"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state's tardiest budget on record Tuesday after eliminating $510 million in spending, including financial aid for elderly
renters and homeowners and a program he championed
to lower prescription drug prices for low-income Californians," reports Jordan Rau in the Times.
"His signature allows more than 80,000 state vendors' outstanding bills to be paid. Some providers have
gone nearly three months without promised funding.
"The final version of the budget spends $145 billion. It sets aside a $1.7-billion reserve fund -- nearly $1 billion more than the Legislature approved. Schwarzenegger
said his desire for a bigger financial cushion was
the motivation for most of his vetoes.
"'It's painful,' he told reporters at an unrelated event Tuesday. 'I had to think about it, rethink about it, but we needed
the money, and I just wanted people to understand that
the Legislature gave me no choice but to make those
cuts to be fiscally responsible.'
"'Our economy, not in this state alone but in the country
and worldwide, is in a situation where we have to be
very, very careful with our spending,' he said.
"At a separate briefing, Schwarzenegger's budget director, Mike Genest, told reporters that
even the increased reserve fund was "not nearly adequate," given the ailing economy.
"State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat who has sparred with Schwarzenegger over
efforts to control spending, said the budget 'was out of balance the moment it was signed.'"
The U-T's Ed Mendel reports: "Schwarzenegger angered Democrats with $510 million in line-item vetoes, eliminating $191 million in renter and property tax assistance for seniors and a $70 million payment to counties for the CalWORKS welfare program.
"'I am deeply disappointed in his actions today, and they set the stage for yet another difficult budget in the year ahead,' said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles."
Not to mention Democrats' pet labor institute, which former Speaker Fabian Nuñez continually fought to protect, even in tough budget times...
The Merc News's Mike Zapler looks how the poor relations between the governor and legislators
effected the budget fight.
"Minutes after signing the budget, Schwarzenegger attended
a rally outside the Capitol to promote a voter initiative
to change the way legislative districts are drawn.
Because the lines currently are configured to protect
incumbents, who face little threat of a challenge from
the opposite party, the governor believes lawmakers
have little interest in the moderate policies he's promoting.
"He said redistricting reform would shift the political
dynamics in the Capitol toward the center.
"The budget, Schwarzenegger said, 'is three months late because both parties stayed in
their ideological corners and refused to come out.'
"In the meantime, though, Schwarzenegger has to live
with the Legislature as it now exists. This weekend,
he plans to be at the state Republican convention,
but only to attend a presidential debate-watching event. He declined an invitation months ago
to address delegates, citing the budget standoff, and
has not followed up recently to offer himself as a
speaker."
Really, what is there to say?
"Although the fiscal fight is over, state workers who lost their jobs during California's budget battle probably won't be rehired any time soon, a state official said Tuesday," writes Jon Ortiz in the Bee.
"Finance Director Mike Genest said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's July 31 executive order that cut thousands of part-time and temporary positions, curbed overtime and suspended
some outside service contracts will remain in effect
through June and save the state about $340 million.
"'Some of those people will not be coming back,' Genest said shortly after Schwarzenegger signed the
budget on Tuesday. 'Some of those contracts will not be coming back.'
"But, he said, that departments could ask for exemptions
that the state will consider 'on a case-by-case basis.'"
Dan Weintraub looks at the governor's push for the rainy day fund. "Schwarzenegger is hoping that, long after the details of the current mess are forgotten, he will be remembered as the governor who stood firm for a rainy-day fund that helps the state get through its next economic cycle with less pain and suffering than this one has caused."
"Former Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, will announce his candidacy for California Democratic Party Chairman in the coming days," reports Capitol Weekly.
"Burton has told those close to him that he is running
to succeed outgoing chairman Art Torres, who will leave the post after the party elects a
new chairman in April. Burton was not immediately available
to comment.
"The job of party chairman is particularly important
in this era of legislative term limits, and since voters
approved Proposition 34, which set campaign contribution limits to candidates,
and greatly enhanced the state parties’ rolls as arbiter of millions in political donations
during campaign cycles. Burton largely wrote the initiative.
"Other candidates in the race include current party
vice-chairman Alex Rooker. Los Angeles County Party Chairman Eric Bauman has also been mentioned as a candidate."
