge' to get more engaged. The most surprising and gratifying result for me so far is the large number of teachers who are using the Challenge in schools all over the state. We are most interested in getting feedback from teachers on how to make the Challenge most useful in the classroom. Read more…

May 25, 2005
It's your turn: Create the state's budget
Renee Batti, Almanac News Editor

The California Budget Challenge, the first endeavor of Noel Perry's Next 10 project, is an online, interactive, educational tool that allows those who log on at nextten.org to create their own state budget, setting spending and revenue-generating priorities for the next 10 years.

"We call ourselves Next 10 because we aren't here for the quick fix," says an introductory statement on the Website. "We have our sights set on joining with others to improve the state over the next 10 years, and the 10 years after that."

Mr. Perry says he started toying with the idea of creating an educational program addressing issues facing California about two years ago. Troubled by the lack of focus on the future on the part of both lawmakers and citizens, Mr. Perry says he concluded that the California Dream was in peril. Read more…

April 25, 2005
Now you, too, can balance the budget: New Web-based game examines state's finances
John Wildermuth, San Francisco Chronicle

A balanced budget for California is just a few mouse clicks away in a new Internet-based game designed to let ordinary citizens see the financial alternatives and political tradeoffs faced every day by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature. The California Budget Challenge at www.nextten.org is the brainchild of F. Noel Perry, a Menlo Park venture capitalist who hopes the computer game will get people thinking about the state's future. "I hope to engage and educate Californians about improving the state's economy and quality of life," Perry said. "I'm concerned that there doesn't seem to be a lot of concern about the future of California in the long term or even the next 10 years." Read more…

April 10, 2005
So, you've got a better idea? Go ahead and give it a spin: SOPHISTICATED WEB SITE PROVIDES A GOOD LESSON ON STATE'S BALANCING ACT
Mercury News Editorial

There are some jobs that anyone on the street can do better than the people who, apparently through some cosmic joke, actually get to do them. Baseball umpire, for instance. Everyone in the stands would be better at it. Just ask them. Or legislator. Just what is it with those people in Sacramento that they can't produce a balanced budget on time? We can't offer any help on calling balls and strikes, but if you're itching to demonstrate budgeting prowess, your opportunity is at hand: the "California Budget Challenge" on the Internet at www.nextten.org/challenge.

April 10, 2005
Put me in charge, I'll fix state budget
David Little, Editor, Chico Enterprise-Record

I solved the state budget crisis. It was heart-wrenching and required some tough choices, but I did it. I managed to whittle away a $12.2 billion deficit. Of course, I did it from the comfort of my office, with no voters hounding me, no protests outside my window, no campaign contributors demanding preferential treatment and no lobbyists trying to bribe me. Oh, and I did it without having to worry about whether I'd get re-elected. Without all those shackles, it's almost easy. And you can do it, too. Through the magic of computers and the Internet, a nonpartisan organization called Next 10 has created a fascinating program that lets you figure out how to solve the state budget crisis. Try it yourself at www.nextten.org. It takes only about 30 minutes to complete, and it's quite enlightening. Read more… (registration)

April 6, 2005
A kid's worst nightmare: planning ahead, by math
Valerie Marrs, Whittier Daily News

WHITTIER -- Students in a government class at Whittier College held the state's purse strings Tuesday but found that they had no better answers for dealing with California's budget deficit than the governor or Legislature… Students in Caroline Helman's California politics class at Whittier College were among the first to experience the agony of deciding where to spend and where to cut. Attacking a subject closest to them and at $31.6 billion, the biggest part of the state budget the students voiced diverse opinions on K-12 education and higher education. "Increasing spending doesn't necessarily mean increasing the quality,' she said, pointing out that the education budget is increased annually by Proposition 98. "But if you stay with it as is, below the average per student of other states, what would that do to the state's future in attracting new industry?' countered fellow student Peter Hinton… Read more… (registration)

April 6, 2005
Think it's easy? Try it, State budget: Here's a chance to craft one you like
Timm Herdt, Ventura County Star

It can't be easy to design an interactive process that allows average citizens to customize a state budget that reflects their priorities without either boring them stiff or dumbing down the process to the point where it is simple-minded and meaningless. It took me about 20 minutes to complete the exercise… However long it takes, there's a value in going through the exercise. If nothing else, it drives home the hard facts that many Californians don't seem to want to understand: Balancing the state budget over the long term requires either taking an ax to funding for education and healthcare or significantly jacking up taxes… By the way, if you do balance the budget when you take the challenge, remember that in real life there's one more substantial hurdle: You've got to get two-thirds of the Legislature to agree with all your choices.

April 6, 2005
Write Your Own State Budget
Tom Fudge, THESE DAYS | KPBS SAN DIEGO (Radio Show)

Could you balance California's budget? Well, here's your chance. Next 10, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization, has launched the California Budget Challenge, an interactive online site that lets users create a 10-year budget for California. We talk about the need for people to understand the underpinnings of the state budget and whether a well-informed and engaged public could break the budget gridlock…

April 5, 2005
Choices come into focus in online budget simulation
Daniel Weintraub, Sacramento Bee

Next 10, founded and bankrolled by venture capitalist Noel Perry, has created the most realistic budget model I've seen. Backed by expert advice from economist Stephen Levy, the California Budget Challenge is fun, demanding and educational all at the same time. The challenge is simplified to make it workable. But it's still complex enough to give the user a sense of the scope of the problem and the choices Californians face. The bottom line: Under current policies, deficits will continue for as far as the eye can see, and by 2014 - 10 years out - the shortfall will be $12 billion in today's dollars…. Read more…

April 5, 2005
Think you can do better? Create state's budget online, Internet puzzle lets would-be legislators divvy California's finances
Hank Shaw, Sacramento

If you think Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have it easy balancing California's budget, try doing it yourself. Think of "California Budget Challenge," the new Internet puzzle funded by Bay Area venture capitalist F. Noel Perry, as state budgeting for dummies. It's simple, explains the issues facing the state's finances clearly and outlines the pros and cons of controversial choices. It's almost fun. The site, www.nextten.org, is set to launch the budget game today. It uses charts, graphs and clearly written bullet-point paragraphs to lay out California's fiscal woes -- the state faces a $9 billion gap between revenue and expenses now, and future budgets appear no better. Perry's group is called Next 10 because he wants policy-makers to look to the long haul.

Make a game of balancing budget, Group lets computer-users crunch numbers.
Hanh Kim Quach, The Orange County Register

Californians fed up with Sacramento's budget-balancing paralysis can take matters into their own hands starting today. Sort of.A nonpartisan organization called Next-Ten, named for its goal to plan for the state's next 10 years, is unveiling the online California Budget Challenge. It allows anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to submit plans for how the state should spend money on education, prisons, health care and other priorities for the decade. Californians can tinker with the numbers at the same time Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is putting together his updated budget proposal, to be released next month. "We hope that they will develop an appreciation for how difficult it isto balance the state's budget," said Noel Perry. Read more…

Try Your Hand At Budget Balancing
John Myers, KQED Weblog

For those of you who think you could do a better job than the elected officials at mapping out the state's broad budget priorities, here's your chance. A new organization called Next 10 today unveils its "California Budget Challenge"… The group, which bills itself as independent and non-partisan, says the game gives individuals a chance to think about the state's fiscal priorities on a macro scale over the next 10 years. Read more…

Television Interview with Noel Perry and Scott McGrew, KNTV, Channel 11 NBC (link to video clip not available at this time)