Sacramento's letter openers help state get its slice of the pie
California's financial lifeline runs through a sprawling complex of brick buildings near a freeway on the edge of Sacramento.
That's where hundreds of workers open millions of envelopes, fish out the checks and feed them into three machines that whir, clank, stamp and sort them into neat piles. Every afternoon for a few weeks in April, as Californians pay their state taxes, a courier ferries them to eight banks to nourish the money-hungry government.
Meanwhile, lobbyists, lawmakers and activists — people whose jobs hinge on this seemingly mundane process — huddle by their computers and wait for the daily tally, which they'll tweet and email like the play-by-play of a championship game. By the end of the month, state accountants will add up the money and hope there's enough to cover expenses...
