"The prospects for quick resolution to the state's impasse grew dimmer Tuesday, a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed a
solution to the mess, when Democratic legislators were
warned to cancel plans to attend the party convention
at the end of the month," report John Wildermuth and Samantha Sandag in the
Chron.
"'I have told everybody that if they want to spend one
weekend or the other in Denver, go right ahead, but
don't plan to be there for the convention (Aug. 25-28),' state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata of Oakland told reporters Tuesday. 'I don't see this ending for quite some time.'
"Schwarzenegger shares Perata's frustration, the governor's press secretary said.
"'The governor believes everyone is frustrated by the
way things stand,' said Aaron McLear. 'Unless there's a budget in the next few days, we're facing crucial actions the state is going to have
to take.'
The Merc News's Michael Zapler reports:
"Their looming showdown comes as budget negotiations
in the Legislature have stalled. Schwarzenegger this
week proposed a temporary 1-cent sales tax increase to help close the deficit.
But that proposal would need support from both parties
to reach the needed two-thirds approval, and so far Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans remain opposed to any tax increase.
"'I'm glad that he stepped up to this, but let's be clear, he doesn't have any support in his own party yet for this, and
unless he can get Republicans to agree with his point
of view, we could be here for an extended period of
time,' Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Tuesday. 'We are now at loggerheads.'
"A few key deadlines are approaching. If a budget isn't in place by about mid-August, officials say, the state will have to arrange
to take out high-cost loans from Wall Street at a premium of potentially
hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Legislators are also eager to finish the budget in
time to attend the presidential conventions. The Democratic
National Convention is Aug. 25 to 28 in Denver; the GOP convention is Sept. 1 to 4 in St. Paul, Minn."
"An analysis by the state agency that collects California's sales taxes suggests that a one-cent increase in the statewide sales tax would bring
in hundreds of millions of dollars less than anticipated
and cost thousands of jobs," reports John Howard in Capitol Weekly.
"The report was prepared by Joe Fitz, the chief economist of the state Board of Equalization,
at the behest of board member Bill Leonard, a Republican who represented an Inland Empire seat
in both the Assembly and Senate before being elected
to the board in 2002. Fitz's three-page memo is dated July 7, several weeks before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed sales tax increase to help balance the budget
became known outside the Capitol."
Meanwhile, Dan Walters trashes the tax plan advanced by legislative Democrats.
"Overall, Democrats deserve credit for being forthright
about intending to close much of the state's budget deficit with new taxes, in contrast with Republicans
who say they want deep reductions in spending but refuse
to say what should be cut.
"That said, the details of how Democrats would generate
more than $10 billion in tax revenues, roughly two-thirds of the projected 2008-09 deficit, leave much to be desired – even if one accepts the underlying premise that the
state's fiscal problem is essentially a lack of revenues.
"Relying on new taxes to solve the deficit is an intellectually honest position. Doing it the way Democrats propose, seemingly all gain and no pain, isn't."
Well, with the tax solutions that have been ruled out from all sides, we may just have to turn to the pixie dust.
Meanwhile, "[a] large share of the state workforce will be exempt from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's order to pay government employees the federal minimum
wage until a state budget is enacted, but others -- doctors, lawyers and engineers -- will get nothing, according to documents provided
by the administration Tuesday," writes Evan Halper and Michael Rothfeld in the Times.
"In a letter to California Controller John Chiang, the administration's personnel chief spelled out which workers the governor's office deemed essential to public health and safety.
Those employees would receive full pay, and not have
their wages set at $6.55 per hour, the letter says. About 48,000 of the state's 235,000 workers would be exempt.
"Thousands of lawyers, doctors, and engineers, who do
not have the same federal wage protections as other
workers, would receive no pay.
"Those who would continue receiving full pay include
most state police, firefighters, highway workers and
military officers. Employees working in the parks,
water resources department, conservation corps and
Office of Spill Protection and Response are largely
exempt, as are most game wardens and other employees
at the Department of Fish and Game. Most mental health
workers, full-time state employees who work with the developmentally
disabled and workers at the Department of Veterans
Affairs will also receive full pay.
"Dave A. Gilb, director of the Department of Personnel Administration,
wrote to the controller that these employees are exempt
'due to the critical nature of the work performed.'
