"California has secured commitments for nearly $4 billion in short-term loans thanks to unprecedented demand from individual investors
Wednesday, averting a need for federal assistance and
allaying fears of a cash shortage.
"While California will have enough cash to pay its bills
through February, leaders have not resolved the state's revenue problem, a result of an economic slowdown.
"California secured orders for $3.92 billion in short-term bonds from individual investors Tuesday and Wednesday,
98 percent of its original $4 billion goal, according to state Treasurer Bill Lockyer.
"The state will try to obtain an additional $580 million today when it offers bonds to institutional
investors, such as banks and insurance companies.
"As Wall Street collapsed last month and credit markets
froze, state leaders feared California could not obtain
its annual multibillion-dollar loan. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote a letter
to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson explaining that California might need to seek a federal
loan as a last resort.
"This week's bond sale reassured state officials that traditional
lending markets would suffice."
Now that we've used the state's credit card, will there be dough to pay back those
bondbuyers?
Shane Goldmacher reads the Department of Finances latest finance update, while George Skelton believes the Legislature and governor are wasting valuable
time.
"There they go again -- the governor and Legislature, standing by gawking
as the state begins to roll off a cliff.
"No sign of the governor calling the Legislature into
a special session to halt another runaway deficit,
the latest projected initially at $3 billion for the current fiscal year.
"The governor held a teleconference Wednesday with legislative
leaders. The lawmakers were briefed on the wildfires
and the note sales. But there was no talk of a special
session, according to the governor's office.
"They're all wasting time. It's time to head off a fiscal disaster. Time to stop
the state from going over the cliff."
"California forged ahead Wednesday in its bold attempt
to turn back the clock of climate change, issuing its final draft of an economywide plan to slash the state's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels," reports Margot Roosevelt in the Times.
"Over the next 12 years, new regulations would shrink the per capita
carbon footprint of Californians by an average of four
tons per year, cutting the level of electricity residents
use with more efficient buildings and appliances, and
reducing the amount they drive, by discouraging urban
sprawl.
"The plan would force auto manufacturers to make cleaner
cars, require utilities to build more solar and wind
plants, and compel industries to hike energy efficiency
to unprecedented levels.
"'Despite a difficult economy, it is important that we
move forward,' Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, adding that the plan
would result in 'tens of thousands more jobs and a boost to California's gross domestic production.'"
The LAT's Michael Rothfeld reports on the unusual situation with the largest donor to the anti-crime Proposition 6.
"With a single $1-million contribution last December, billionaire and
Broadcom co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III supplied most of the cash raised to date by proponents
of the so-called Safe Neighborhoods Act. Then during the summer,
he was indicted on drug, fraud and conspiracy charges.
"Though he is accused of manipulating stock options,
supplying customers with prostitutes and maintaining
properties for cocaine and methamphetamine use and
distribution, Proposition 6's proponents say they see no reason to give the money
back.
"'The crimes that he's accused of are not the kinds of things we're dealing with,' said Sen. George Runner (R-Lancaster), one of the initiative's authors. 'We're dealing with street crimes that Californians are
confronted with every day.'"
"David Warren, a lobbyist with Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety, criticized the measure's supporters for keeping Nicholas' money after his indictment."
"With the battle over an initiative to ban gay marriage apparently tightening, $3.6 million in large contributions has poured into the No on Proposition 8 campaign in the past week — narrowing the huge fundraising advantage enjoyed by proponents of the measure," reports Mike Swift in the Merc News.
"The developments set up what is likely to be an intense
contest in the final weeks of the campaign, with dueling
television and radio commercials over whether California
should approve a constitutional ban that would eliminate
the right of same-sex couples to marry.
"After sounding the alarm last week about its $10 million fundraising deficit, Equality California,
the lead organization for the No on 8 campaign, has raised more than $3 million within California since Oct. 6, including a $1 million contribution Tuesday from the California Teachers
Association, a Mercury News review of Secretary of State's Office campaign records shows. Meanwhile, out-of-state contributors, including actor T.R. Knight of "Grey's Anatomy" and financial guru Suze Orman, have made six- and five-figure contributions to Equality California, the umbrella
group opposing Proposition 8."
Meanwhile, the animal cruelty measure on the ballot
joins Prop. 8 in drawing national attention and money.
"Opponents and supporters alike are pouring millions
of dollars into the fight over Proposition 2, which essentially would loosen animal cages. One
way or another, farmers and animal-rights advocates seem to agree, California has become
a national battleground.
"'What we see in California could set the stage for the
other states as well,' Kelli Ludlum, public policy specialist with the American Farm Bureau
Federation, said Wednesday.
"Proposition 2 would require that starting in 2015, calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be provided space to
lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn
around freely."
"State Sen. Carole Migden and California's political watchdog agency have settled their lawsuits against each other," reports Denny Walsh in the Bee.
"The litigation was initiated in Sacramento federal
court with a lot of huffing and puffing but bowed out
with a whimper.
"Under terms filed Wednesday, Migden, a volatile San
Francisco Democrat, will pay the Fair Political Practices
Commission $40,000 to resolve allegations she violated a host of campaign
finance regulations.
"Contrast that to the agency's countersuit, filed three weeks after Migden sued
the FPPC for preventing her in this year's campaign from spending money she raised before being
elected to the Senate. The FPPC sought $9 million in penalties, contending Migden and her campaign
apparatus failed to report large monetary transactions,
reported other large transactions that never occurred
and made expenditures out of investment accounts."
While Migden appears to be leaving Sacramento quietly, Nicole Parra is kicking and screaming, politics-style. The Fresno Bee's E.J. Schultz reports: "As promised, Parra recently cut a TV ad in support of Republican candidate Danny Gilmore. Democrats are trying to turn Gilmore's positive (a popular Democrat crossing party lines to endorse him) into a negative. Their candidate, Fran Florez -- mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, a longtime Parra rival -- cut a response ad pointing out that Gilmore and Parra weren't exactly holding hands and singing songs when they ran against each other two years ago."
Both ads are online.
"More than 400 university professors and academic staff have sent
a letter of protest to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
objecting to his veto last month of $5.4 million for a University of California labor research
program and asking that the money be restored," write Patrick McGreevy and Larry Gordon in the Times.
"At a time when unemployment in California is reaching
a level not seen in decades, the letter said, the governor's action appears to be politically motivated and an
excuse to ax a program his fellow Republicans have
sought to kill. Its critics have said it is too close
to unions.
"'It violates the basic principle of the freedom to speak
out and conduct research even on controversial topics,' said the letter signed by the professors and staffers
from UC and other California colleges and universities.
"Schwarzenegger has said his veto of money for the Miguel
Contreras Labor Program, named after the late Los Angeles
labor leader, was "difficult but necessary" because the Legislature chose not to make other cuts
to balance the budget."
Finally, a "judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his unlisted home address. State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed the lawsuit last year seeking a permanent injunction
against God," reports the AP's Nate Jenkins.
"He said God has made terroristic threats against the
senator and his constituents in Omaha, inspired fear
and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of
millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."
"Chambers has said he filed the lawsuit to make the
point that everyone should have access to the courts
regardless of whether they are rich or poor.
"On Tuesday, however, Douglas County District Court
Judge Marlon Polk ruled that under state law a plaintiff must have access
to the defendant for a lawsuit to move forward.
"'Given that this court finds that there can never be
service effectuated on the named defendant this action
will be dismissed with prejudice,' Polk wrote."