"Though no budget deal has been reached, the Senate will convene next week to vote on a budget proposal. An email sent to Senate staff from Senate Secretary Greg Schmidt says the vote will happen Tuesday," reports Capitol Weekly.
"As of now, says Perata spokeswoman Lynda Gledhill, the vote will be on the Democrats’ budget plan, which includes $9.7 billion in new revenues, most of which comes from
a tax increase on upper-income taxpayers.
"But, she said, that could change.
"'Don has said publicly that we’re going to have a vote next week. The goal is to have
something on the governor’s desk by August 1. That’s a very important deadline in terms of the state’s cash situation.'
"Gledhill said the July 29 vote would give the governor a chance to sign a budget
before the state runs out of cash. But there seems
to be little Republican support for the conference
committee report, as written.
"'This is just a drill,' said Morgan Crinklaw, spokesman for Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, R-Fresno. "This is not the product of negotiations"
"A spokeswoman for Speaker Karen Bass said the Assembly was considering taking a budget
vote next week, but nothing has been officially set."
Gotta wonder whether Perata has 25 votes within his own caucus for the tax package if it's really just a meaningless vote...
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to sign an executive order next week intended to temporarily reduce pay for 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour to preserve cash until lawmakers reach a budget deal, according to a draft copy of the order obtained by The Bee," report Kevin Yamamura and Jon Ortiz in the Bee.
"The governor's order also would terminate about 22,000 retired annuitants, temporary workers and seasonal
employees, as well as impose a hard freeze that blocks
the hiring of roughly 1,700 new employees per month.
"Administration officials said the Republican governor
expects to take the action Monday, when the budget
will be four weeks late as Democrats and Republicans
continue to spar over how to resolve a $15.2 billion shortfall.
"'The administration is looking into many different options
to preserve cash to ensure we have enough to cover
our costs,' said Matt David, Schwarzenegger's communications director.
"But a spokeswoman for Democratic state Controller John Chiang, who pays the state's bills, said he would ignore the governor's order and continue paying full salary, likely forcing
a court battle.
"'He will pay state workers the salaries that they have
earned, and that's full salary,' Deputy Controller Hallye Jordan said of Chiang."
"State employees – all 112,500 of them in Sacramento, including education workers
– account for 11 percent of the [Sacamento] area's work force. Schwarzenegger's plan could remove $15 million each workday from the area economy, said Jim Zamora, a spokesman for Local 1000 of the Service Employees International Union," reports Dale Kasler in the Bee.
"'It's a huge blow to local incomes,' said economist Jeff Michael, director of the Business Forecasting Center at the
University of the Pacific.
"Granted, state employees have been through this drill
before. A similar plan was readied five years ago,
when the state's deficit topped $30 billion, but a budget was passed and the salaries
stayed intact. And the area's credit unions most likely will offer loans to state
employees, as they have during previous budget crises.
"Nonetheless, the imposition of a minimum wage could
have a chilling effect on workers and how they view
state employment."
Meanwhile, "[t]housands of medical providers who care for low-income Californians are scrambling to find funds to
keep their doors open, as the failure of lawmakers to pass a budget forces
the state to halt payments to them," reports Evan Halper in the Times.
"State officials put the healthcare facilities on notice
that starting today, payments from the Medi-Cal insurance program for the poor will be frozen until
a budget is approved. An emergency pot of cash officials
had set aside to pay the healthcare clinics, nursing
homes and adult day care centers in the event of a
delayed budget has run dry.
"Although most of the facilities have no immediate plans
to turn away patients, the providers warn that a budget
stalemate that drags on through the summer will affect
care. In the meantime, they are turning to banks, foundations
and their own reserves for emergency cash to pay the
bills.
"'Most of the clinics are working on trying to get lines
of credit,' said William Dobson, president and chief executive of Watts Healthcare
Corp., which runs two clinics and a school healthcare
program serving 22,000 low-income patients.
'How long we can go depends on whether we can get them.'
"During last year's budget standoff, many providers reported paying astronomical interest rates for temporary credit. This year promises to be tougher. Banks are financially squeezed and reluctant to offer bridge loans."
"One year after California Air Resources Board Chairwoman Mary Nichols decided to sell off some energy stocks that showed a potential conflict of interest with her role as a state regulator, records show her diverse investment portfolio still contains many energy interests," Capitol Weekly reports.
"'She really did have to look at her holdings, and get rid of ones that could be considered a conflict,' said ARB spokesman Leo Kay. Kay says Nichols’ appointment last July was “ a whirlwind. It all happened very quickly. She just didn’t look at her financial holdings at the time.”
"Although Nichols has sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of stock, she holds millions more in a wide variety of companies.
"While she sold off stocks from oil producers like BP,
Shell and Chevron, she purchased stock in Patterson
Uti Energy. According to Patterson’s Web site, the company “provides onshore contract drilling services to exploration
and production companies in North America. The Company
has approximately 350 currently marketable land-based drilling rigs.”