"The controller, who manages the state payroll, has
said that he will refuse to comply with the governor's order, arguing Schwarzenegger lacks the authority
to unilaterally reduce employee pay. Administration
officials said Tuesday that they expect to file a lawsuit
to force Chiang to enact the cuts."
Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan and Andrea Wieland look at the role of retired annuitants.
Capitol Weekly previews a legislative hearing that will examine the Air Resources Board's plan to implement AB 32.
"The run-up to implementing California's landmark 2006 law to curb climate-changing gases is at the 11th hour, as regulators ponder pollution-fighting tools that include a surcharge on gas-guzzling vehicles and a market system that allows polluters to buy and sell credits. Much depends on whether the next president will give - as expected -- California permission to enforce an earlier law to cut greenhouse gases from vehicles.
"The Air Resources Board's draft study on how California's greenhouse gas law should be put into practice will be reviewed before a joint legislative committee Wednesday in what is likely to be a rigorous hearing.
"Among the questions: Should pollution permits worth potentially billions of dollars be given away or sold? Should SUV buyers pay a surcharge, with the money going as rebates to purchasers of fuel-efficient cars and does the ARB have the power to order such a charge? Should California join Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Montana, plus four British provinces--British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba--in a western regional system to barter pollution credits? If so, who runs the system? Should polluters be penalized with fines? Should there be so-called "off-sets," in which a polluter can continue to operate by making "green" investments elsewhere?"
"Three influential Democratic members of Congress are
rallying behind Don Perata, president of the California Senate, by urging the
Department of Justice to investigate whether people
in government have leaked details about a lengthy federal
investigation of the Oakland Democrat."
Didn't Barry Bonds try that one?
"The FBI began looking into the lawmaker's political and business affairs in 2004. Newspapers have routinely reported details about
the probe into whether Perata used his public office
in a way that benefited his consultants, family members,
business associates, political contributors or himself.
"No article since November 2004 has explicitly said that any information came from
a federal government source. But in a letter to U.S.
Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey obtained by The Times on Monday, U.S. Reps. John Conyers Jr., Linda Sanchez and Zoe Lofgren wrote, "We are disturbed and concerned that news story after
news story . . . has cited federal law enforcement
sources as the basis of information."
"The only article specifically mentioned in the July
31 letter was a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The article cited "sources familiar with the probe," a broad term that could encompass federal agents,
defense attorneys and people who have been questioned."
For the record, no G-men have called to leak info to us.
"The top operations official in the California Department
of Corrections and Rehabilitation has resigned to take a new job with the prison system's medical care receiver," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"Corrections undersecretary in charge of operations
Dave Runnels, a 26-year department veteran, will be joined in his departure
from the upper ranks of California prison management
by Wendy Still, the agency's leader on female inmate issues. Like Runnels, Still
is headed over to the receiver's office.
"A third upper-level corrections manager also is leaving the agency.
Scott Carney, the deputy director of financial services, has resigned
and will move to the Department of Health and Human
Services.
"At the office of the receiver, established by a federal
judge to take charge of the prison system's $2 billion medical operation, Runnels will be the chief
security consultant in the office's plan to build seven new long-term care facilities for 10,500 inmates, according to spokesman Luis Patino.
"Still, who had been in charge of female offender programs
and services for the corrections agency, will become
receiver J. Clark Kelso's "expert" on the two long-term care facilities for female offenders, Patino said.
"Patino said Runnels and Still will be making about
the same amount of money they were being paid at corrections
– about $161,000 a year for him and $135,000 for her."
And for those who haven't seen it yet, the first 20 or 30 seconds of Paris Hilton's rebuttal to John McCain are pretty clever. The question remains, how does John McCain eat his cheeseburger?
And finally, from our Get Me To The Church On Time Files, AP reports, " A 71-year-old Cincinnati preacher has been convicted of aggravated menacing, after another motorist said he waved a gun and cursed at her. Thomas Howell could get up to six months in jail on the misdemeanor charge when he's sentenced Sept. 4.
"Howell says he was on his way to First Commandment
Church of the
Living God in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood when
April Evans cut
him off on June 23. During Monday's trial, Howell testified that he has
a gun and permit but denied ever removing the weapon
from its holster.
"But a Hamilton County municipal court judge sided with
Evans, who
said the preacher threatened to shoot her and called
her names as their
cars chased each other."