"California water officials on Thursday
halted water exports from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta after rising numbers of a rare fish, the Delta smelt, were sucked to their deaths in the pumps," reports Matt Weiser in the Bee.
"State Department of Water Resources officials said the action is expected to last seven to 10 days, until water conditions allow the fish to move to safer areas. Shortages are not expected for the 25 million Californians who get water from the Delta.
"But if the shutdown lasts longer, some water agencies, mainly in the Bay Area, may have to impose mandatory conservation or rationing measures. Many have called on customers to adopt extra voluntary conservation steps amid what is already one of the driest years on record in the state.
"'Nobody is going without water,' said DWR Director
Lester Snow. 'We will ramp up efforts for additional conservation. We want everybody to conserve water both because of this circumstance and the low snowpack this year.'"
"The Schwarzenegger administration and two tribes, including one from San Diego County,
have agreed to extend a deadline that threatened their plans to build adjoining Indian casinos in Barstow."
"Gambling agreements that Los Coyotes in remote North County and the Big Lagoon tribe of Humboldt County signed two years ago required the Barstow sites be taken into trust – a status that generally permits gaming – for the tribes by yesterday. The deadline was extended to Sept. 17, three days after lawmakers are set to adjourn for the year. The Legislature has yet to approve the agreements."
"California taxpayers
could face a surprise bill of several billion dollars as a result of the state mishandling property thought to be abandoned -- such as old bank accounts, lost stocks and bonds or forgotten utility deposits," writes the Chron's Tom Chorneau.
"Each year the state takes hundreds of millions of dollars in unclaimed property, much of which is converted to cash and used to help cover general fund spending on schools, prisons, public health and other programs. Last year, unclaimed property boosted the general fund by $300 million, which is enough to pay the salaries of about 5,100 public school teachers for a year.
"But a federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that the state had routinely seized and sold private assets without giving property owners fair warning. The three-judge panel said the state's practice of taking out newspaper ads directing people to a Web site where lost property is listed was not enough."
The state will now have to develop new procedures, but could also face damages from aggrieved property owners.
"'It is sad that we have reached this stage, but this is called theft,' said state Sen.
Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks (Ventura County), a longtime critic of the state's aggressive approach to taking possession of lost property. 'This was never state property.'"
"Over howls of 'nanny government,' the California Senate on Thursday
approved legislation that would require chain restaurants with 10 or more locations to post calorie counts and other dietary facts about menu items.
"If approved by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, SB 120 would require table-serving restaurants to disclose the number of calories, grams of saturated and trans fat, sodium and carbohydrates for standard items.
"Because of space limitations, fast-food restaurants would be required to list only calories. Violators that do not comply with the requirements by Jan. 1, 2009, would be cited with an infraction, punishable by a fine not less than $50 and more than $500.
"'
With this bill, we empower folks to be healthier and less of a burden on the health care system,' said Sen.
Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, who co-wrote the measure with Sen.
Carole Migden, D-San Francisco.
"But Sen.
Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, said the legislation smacks of 'nanny government' and will impose added cost on restaurants that will be passed on to customers.
"'
The fact of the matter is that we eat too much and fail to exercise enough,' Cox said. '(But) somehow we have gotten in it our minds that government can fix this problem and tell us how to live.'"
"California's prison system is
changing its regulations to allow conjugal visits for gay and lesbian inmates in response to a legal threat and a 2003 law that gave domestic partners many of the same rights as married couples," writes the Chron's Mark Martin.
"Facing a complaint from an inmate in a Vacaville prison and pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has begun to allow overnight visits for inmates with registered domestic partners and is to adopt permanent regulations later this year. The change will allow gay and lesbian inmates the same rights as other inmates, who are eligible to spend up to three days with family members in living areas -- usually trailers -- on prison grounds.
"Corrections officials say they are responding to legislation signed by former Gov.
Gray Davis that awarded more rights to registered domestic partners and prohibited state agencies from discriminating against domestic partners."
"The California Senate
voted Thursday to bar employers from denying promotions or raises to workers who juggle job duties with the demands of caring for children, sick spouses or aging parents," reports Jordan Rau in the Times.
"One of the first such efforts in the country, the measure would add "familial status" to the categories of discrimination banned by the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act. That law already protects workers from discrimination based on such factors as disabilities, national origin, marital status, age and sexual orientation.
"SB 836 by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) passed by a 25-14 vote along party lines, with Democrats in favor. It now goes to the Assembly.
"The measure is opposed by the California Chamber of Commerce, which argues that there are enough protections for workers in federal and state laws allowing them to take extended leaves to deal with family issues."
While many bills escaped the suspense file,
many were sucked to their deaths. The Bee's Jim Sanders reports: "California legislation that attracted national attention for
proposing to ban parental spanking died with a whimper Thursday in a watered-down form rejected by lawmakers."
"Assembly Bill 755 was shelved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
"Assemblywoman
Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, had stripped the spanking prohibition from the bill in February because it had attracted massive opposition and stood no chance of passage."
Also, "[a]n Assembly committee Thursday
killed legislation that would have allowed MySpace to use a California sex offender database to keep predators off its Internet virtual community.
"Assembly Bill 841 would have required registered sex offenders to report their e-mail and Internet identities to the state, which would make that information available to MySpace and other social networking Web sites."
The Chron reports, "A bill that
would have created a pool of money to help subprime mortgage borrowers facing foreclosures to refinance their loans
died in the state Assembly Appropriations committee Thursday.
"The measure, AB1538, was introduced by Assemblyman
Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County) in response to potential mass foreclosures of homes financed with controversial loans to consumers with little or subpar credit history."
And it looks like
California Community Colleges will be looking for a new boss. "The chancellor of the California Community College system has announced he will leave in August to return to the job of chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District.
"
Marshall "Mark" Drummond will return to the job he held for nearly five years in Los Angeles, overseeing the largest community college district in the nation, before becoming head of the state's community college system in 2004."
And a fond farewell to LA Times blogger
Robert Salladay, who
made his final post yesterday.
"This is my last posting on Political Muscle. After a decade of covering California governors, lawmakers, the gubernatorial recall, the Florida recount, dozens of propositions and endless campaigns,
I've decided to take the buyout offer from the L.A. Times. It's time to travel in a different direction," he writes, adding, "Stay tuned for a new Political Muscle blog after a brief hiatus."