"Deepening a Capitol rift, Republicans in the Assembly have decided to back free-market changes to the state's healthcare system but
are refusing to embrace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambition to resolve all of its shortcomings," writes Jordan Rau in the Times.
"The group plans to unveil a package of proposals today that would encourage even the poorest Californians to save money for medical care, while eliminating the state's requirement that insurers pay for certain minimum services.
"
Michael Villines of Clovis, the GOP leader in the Assembly, said in an interview Tuesday that many of the proposals from the governor, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans were unfairly raising expectations of what government could do and would eventually backfire.
"'We don't want to buy into a plan that's going to fix everything, because we don't think there is a plan that fixes everything,' Villines said. 'We feel like we're the last line of defense.'"
The GOP plan comes as Health and Human Services secretary
Michael Leavitt heads to California today to meet with Gov. Schwarzenegger.
"Orange County's lone Democratic senator,
Lou Correa,
was back in his Capitol office Tuesday, but said being locked out for a day won't keep him from pursing the moderate agenda he promised voters," reports the Register's Brian Joseph.
"Senate leader
Don Perata shut the Santa Ana senator and two others out of their offices Monday, apparently to punish them for attending a fundraiser for moderate Democrats. Moderate Democrats sometimes support positions contrary to the official stance of party leadership and Perata has said he would not tolerate any Senate Democrats organizing to block his agenda.
"
Tony Quinn, a long-time Sacramento observer and co-editor of the campaign tracking resource the California Target Book, said it's often necessary for legislative leaders to mete out punishments to keep members in line and get things done, but thought the lockout was overboard and ineffective.
"'It's about the stupidest thing you could do,' Quinn said, adding that attending a fundraiser is not a 'death penalty crime' like speaking out against a major party proposal or breaking a promise to vote a certain way. 'It doesn't punish these guys and it makes Perata look foolish.'"
...and it really helps the whole effort to extend term limits.
"California's politicians, used to being largely ignored in presidential politics,
are being wooed with vigor as candidates for the White House look for guidance, endorsements and money in the Golden State's newly relevant 2008 presidential primary," reports the LAT's Jordan Rau.
"Candidates have also stepped up their public appearances in usually forsaken areas of the state and are starting to show keen interest in issues that national candidates have rarely bothered to learn about.
"Soon Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign a bill advancing the presidential primary to Feb. 5. That will mean only four states — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada — will hold their votes before California.
"Though many other large states may also hold primaries the same day as California, this state will inevitably offer the largest number of delegates, transforming a place that has often been an afterthought in the primary campaigns into a meaningful player.
"'
The state needs to be harvested in a political way that hasn't happened in a long time,' said
Chris Lehane, a Democratic political strategist close to
Hillary Clinton, the junior senator from New York."
He makes it sounds so agricultural, so ... dirty...
"Fearing tighter controls, California cities
have offered to sponsor a statewide ballot measure that would strip away most of their power to seize homes standing in the way of new commercial development," writes Michael Gardner in the Union Tribune.
"The draft proposal circulating in the Capitol also seeks to add another layer of protection for small businesses by making it more expensive for local governments to shutter mom-and-pop shops and replace them with bigger tax-generators: malls, hotels or big-box retailers.
"The proposed constitutional amendment has been endorsed by leading environmentalists and has the qualified support of a powerful conservative homeowners' advocate as well as the Republican leader of the state Senate.
"Democratic leaders have not yet signed on, but they agree with city officials that the Legislature should shape a measure and place it on the ballot rather than leaving it to an initiative driven by special interests."
Meanwhile, eminent domain initiative backer
Howard Rich, who was also the former head of US Term Limits, has retalliated against the Legislature for trying to extend term limits. Rich is on the streets with a ballot measure that would strip lawmakers from their daily, tax-free stipend known as per diem.
"State lawmakers
are investigating the Board of Chiropractic Examiners to determine whether the panel acted appropriately at its controversial March 1 meeting and to consider sanctions that may include eliminating its $3 million budget," writes the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"Legislative committees in the Assembly and state Senate have tentatively scheduled a March 28 joint oversight hearing where they expect chiropractic board members -- all appointees of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- to explain their March 1 actions.
"Led by longtime Schwarzenegger friend
Richard Tyler, the board fired Executive Director
Catherine Hayes without warning, ejected a deputy district attorney general, passed a resolution backing a controversial chiropractic technique involving an anesthesiologist and accredited a Florida college despite staff warnings that it did not have an active application in place.
"'The recent actions of the board, I think, raise serious questions of propriety and probably legality,' said Assemblyman
Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions. 'The board's primary duty is to protect patients and consumers and to regulate the profession they oversee. The actions of this particular board call into question whether they fully understand their mission statement.'"
The Bee's Clea Benson writes that the
schoolage girl HPV vaccination bill was shelved yesterday. "The author of Assembly Bill 16 withdrew it from a vote Tuesday in a health committee hearing after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed doubts. Assemblyman
Ed Hernandez, a Democrat from West Covina, said he would bring it back in April after making some changes.
"The bill would require seventh-grade girls to get shots of the vaccine that guards against the human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted disease that can lead to cervical cancer. In June, the federal Food and Drug Administration approved a three-shot regimen of the vaccine, which is most effective if women receive it at a young age.
"'If it was any other disease, I don't think we'd have any controversy,' Hernandez said after the hearing. 'But because it's a sexually transmitted disease, I think that's why it's so emotional.'"
"A bill to stabilize California's criminal sentencing system that was knocked for a loop by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision
passed the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 5-2 vote Tuesday," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Senate Bill 40 cleared the panel, which in the past has killed controversial criminal justice bills, after members heard from its author, state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and prosecutors representing her home county that the alternative to its passage would mean "chaos" in the courts.
"'I understand the reluctance and the concern of some, but reluctance and concern translates into courts functioning in a state of disarray and justice not being served,' Romero said in an interview after the hearing. 'I do feel confident that (the full Assembly) will understand that the stakes are too high to sit on our thumbs and do nothing.'
"The bill was prompted by the Supreme Court's ruling on Jan. 22 that California's determinate sentencing law, in place since 1977, violated the Constitution."
The California Majority Report's Steve Maviglio writes on
the new hit put out by nurses aimed at Democratic legislators. And, he's not exactly impressed.
"At best, the CNA's claims are questionable. There's scant evidence that any of these plans will increase health care costs for most Californians, and none that most families would "pay more and get less." In fact, under the plans being advanced by Democratic lawmakers and the Governor, millions of more Californians would receive health care coverage for the first time. And each of the plans contains cost-containment provisions.
"So why is an association representing health care professionals essentially joining forces with Republicans and opponents on the right to stop health care reform this year?
"It's simple. The CNA is lobbying heavily for government-run, single-payer health care. Senator
Sheila Kuehl has re-introduced such legislation, which easily passed the legislature last year, only to get vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. (The bill also was opposed by Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Phil Angelides.)
"Most Democrats favor single payer. And in a perfect world, it's the way to go. But the Kuehl bill has zero chance of being signed into law this year. Zero."
And in Montana, the AP reports, "A man told police not to blame him for crashing his truck into a light post --
it was that unicorn behind the wheel. Prosecutor
Ingrid Rosenquist said
Phillip C. Holliday Jr. initially denied driving the truck involved in the March 7 crash in Billings.
He told officers at the scene that a unicorn was driving, she said."
He gets some points for originality at least, doesn't he?