"Nichols also continues to holds stock in Knightsbridge
Tankers, whose “primary business activity is international seaborne
transportation of crude oil,” according to company documents.
"So, how far should Nichols go to mitigate the appearance
of conflicts? And does Nichols’ position as the state’s leading environmental champion come with some kind
of higher standard, or need for ideological consistency,
in her personal investments?
"'I think it’s a legitimate question, but I don’t have a good answer to it,' said Magavern. 'We haven’t gotten into saying what we want public officials to invest in beyond avoiding a conflict of interest. I don’t feel a lot of solid grounding in us telling people what they should do with their own money.'”
"Chanting 'agua, agua, agua,' busloads of farmworkers joined politicians at the Capitol Wednesday to demand that lawmakers spend state money on dams and canals to ease a growing water crisis," writes E.J. Schultz in the Bee.
Unfortunately, the message that legislators were on vacation was lost in translation.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants $9.3 billion for water supply and conservation projects.
But the proposed bond has gotten a lukewarm response
from Democratic leaders who say lawmakers should focus
on negotiating a state budget, now 24 days late.
"Wednesday's rally was designed to give a human face to the state's water woes. At least 300 farmworkers, most from the Valley's parched west side, marched and carried homemade signs
declaring "agua es vida," or water is life, and "agua = trabajo," water equals work.
"The event was organized by farm labor contractor Piedad
Ayala and the California Latino Water Coalition, a
group of city and business leaders.
"Schwarzenegger addressed the workers from the Capitol's steps just below the Assembly chambers. He blamed
legislators for the impasse.
"'When will they finally get it upstairs?' he asked. 'Everyone needs water,' he added. 'This is not a political issue.'"
Capitol Weekly's Melani Sutedja looks at how the governor has used a dry year to boost his water sales pitch.
"When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a statewide drought in June and then urged passage of a $9.3 billion water bond, Democrats and environmental critics became suspicious.
"They still are.
"'Last year we did have record low rainfall, but whether
or not there is a drought is somewhat debatable,' said the Sierra
Club’s Jim Metropulos. 'The governor calling it a drought--that carries
no legal significance. It’s interesting he calls for a drought, and
couple of
weeks later, he calls for a water bond.'”
"Attorneys representing state and federal water projects
said Wednesday that they could prove the massive system
of pumps, dams and canals isn't harming three threatened fish species," reports John Ellis in the Fresno Bee.
"U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger gave them until Aug. 29 to submit reports showing that's true.
"Wednesday's action was the latest in a long-running fight between environmental groups and the
state and federal governments over the projects' effect on winter-run Chinook salmon, spring-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead, all
of which are listed as threatened under the Endangered
Species Act.
"On Friday, Wanger issued a written opinion that three
fish species are at risk of extinction, and the state
and federal water project operations are further jeopardizing
them.
"Attorneys for the environmental groups who sued to
protect the three species will review the reports and,
if they are dissatisfied, could press Wanger to take
action to protect the fish."
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan looks at Mark Ridley-Thomas's plan to remake state regulatory boards.
"Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, D-Los Angeles, wants to send the sunset review process off into the sunset. But his legislation to revamp the way professional boards operate in California is getting pushback from the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), as well as from professional groups who fear the bill might politicize regulatory boards."
"A federal appeals court refused on Wednesday to reinstate a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco by two men who were injured by off-duty police officers in an argument over a bag of takeout fajitas," reports the Chron's Bob Egelko.
"The officers' actions were 'certainly outrageous and reprehensible,' but the two injured men failed to show that any police policy or practice was to blame, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
"The men, Adam Snyder and Jade Santoro, said three off-duty officers attacked them outside a Union Street pub in November 2002 after one of the officers demanded Snyder's bag of steak fajitas. Santoro suffered a gash to his head and a broken nose, and Snyder had minor injuries.
And finally, from our Columnists Behaving Badly Files,
Politico reports, "Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by police
after he hit a
pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington,
D.C., on
Wednesday morning.
"A Politico reporter saw Novak in the front of a police
car with a
citation in his hand; a WJLA-TV crew and reporter saw Novak as well.
The pedestrian, a 66-year-old man who was not further identified by
authorities, was treated at George Washington University Hospital for
minor injuries, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. Novak was later
released by police and drove away from the scene.
"'I didn’t know I hit him. ... I feel terrible,' a shaken Novak told
reporters from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. "He's
not dead, that's the main thing." Novak said he was a block away from
18th and K streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when
a
bicyclist stopped him and said he had hit someone. He said he was cited
for failing to yield the right of way.
"Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital as an
aggressive driver, easily identified in his convertible
sports car.
"In 2001, he cursed at a pedestrian on the corner of Pennsylvania
Avenue and 13th streets Northwest for allegedly jaywalking."
"’Learn to read the signs, [bodily orifice]!’ Novak snapped before
speeding away,' according to an item in The Washington Post’s Reliable
Source column."
Wonder what Big Daddy would say about that one...