"Saying they don't want to make a bad situation worse, Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday
imposed a nine-month moratorium on all bills that they said would aggravate California's overcrowded prison population," writes Judy Lin in the Bee.
"Sen.
Gloria Romero, who chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee, has placed a hold on any legislation that imposes new crimes or lengthens criminal sentences while the state grapples with a prison population about twice the designed capacity.
"Under the new policy, staff estimated that dozens of Senate bills and more from the Assembly will not be taken up until January.
"Romero, D-Los Angeles, said she wants to show judges considering imposing a prison population cap that the Legislature isn't overburdening a system that's already struggling to find beds for 172,000 inmates. Last year, the federal court appointed a receiver to take over health care services at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"'
We would be going forth in the dark if we continue to let bills fly out of committee,' Romero said. 'This is public safety, and we all want to be tough on crime. But how tough do we look when our own system is rendered unconstitutional? And how tough do we look when our jails and prisons may at some point have to open to let out individuals?'"
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan has the update on
the latest shenanigans at the Chiropractic Board, as the Legislature holds an informational hearing on the board this morning.
"A power struggle at the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners has
revealed numerous allegations of misconduct by board members and staff, including e-mailed threats, charges of illegal collusion, and allegations that a deputy attorney general stole audio tapes of the board's March 1 meeting.
"Within the next week, board staffer
David Hinchee will file a lawsuit naming the board's recently-demoted executive director,
Catherine Hayes, claiming she retaliated against him for bringing accusations of Hayes's misconduct to light.
"According to documents obtained by Capitol Weekly, both Hayes and
Barbara Stanfield, the now-departed chairwoman of the board who was appointed by
Gray Davis, emailed threats of reprisals to board members and staff. Other documents detail the fights between staff from the Davis era and a board now entirely made up of members appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger."
"The state Assembly's Judiciary committee
approved a bill on Tuesday that seeks to make physician-assisted suicide legal in California," reports Matthew Yi in the Chron.
"This is the third year in a row that Assembly members
Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, and
Patty Berg, D-Eureka, have introduced the legislation, which is patterned after Oregon's Death with Dignity Act.
"This year the bill has the support of Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez, D-Los Angeles, who has signed on as a joint author. Proponents say the bill gives terminally ill patients the comfort of knowing they have the choice to avoid pain and suffering as they die. Opponents have said what is needed is improved palliative care, not an option to kill oneself prematurely. Tuesday's vote came down along party lines, with seven Democrats voting for the bill and three Republicans against."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced Tuesday he
will increase six-figure salaries for top state executives by as much as 27 percent, a move that could precipitate similar raises for his own chief of staff and other top aides in the future," reports the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"The pay hikes for 49 executives come after the Republican governor signed legislation last year enabling his administration to raise top salaries to as much as $258,125. At the time, Schwarzenegger's office said it had no plans to give raises except to the heads of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Highway Patrol.
"Schwarzenegger said the raises are necessary to retain and attract talented leaders who otherwise would flee to higher-paying jobs. The 49 executives will receive pay increases starting April 1 that average 9 percent, though 10 agency secretaries will receive nearly a 23 percent bump.
"'I don't begrudge these (state executives) these kinds of salaries," [CSEA
J.J.] Jelincic said. 'Quite frankly, they are running large operations, and competitive salaries make sense. It's just that the governor recognizes that for the people he deals with, but doesn't recognize it for the people who run programs and provide services to the public.'"
As the big gaming compacts get set to move through the Legislature, Sen.
Alex Padilla announced
he will carry the bill for Pechanga's new compact, reports the Desert Sun's Debra Gruszecki.
"The Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians has triggered a new volley of legislative activity by revealing that state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys, will carry legislation to ratify the tribe's new gaming deal with the governor.
"Pechanga operates a 2,000-slot casino about 86 miles from Palm Springs.
"It is one of several gaming tribes - including the Palm Springs-based Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Cabazon-based Morongo Band of Mission Indians - that are seeking to have California lawmakers ratify revised gaming deals with the state during this legislative session."
"Five lawmakers with state mental hospitals in their districts
called on the Legislature's budget chairs Tuesday to address an accelerating staffing shortage at the institutions, calling it "a crisis of meltdown proportions," report Scott Gold and Lee Romney for the Times.
