Looks like the governor's poll numbers are also getting a 10 percent cut.
"Californians
are in an increasingly sour mood about the economy and the deteriorating state budget - and they're taking it out on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature, a
new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows," reports Mike Zapler of the Merc News.
Schwarzenegger in January proposed draconian cuts to state services and education, and in turn his approval rating dropped below 50 percent, the survey found. The Legislature is even more unpopular.
"
Just 44 percent of all respondents - and 49 percent of likely voters - gave Schwarzenegger positive marks for his job performance, which included a recent proposal to slash state spending 10 percent across the board. That rating marked a precipitous drop from December, when his approval rating was 57 percent among all respondents and 63 percent among likely voters.
"
The state Legislature fared even worse. Only 30 percent of all respondents - and 25 percent of likely voters - approved of the way it is handling its job. That's a drop of 11 and 10 points, respectively, since December."
The poll offers some clues about how residents believe lawmakers should tackle a roughly $8 billion deficit. A growing number, 42 percent, see the solution in a combination of spending cuts - which Republicans are insisting on - and tax increases, about which Democrats are equally adamant."
George Skelton
writes: "Voters aren't just in the mood for change. They seem revved for a major upheaval. That could happen in the presidential election. But the odds are stacked against Californians changing the cast of characters in their Legislature or congressional delegation because those elections have pretty much been rigged."
The poll also tested the conflicting eminent domain measures on the June ballot.
Proposition 98 (Eminent Domain/Rent Control Limits)Yes: 37%
No: 41%
Undecided: 22%
Proposition 99 (Eminent Domain - League of Cities Backed)Yes: 53%
No: 27%
Undecided: 20%
"A powerful Senate Democrat said a private meeting Wednesday between health insurers and state regulators
appears to be part of the Schwarzenegger administration's "pattern of taking a very casual attitude about (administrative) rule-making."
Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, chairwoman of the Senate Health Committee, will lead a meeting of the Senate Health Committee on Thursday to probe the administration's regulation of health insurers.
Consumer advocates and doctors raised concerns this week that regulators may delay crafting rules on the hot-button issue of rescissions - arbitrarily canceling patients' coverage - and instead turn the issue over to the Legislature.
"The administration has not made a decision on which route it will take," said Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Sabrina Lockhart. "The governor has been clear that he's outraged that patients live in fear of losing their health care coverage, and we are trying to determine the best route to take."
Capitol Weekly reports on one possible way to help the state out of it's financial hole:
tax marijuana sales. "In a tight budget year, California wants every tax dollar it can lay its hands on. This year,
those hands are reaching for marijuana.
"More than a decade ago, California voters approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes, making it legal under state law. However, federal law enforcers say marijuana use of any kind is illegal - and they are raiding clinics to prove their point. The state tax appeals board, which wants the sales taxes, is stuck in the middle.
"We're caught between a rock and a hard place," said
Betty Yee, a member of the state Board of Equalization, which collects and distributes sales taxes on more than $553 billion worth of transactions each year in California on everything from corkscrews to Cadillacs. "We do not want to serve as aiding or abetting the (federal Drug Enforcement Administration). But they (the dispensaries) are not exempt from the sales tax, so by law we have to enforce it," Yee said.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
called it a "big mistake" Wednesday to blame illegal immigrants for the state's looming $8 billion budget gap, just as Republican lawmakers have proposed a rollback of benefits for illegal immigrants to save money," reports Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"The Republican governor was pitching his long-term budget solution in San Luis Obispo when
Diane Blakeslee, mother of GOP Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee, asked Schwarzenegger how the state should handle financial burdens created by illegal immigrants.
"'There is, you know, always a time like this where you start pointing the finger at various different elements of what creates the budget mess, and, you know, some may point the finger at illegal immigrants,' Schwarzenegger said. 'I can guarantee you, I have been now four years in office in Sacramento, I don't think that illegal immigration has created the mess that we are in.'
"Assembly Republicans this week promoted nearly two dozen bills they said would reduce the "negative impact" that illegal immigrants have on the state budget and border security. The proposals range from requiring individuals to show proof of citizenship when receiving state-funded benefits to repealing a law enabling undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition."
The PPIC poll seems to support the governor, with 66% of respondents supporting allowing illegal immigrants to apply for work permits and stay in the state, and 72% believe that those that have been here two years and have a job should be allowed to stay.
"California's prison guards union, which has been without a labor contract for 21 months, is
going to court to force the state back to the bargaining table," reports Capitol Weekly's Allen Young.
"
The unusual legal maneuvering is an end-run around the Public Employment Relations Board, which earlier rejected an attempt by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association to get the state to resume negotiations. But the 30,500-member CCPOA said PERB's denial paved the way for the prison officers to seek other legal remedies, including a Superior Court suit. The geographic region of the suit has not yet been determined."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed a bill Wednesday to help state and local governments avoid a spike in municipal bond interest rates," writes the Bee's John Hill.
"'In tight fiscal times, it is especially important that we think of ways to save taxpayer dollars,' Schwarzenegger said in a prepared statement announcing his signing of Senate Bill 344.
"The bill, by Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden, lets state and local government, hospitals, universities and others to escape interest rate increases in two little-known bond markets by buying back their own debt."
"A state appeals court
has agreed to reconsider its decision last month that barred homeschooling by parents who lack teaching credentials, raising the possibility that the judges will change a decision that has infuriated homeschool advocates nationwide," reports Bob Egelko in the Chron.
"The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles granted a rehearing Tuesday at the request of a couple who have taught their eight children at home without credentials.
"It is not unusual for appeals courts to reconsider decisions, and the result is often a minor revision that leaves the original conclusion unchanged. But the three-judge panel in the homeschooling case hinted at a re-evaluation of its entire Feb. 28 ruling by inviting written arguments from state and local education officials and teachers' unions."
"California Lottery officials
should repay $46,336 that was inappropriately spent on an employee celebration dinner last November, according to an audit released Wednesday by the State Controller's Office," writes Judy Lin in the Bee.
"'Billed as an employee recognition and training event, the expenses actually went to entertainment, prizes and black-peppered prime rib dinners for Lottery employees, retirees and guests,' Controller
John Chiang said in a statement.
"Nearly $30,000 was spent on the Nov. 8 event, intended to celebrate the lottery's $20 billion contribution to education. Besides a dinner and dessert, guests received silver-plated photo frames, and the lottery hired a disc jockey and photographer.
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"An additional $17,262 was spent on mock lottery games for entertainment. Among the costs were $5,000 paid to a former Big Spin host as master of ceremonies and $10,932 worth of prizes, including a Nintendo Wii, iPods and digital cameras.
"Lottery Director
Joan Borucki told the Senate Rules Committee during her confirmation hearing in February that she was 'sorry … embarrassed and … angry with myself for letting this happen.' But she told Chiang she would await an attorney general's opinion on the legality of employee recognition events before agreeing to repay the money."
And from our
Justice Denied Files,this one is hard to believe, but we thought we'd share it with you anyways. "
An insurance firm in China has told a man bitten by two dogs it was his own fault for not learning karate."
And you thought
your insurance was bad...
"Wang Zhiqing of Meishan needed stitches in his hand and a rabies jab after being attacked by wild dogs. But when he filed a claim, the China Pacific Insurance Group said: 'You should have fought the dogs off.
'If you had learned a martial art like karate you would have avoided the problem.'