Greg Lucas looks at the detritus that is currently circulating in the political ether, in initiative form.
"Hiram Johnson is likely spinning in his grave.
"As of December 14, there are 45 measures being circulated for voter signatures, another 38 are awaiting titles and summaries by the Attorney General. So far, three initiatives have qualified for the 2010 primary election – the most significant of which would create open primaries in 2012 allowing voters to cast a ballot for any candidate regardless of political affiliation. The top two vote getters advance to the November general election."
David Lazarus reports that when the going gets tough, HMOs crack down on people who pay their insurance premiums late.
"Amid a national debate on how to make the healthcare
system friendlier
and more accessible, and as millions of people grapple
with the loss of
jobs and homes, what does insurance heavyweight Blue
Shield of
California do?
It decides to take a key benefit away.
The
company has notified individual policyholders that
their coverage could
be immediately dropped if they miss a single payment
-- or so it seems.
Blue Shield says in a letter to customers that they
can reapply
for insurance, but with potentially higher premiums
and stricter
conditions.
This represents a significant change from Blue
Shield's former practice of giving customers two special
grace periods
annually to make up for missed payments without any
change to coverage
or premiums."
Meanwhile, for those of you waiting on your backlogged unemployment benefits, Denis Theriault reports the check is in the mail. "Long-awaited unemployment checks for some of the nearly 120,000 Californians waiting on the latest federal extension of their benefits were finally put in the mail Tuesday, officials at the state's Employment Development Department said.
"The checks had been on hold for nearly six
weeks, mostly because the department needed to reprogram
its
25-year-old computer system to process the extension. Claims for the
checks were filed automatically. "New claim forms for the next set
of two-week checks were sent out Monday. The department is
still hoping
to get all checks mailed by next week, spokeswoman
Loree Levy said. "The
rush to send the checks followed an order by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's Labor and Workforce Development Department.
Those
eligible for the latest extension are the state's longest-term
unemployed, those who have exhausted all 79 weeks of unemployment
insurance provided by the state and federal governments
since the
recession began." Timm Herdt chimes in on the Race to the Top kerfuffle. "There are 10,129 public schools in California, attended by about 6.3
million students. There are about 850 charter schools, attended by
about 200,000 students. The current hang-up in Sacramento over accessing up to $700 million
in federal funds to improve education for these 6.5 million kids is
mostly about the 3 percent who attend charter schools. "For all the bluster that has emanated in recent weeks
from Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and others, the controversy over
legislation to
bring California into compliance with federal Race
to the Top funding
guidelines is mostly about charter schools." The Bee eulogizes two well-known Capitol insiders. Dan Walters remembers lobbyist Don Peterson. "As influential as he became on behalf of local governments,
it was a shame that Don didn't become a state legislator.
He would
certainly have become a star player in the Capitol
as a get-it-done
moderate in the mold of other influential centrists
of the 1980s and
1990s such as Republican Ken Maddy or Democrat Walter Stiern. "When
a Maddy, a Stiern or a Don Peterson dies, it's a sad reminder of all
that was once right about our political system – how it attracted some
of the state's best and brightest who were committed
to the state's
well-being – and how much it has deteriorated into a mindless,
unproductive game of personal and partisan posturing
and special
interest influence-peddling." And Hudson Sangree notes the passing of Paul Gerowitz. "Gerowitz, a Davis lawyer, was also a former legislative
director
for Protection and Advocacy, a disability rights group.
Gerowitz, who
served as counsel to the Assembly Public Safety Committee
and as the
first executive director of the California Attorneys
for Criminal
Justice, died recently from colon cancer. He was 60.
"He was smart
and terrific," Burton said. "He worked with defense lawyers to
DAs to
victims. He was very respected and a good guy and professional
and
never took stuff personal."