"The urgently worded letter came in the wake of a Times report that two Atascadero State Hospital patients had killed themselves and four others had attempted suicide since early February � an alarming increase that some have tied directly to the staffing shortage.
"The lawmakers' appeal also comes a week after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Department of Mental Health Director
Stephen W. Mayberg unveiled a plan to boost salaries at the facilities starting in April.
"Mental health clinicians have been leaving the hospitals in droves since a federal judge last December ordered steep pay increases for comparable jobs in the state prison system."
From our
Something's Fishy Files, "the director of California's Department of Fish and Game said Tuesday that he has
failed to require a permit from state water officials to kill protected fish at the state's massive water export operations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta," writes the Bee's Matt Weiser.
During a legislative hearing, Fish and Game Director
Ryan Broddrick said it was within his power to require the Department of Water Resources to obtain a so-called "take permit" under the state Endangered Species Act.
"'The reality is, you didn't take the step to try to enforce the law,' state Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden, told Broddrick. 'You testified (DWR) cannot 'take' without a permit to do so, and you failed to require that.'
"'Correct,' Broddrick said.
"The exchange came days after Alameda Superior Court Judge
Frank Roesch ordered DWR to shut its Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant near Tracy unless it obtains a take permit within 60 days."
Meanwhile, also from the Fish and Game world, the Merc News's Paul Rogers reports: "A long-running
debate about whether lead from hunters' bullets is poisoning endangered California condors is heading for a political showdown.
"And armed with new scientific studies, environmentalists and wildlife biologists may be gaining the upper hand.
"Last month, the California Department of Fish and Game staff recommended that hunting with lead bullets be banned everywhere in the California condor range, a vast area of about 20 counties that extends from the Bay Area to Los Angeles and takes in parts of the Tehachapi Mountains.
"The department's recommendation to the California Fish and Game Commission was cheered by environmental groups, which have been seeking such a ban for years but were rejected by the department and the commission in 2005."
The Bee's Ed Fletcher reports, "Assemblyman
Roger Niello announced Tuesday he has introduced
legislation aimed at stopping county employees from "triple dipping."
"Much to our surprise, the bill has nothing to do with
Seinfeld-style party etiquette. Rather, it's got something to do with retirement benefits. Flether explains: it is 'a practice in which some public employees collect retirement benefits, a salary and unemployment benefits, all within one year.'"
"Niello, R-Fair Oaks, is packaging Assembly Bill 775 with two other bills intended to reduce public employee pension fraud.
"He characterized the bills as an interim step that 'will help protect taxpayers from fraudulent pension behavior' as more serious pension changes are considered.
"Bills designed
to prevent E. coli contamination of spinach and other leafy green vegetables narrowly cleared a key legislative committee yesterday over the objection of farm groups."
"The Senate Agriculture Committee approved three bills that would impose tougher standards on growers of spinach, lettuce, sprouts and similar crops. The state would have more power to respond to outbreaks of food-borne diseases and would establish a process to more quickly trace outbreaks to their source.
The California Farm Bureau Federation and Western Growers Association said the bills are unnecessary because the industry is adopting new safety standards this year."
And from Planet San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors has
voted to ban plastic shopping bags.
"City leaders approved a ban on plastic grocery bags after weeks of lobbying on both sides from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group. If Mayor
Gavin Newsom signs the ban as expected, San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to adopt such a rule.
The law, passed by a 10-1 vote, requires large markets and drug stores to give customers only a choice among bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost, or reusable cloth."
And we close today with the story of the
Heimlich maneuver, doggy style. "Toby, a 2-year-old golden retriever, saw his owner choking on a piece of fruit and began jumping up and down on the woman's chest. The dog's owner believes the dog was trying to perform the Heimlich maneuver and saved her life.
"
Debbie Parkhurst, 45, of Calvert told the
Cecil Whig she was eating an apple at her home Friday when a piece lodged in her throat. She attempted to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself but it didn't work. After she began beating on her chest, she said Toby noticed and got involved.
"'The next think I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders,' she recalled. 'He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.'"