Well, today's vote day in the Senate and Assembly, as the Democrats put up their rough draft of a state budget proposal. But Jim Sanders, for one, doesn't like the plan's chances.
"The Legislature is poised to vote today on a nearly $24 billion budget-balancing plan that Republicans vow not to support and Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger pledges not to sign.
"The Democratic proposal appears dead on arrival, setting the stage for tense negotiations as the state wrestles with a huge budget hole that threatens to leave it unable to pay its bills next month.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg hailed his party's budget plan as a compromise that would ease the fiscal emergency without devastating the safety net for vulnerable Californians.
"I cannot say that we have a deal," Steinberg said. "We certainly have a credible plan."
Shane Goldmacher tries to shoot a hole in that assertion, pointing out the familiar-looing "fiscal gimmicks" in the Democrats' proposal .
"A substantial number of the budget revisions that will
go before the Legislature today promise
no real savings or revenue and would ensure that California's fiscal
woes stretch beyond the current crisis into coming
years.
The Democrat-driven plan, which on paper reduces the state deficit
by
$23.2 billion, contains $7.2 billion in bookkeeping maneuvers, an
analysis of the proposal shows. Moves to account for
billions more are
one-time fixes, are sure to be challenged in court or are
grounded in
rosy assumptions that the Legislature's own fiscal advisors say are
unlikely to materialize.
"One of the Democrats' ideas is to issue state employees' June 2010
paychecks at 12:01 a.m. on July 1 -- one minute into a new fiscal year
-- instead of June 30. By producing 11 months' paychecks instead of 12,
the state would spend $1.2 billion less next year but would have to
repeat the ploy yearly.
Another short-term patch is a Schwarzenegger proposal, approved by
the
joint committee, to defer $1.7 billion in school funding until the next
fiscal year. School districts would still have to run
state-mandated
programs in the coming year, but they wouldn't get paid until the next.
The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office likened that idea to
racking up credit card debt.
"Such gambits would ease California's immediate cash crunch even though
they would do little to reconcile its long-term fiscal problems.
Controller John Chiang has said the state won't be able to pay all of
its bills as of July 28 unless a balanced budget is adopted."
Dan Walters concurs.
SEIU, meanwhile, is using the occassion of today's vote to take to the air with another campaign commercial . Like the last one, this one is urging tax hikes to plug the budget hole, Capitol Weekly reports.
"
The Service Employees International Union will begin
airing its second statewide television ad Wednesday,
calling for
the governor to support taxes in the name of "shared sacrifice" -- a reference to the myriad groups who are in line to
take a hit in the proposed round of budget cuts.
"When lawmakers cut health care for kids, the governor
called it “shared sacrifice. When they slashed aid to college
students, and home care for seniors, he called it “shared sacrifice.”Now they propose taxes on Big Oil and Tobacco and he
calls it a deal-breaker," the ad states. "Tell the Governor special interests should sacrifice,
too."
Specifically, the ad focuses of Democrats' call to tax oil production and tobacco products to
the tune of about $2 billion. The governor and Republican legislators have
said they will not support those taxes."
Malcolm Maclachlan looks at the fight over mandatory condoms for the porn industry . "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is hoping
that a recent outbreak of HIV cases allegedly linked
to the adult entertainment industry will help them
find a sponsor for a bill to mandate condom use in
adult films.
"The mandatory condoms-in-porn bill has been part of the Board's legislative agenda since late last year. So far,
19 legislators have turned them down, according to Los
Angeles County's chief lobbyist, Dan Wall."
Opponents say the measure would devastate Reseda's economy, or something like that.
"The advent of digital technology, Martin added, could make the issue of condoms moot. It is possible to quickly and easily take any visual indication of the condom out of the film or image before sale, Martin said.
"The condom is digitally removed," Martin said. "We've actually talked about taking a visual example to
the committee when we present the bill."
Martin quickly added, "I'm joking."
"The Bee's Susan Ferriss reports, "Sen. Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa, became the first state senator to turn in her state-leased vehicle and gas card last week.
"This week Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, decided to turn his official car and gas card, too, staff at the Senate Rules Committee said today.
"Interesting twist on Wiggins: According to David Miller, the senator's press secretary, Wiggins liked her 2007 Honda Civic hybrid so much, she bought it back from the dealer who purchased the vehicle from the state after Wiggins gave up her lease.
"The Senate Rules Committee reports that the original price for Wiggins' 2007 car was $25,883.85. The committee reports that the the highest dealer bid for the hybrid was $11,000 from Maita Toyota in Sacramento."
Timm Herdt wonders if Antonio Villaraigosa's decision not to run for governor creates an opening for someone else not named Newsom or Brown.
"if a third candidate is to emerge, could it be the Central Coast’s most popular Democrat, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell?"
Hmm, we were thinking Loretta Sanchez maybe. O'Connel's Christmas cards aren't quite up to snuff.
"There are myriad ways to assess the suddenly changed political landscape.
"The knee-jerk conventional wisdom that spilled out Monday was that the mayor’s decision would advantage Brown. The reasoning is that Brown could pick up much of what would have been Villaraigosa’s natural constituency because he has always been well-liked among Latino voters and, although he lives in Northern California, has long-standing roots and connections in Southern California.
I talked to a couple Democratic strategists on Tuesday who aren’t buying that argument.
“Not only am I not buying it, I’m rejecting it,” said pollster Ben Tulchin. “In a multicandidate race, Jerry was sitting pretty. When you’re the front-runner, you don’t want a change in the status quo.”
Speaking of not running, former Speaker Fabian Nunez said yesterday that he has "no interest" in running for the state Senate in 2010. Nunez also appeared to take some veiled shots at Sen. Darrell Steinberg and Speaker Karen Bass, and the rest of the current crop of legislative leaders. 'One of the things that's lacking in this conversation ... is leadership," he said. "Some of this has to do with how good the leadership is."
You can watch a Webcast of the panel where Nuñez made his comments here. Nunez's leadership comments come at about the 49:30 point
And finally, from our Colorado's most wanted files, AP reports, "Boulder police are looking for a man they said stole a city steamroller for a late-night joyride. Some Boulder residents were awakened at about 2 a.m. Tuesday by the rumbling of a steamroller down a neighborhood street. Witnesses told police they saw a man driving the steamroller before crashing it into a can and fleeing. Both vehicles suffered minor damage, but no one was hurt.