A Final State of the State From Jerry Brown

If history is any guide, the State of the State speech California Gov. Jerry Brown will deliver in Sacramento on Thursday — his last one — won’t be very long. It probably won’t be overly sentimental. And it will probably include a tribute to his home state.

But here are a few things we will be listening for:

1. How much will he talk about perhaps his biggest bit of unfinished business — the bullet train, plagued by cost overruns and delays? Brown’s strategy is to keep building, hoping to buy time until a (presumably) sympathetic Democratic administration takes office. His real audience on Thursday, should he use the moment, will be the next governor, whose support will be crucial.

2. This will be one of the final opportunities for the famously frugal governor to return to a favorite topic: warning lawmakers and his successor against excessive spending, particularly if a recession is coming.

3. Will Brown use his platform to push for reforms in California’s notoriously dysfunctional tax system, hamstrung by Proposition 13 and a heavy reliance on volatile capital gains tax revenues? (Don’t bet on it).

4. Count how much time Brown spends talking about Republicans in Washington versus talking about problems facing California: the affordable housing crisis, the sexual misconduct scandal in the Legislature and the exploding costs of pensions.

When Brown delivered his first inaugural address in 2011, the state’s economy was reeling from an economic downturn. Still, he was notably optimistic.

“Well I was the one who was coming in so I had a lot to be optimistic about,” Brown said in an interview.