If you were just reading the twin press releases put out by Speaker
Fabian Nunez and Senate leader
Don Perata Thursday, you might well think that there is a wide chasm between the two Democratic leaders on health care.
We are here to report that, after talking to both camps, they assure us nothing could be further from the truth.
Whether you decide to believe them, of course, is entirely up to you. Read for yourself.
Nunez sent out a press release citing "Significant Progress on Agreement for Comprehensive Health Care Reform in California" and said the speaker was "inches" away from cutting a deal with the governor. The speaker's staff sent an email out to all Assembly members and staff preparing for a 1 p.m. Monday floor session to vote on a health care deal, a session that "may continue into the evening."
Perata, meanwhile, seemed ready to call it a year, saying in a statement, "While I still strongly favor the concept [of health care reform], I have been shocked by the recent revelation that next year's budget is facing a $14 billion deficit and what that could mean."
"
It would be imprudent and impolitic to support an expansion of health care coverage without knowing how we're going to pay for vital health programs the state now provides for poor children, their families and the aged, blind and disabled."
"The real issue now is the deficit and how this squares with everything else that we are going to do."A health care press conference is set for Long Beach this afternoon. The governor will be there. The speaker will be there. The pro tem was invited, but is not expected to attend.
Same page? Same planet? You be the judge.
Sources tell us the Assembly Democrats voted in caucus Thursday to support the health care deal, which now seems imminent. But with single-payer advocates on the left, and tax-adverse moderates on the right of the Senate Democratic Caucus, a health care deal faces a tougher road in the upper house...
Apparently, the speaker and pro tem agree on one thing--increased taxes.
"Legislative leaders
said Thursday that more taxes would be needed to fill a projected $14-billion budget gap next year, and the state Senate president said a healthcare overhaul -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's priority this year -- will have to wait," reports Nancy Vogel in the Times.
"Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuņez (D-Los Angeles) said lawmakers would have to consider raising a host of taxes, including those on Internet purchases and on foreign companies that do business in California.
"'We've got to close those tax loopholes,' Nuņez told reporters at a news conference. '
We can generate billions by doing that.'
"
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) said some sort of tax increase would be necessary, mostly likely in a ballot measure for the public to consider. He said he doubted Republicans would provide the votes necessary for the Legislature to raise taxes.
"'
I think at the very minimum, temporary tax increases are going to be necessary,' Perata said in an interview.
"The state's mounting fiscal problems must be addressed before lawmakers can fix its broken healthcare system, Perata said; lawmakers may now be compelled to make cuts in existing healthcare services."
Don't expect tax increases to appear in the governor's budget proposal, however, which
is expected to rely on across-the-board cuts averaging 10%, many of which could be triggered in the current fiscal year through a Proposition 58 fiscal emergency.
Kevin Yamamura and Aurelio Rojas report for the Bee: "
Rich Gordon, a San Mateo County supervisor and president of the California State Association of Counties, said the governor and his aides told local government officials that 10 percent was an average goal and that some state departments could be above or below that reduction.
"'It felt to me like 10 percent was a target they were looking at both in the short term and long term,' Gordon said.
"Schwarzenegger told social service groups he plans to ask the Legislature for 10 percent across-the-board reductions in state spending, according to sources who asked not to be identified because the governor's meeting was private. In the discussion, Schwarzenegger resisted new tax increases, insisting that not enough support exists among legislators and vote."
Of course, 10% reductions to school funding protected by Proposition 98 would require a suspension of the guarantee, and cuts to prisons may be rejected by federal courts, without concommitant changes in sentencing rules. But other than that, this should be easy!!
Meanwhile, in
more signs that the free ride is over, "[a]
proposal to convert the carpool lanes on three Los Angeles County freeways into toll roads could be a boon to frustrated solo commuters willing to pay for a quicker drive to work," Rong-Gong Lin and Steve Hyman report in the Times.
Sorry, hybrid drivers, those yellow stickers don't contain a Fastrack pass.
"But the big losers could be motorists who now use the carpool lanes for free. Carpoolers would also have to pay a toll, possibly reduced. Also, the proposal provides no toll exemptions for hybrid vehicles that can now use carpool lanes regardless of the number of passengers."
