The California Performance Review’s report has just been released and it’s stuffed with over 1000 recommendations designed to save the state over $32 billion. As a CPR director, Reason’s George Passantino was in the middle of it all. Stay tuned for some insights from him, but for now … Read the report itself. Check out the California Budget Crunch Resource Center. And have a look at what some editorial boards are saying about the report. The LA Times. The OC Register: Such cuts also are necessary to help close the state budget gap, which still has an ongoing annual structural deficit of about $5 billion. We found a number of good ideas in our first read of the review. Some of the best ideas would require either major legislation or a ballot initiative approved by voters: Eliminate 12,000 state jobs through retirements and departures. Merge 25 state entities into one California Infrastructure Department. Eliminate 118 of 339 executive branch boards and commissions. Merge 20 state entities into a new Department of Education and Work Force Preparation run by the governor.