Jerry Brown has warned California faces difficult choices to plug its huge deficit Jerry Brown is set to be inaugurated as the new governor of the US state of California, taking over from outgoing Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Mr Brown, a Democrat who also served as California’s governor from 1975 to 1983, will be only the second person to lead the state for three terms.
He has warned California residents to expect “shared sacrifice” as the state struggles to overcome a fiscal crisis.
Among his first tasks will be to present a new budget plan.
The state faces a $28bn (£18bn) budget shortfall over the next 18 months.
Voters may be asked to agree to the extension of temporary taxes that were brought in in 2009 and are due to expire in July.
Mr Brown, 72, will need the backing of some Republicans in the state legislature if he is to put any tax measures to voters.
“Brown faces huge challenges. California, which would be eighth in world economic ranking if it was a country, faces bankruptcy”
Mr Brown’s inauguration ceremony is due to take place at 1100 local time (1900 GMT) in the state capital, Sacramento.
He defeated billionaire Republican candidate Meg Whitman in the November mid-term elections to win office.
When he last held the governorship, Mr Brown became known as “Governor Moonbeam” for what were then viewed as outlandish ideas.
In the intervening years he twice pursued the Democratic nomination for president, campaigned for the US Senate and most recently served as state attorney general.
Mr Schwarzenegger, a Republican, leaves after seven years at the helm of the country’s most populous state.
The 63-year-old former action movie star, best known for his role in the Terminator films, has not yet confirmed what he plans to do next.
He was not eligible to run for governor again because of term limits.
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