So much for the incentive to have friends. Time to go crawl back in my cave and eat peanut butter out of the jar...
"The concept doesn't sit well with some carpoolers and others, who argue that the lanes should remain free for ride-sharers, which they say reduces pollution and traffic.
"'
I think it's a horrible direction to go and I think it's immoral to sell the diamond lanes,' said
Charles Tarlow, a Mid-City resident. 'I also think it's outrageous that the feds take the position that they'll give us millions of dollars for lanes that exclude people who can't afford to pay for congestion pricing. If they want to help, let's get some mass transit in here -- and if they want mass transit, then let's have taxes for that.'"
"Mental health advocates
are suing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop his administration from funding a $55 million homeless program with money from a voter-approved tax on millionaires," writes the Bee's Andy Furillo.
"Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power on Aug. 24 to eliminate the general fund appropriation for the homeless adults program. He said then that the program could be financed with cash generated by Proposition 63, the 2004 initiative designed to expand services for the mentally ill.
"The suit, filed Thursday in Alameda Superior Court, says supplanting the $55 million undermines the intent of the initiative, which places an additional 1 percent tax on the income of California millionaires.
"If the governor's action stands, the lawsuit contends, it would establish a precedent for redirecting more Proposition 63 funds in the future into existing programs, contrary to the explicit promises of the initiative's backers that it would not."
Meanwhile, from our
Bordeaux is a great way to toast health care reform files: "The state's political ethics authority
moved today to force politicians to publicly justify how meals, gifts and travel paid for with campaign funds are tied to official business," writes the LAT's Nancy Vogel.
"The five-member Fair Political Practices Commission voted unanimously to consider final adoption in February of a proposed new disclosure regulation.
"Since 1990, state law has required politicians to use campaign funds only for legislative, political or governmental activity. But it has not required that substantial detail be provided to demonstrate such activity in public spending reports.
"Commission Chairman
Ross Johnson, a former Republican lawmaker,
said the requirement that campaign funds be used for official business is meaningless unless politicians are forced to describe a connection."
Ya think?
"Final action on the proposed regulation -- which would also require politicians to name gift recipients -- is expected Feb. 14."
"In another round of investigations into claims that health insurers are illegally dropping patients from coverage, Insurance Commissioner
Steve Poizner announced Thursday that he
will pursue a record $12.6 million fine against one of California's largest health plans," reports Gilbert Chan in the Bee.
"Poizner accused a Blue Shield of California unit of committing more than 1,200 violations that resulted in some 200 people losing their medical insurance. Those affected were members of Blue Shield's Life & Health Insurance subsidiary, a fee-for-service medical plan that covers 167,000 Californians, including 5,600 in Sacramento County. No details were released on where the 200 lived.
"'
What we found was disturbing. Blue Shield was canceling insurance after the fact. It's wrong, and it's illegal. We're going to put a stop to it,' Poizner said during a telephone interview from Southern California.
"The company vowed to fight the fine, calling Poizner's action 'grossly unfair' and saying Blue Shield is being penalized for merely following the law."
In true playground fashion,
John Garamendi pointed out in a press release that he started the investigation. Should have thought of that before you decided to run for a fancy-sounding office with no power...
We interrupt this news broadcast with breaking news from the world of sports: From our
Poetic Justice Files, everyone who's ever worn a Yankees uniform, including Roger Clemens, Roger Clemens and Roger Clemens, was
implicated in former Sen. George Mitchell's report on steriods in baseball.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
And from our
Ain't That A Kick In The Head Files, AP reports, "A Scottsdale man inadvertently shot himself in the buttocks Thursday morning. Scottsdale police Sgt. Mark Clark said
Daniel Leatherman, 26, heard a disturbance outside his apartment and saw a man he knew fighting with a cab driver.
"Leatherman told police that the man,
Cody Nunn, 25, had assaulted him in the past, so he grabbed his gun and went outside. Leatherman told police that he accidentally dropped the gun while hiding it behind his back and shot himself in the derriere."
He then immediately announced his candidacy for legislative office in California...