"Californians might have a sense of deja vu when they vote in November
on Proposition 4, a ballot measure that would require doctors to notify
a parent or other adult family member before an abortion
is performed on a minor," reports the LAT's Patrick McGreevy.
"Similar measures were put before the voters in 2005 and 2006 and lost by slim margins both times.
"Polls show that the most recent proposal is still struggling
to gain support from a majority of voters, but backers
such as winemaker Don Sebastiani and publisher Jim
Holman say they are determined to accomplish this year
what they didn't previously. And they have changed the measure's text to address some criticisms of those earlier
proposals."
The Bee gives the treatment to Proposition 1A, the revised high-speed rail bond measure.
The Bee's Buzz reports "Republican candidate Tony Strickland is leaning on the support of Erin Brockovich, whose fight against PG&E was the subject of a 2000 movie starring Julia Roberts, in his bid for state Senate. Brockovich stars in a new pro-Strickland TV ad running in the Santa Barbara-area Senate district. 'I'm a consumer advocate and a Democrat, but I'm also an independent thinker. And so is Tony Strickland,' Brockovich says in the ad."
What about Julia Roberts?
"In a state that has restricted cellphone use by drivers
and appears poised to bar motorists from text messaging,
the Schwarzenegger administration is considering a
plan that could create a new distraction: advertisements on freeway signs used for Amber Alerts
and other emergencies.
"The money-making scheme, already broached to federal officials
who allocate highway funds, would allow businesses
to post ads on California's 674 electronic roadside message boards.
"State officials figure the cash-strapped highway fund could make millions by allowing
ads when the signs are not in use for emergencies.
"But some traffic safety advocates say the potential
revenue is not worth the costs of tempting drivers
to take their eyes off the road.
"'The biggest issue with digital billboards is they are
enormously distracting to motorists,' said Kevin E. Fry, a traffic safety advocate and longtime billboard
opponent.
"Others express concern that ads would add visual blight
and change the purpose of a system meant to save children
and help drivers."
"The idea for the signs came from Clear Channel Outdoor,
a billboard company that potentially stands to gain
from the proposal."
"During this record state budget standoff, lawmakers
struggled to unearth more fire-defense funding in an already overtapped treasury," reports Michael Gardner in the Union-Tribune.
"But the budget Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed yesterday
reflects a status quo spending for Cal Fire, despite
this year's siege that engulfed much of Northern California in
flames and the looming Santa Ana winds that always
threaten to whip up autumn firestorms in the south.
"And only a late decision by lawmakers to squeeze $50 million more into Cal Fire kept the allocation on
par with the $600 million in general fund monies allocated in fiscal
2007-08.
"That $50 million supplement is far less than the $125 million to $250 million that could have been raised under failed proposals
to levy a surcharge on property insurance bills, which
would have cost the average homeowner or business $12 to $20 annually."
"Julie Lee, the San Francisco political activist convicted of
fraud and attempted witness tampering, was sentenced Tuesday in Sacramento federal court to
a year and a day in prison," writes the Bee's Denny Walsh.
"In imposing the reduced penalty, U. S. District Judge
Lawrence K. Karlton described the crime as "serious" and the sentencing as "difficult."
"'Justice must be served, but it also must be tempered,' he said.
"Invited by the judge to address him before he passed
sentence, Lee's gasping sobs made her words unintelligible.
"The courtroom was packed with her supporters.
"First Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Brown sought a prison term of three years and 10 months, while defense attorneys Alan Ellis and Lidia Stiglich had asked for probation."
And just what we needed -- something to make clowns even creepier! The Contra Costa Times reports on a new influx on naked clowns coming to a bedroom wall near you.
"Graduates
of San Francisco's Clown Conservatory Class of 2008 have stripped down
to their birthday suits to make a 2009 Naked Clown Calendar, a joyful
and humourous work of art the clowns hope to sell in
honor of a beloved
mentor paralysed from the effects of multiple sclerosis
(MS) and others
stricken with the disease.
"These aren't the usual photos of
clowns at kids' parties or falling out of cars. No, they're photos of
clowns tumbling though the air, performing songs in
the park or flying
out of cannons — with pies and top hats hiding the naughty bits."
You mean their faces?
"'Our goal was to create this sort of craziness in your
mind,' says Chad Benjamin
Potter, the lead clown on the project. 'When you think of clowns you
think of costumes and makeup and hair. When you think
naked clowns,
that's something else entirely.'"