Shane Goldmacher reports the governor’s latest budget proposal is an attack on labor unions.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put organized labor
squarely in his
cross-hairs in 2010, opening a fight that will largely determine the
shape of his final year in office. Schwarzenegger's
proposals
would cut the size of the union workforce, reduce pay, shrink
future
pensions and roll back job protections won through
collective
bargaining.
Labor and the unions' Democratic allies are already
girding for battle.
"It's
a continuing jihad against organized labor," said Steve Maviglio, a
Sacramento-based Democratic strategist. "The governor thinks public
employee unions are Enemy No. 1."
The SacBee reports the state has begun its plan to release some prisoners.
"The idea, which opponents label an "early-release" plan, was hammered out last year during contentious budget talks.
"The
plan calls for inmates deemed low-risk offenders to earn credits on
their prison sentences by completing rehabilitation
and education
programs.In addition, offenders deemed low-risk would not be
subject to parole supervision upon release from prison,
meaning they
would be less likely to be returned to prison for minor
parole
violations.
"Corrections officials say the effort will result in a gradual release of low-level offenders over the course of the year rather than a mass exodus today."
George Skelton says legislators agree with voters that there should be change in Sacramento, they just can’t agree on what kind of change.
"Leaders are floating ideas. But many legislators need
coaxing.
For
example, some leaders would like to significantly limit the number of
bills each lawmaker can introduce. That would allow more time for the
Legislature to assess the outcomes of previously enacted
legislation
and to closely examine the efficiencies of state agencies.
In jarring testimony at the committees' first joint hearing, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a former Senate leader, told the lawmakers that "there's too much junk" being introduced.
"Two-thirds of the bills I see come out of the Assembly, if they never saw the light of day, God bless it. . . . Just stop it."
Michael Hiltzik says Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger should stop looking to Washington D.C. as the cause of the state’s budget woes, and start looking in the mirror.
"Whether there's even factual grounds for the governor's claim is subject to debate. His number dates from 2005, and the formula underlying it has been criticized for supposedly overestimating tax payments. (The Washington-based Tax Foundation, which created the formula, defends its methodology.)"
The Wall St. Journal reports Phil Angelides wants supboena power. "The special commission probing the causes of the financial crisis intends to use subpoena powers to get information it wants from banks and government agencies as it focuses on the role of pay, subprime lending, securitization practices and other issues in the market meltdown, the head of the commission said.
"Phil Angelides, the chairman of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, said in an interview that commission investigators have made many document requests from both private-sector and public-sector entities. Commissioners "have the very specific intent to use our subpoena power when we need to and when we are not getting timely compliance," he said.
Patrick McGreevy looks at who was bankrolling a recent Assembly Republican retreat in Santa Barbara.
"Such sojourns don't come cheap, so oil and tobacco firms and other companies that are pressing an agenda in the Capitol funneled $120,000 to a group that picked up much of the tab. About 25 Republican senators and Assembly members and a dozen aides attended the retreat at Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort.
The new LA Times California Politics blog reports most Californians believe Schwarzenegger has worsened the state he inherited from Gray Davis. "A majority of Californians believe California is worse off now than when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in late 2003, a new Field Poll finds.
"The survey found 59% of those surveyed believe the state will be in worse condition after Schwarzenegger’s tenure is over, the poll found. Only 7% of the registered voters surveyed think Schwarzenegger will leave state government in better shape than he found it, when he took over from Gov. Gray Davis.
You can download the poll results here.
Jim Boren says goodbye to Danny Gilmore, and says his reasons for quitting were many.
"There were the meetings with constituents in Bakersfield that he had to hold in a tent in a city park because then-Assembly Speaker Karen Bass refused to give him a Bakersfield office. "I really resented that," Gilmore said.
There was the revolt in his own party that tossed Sen. Dave Cogdill and Assembly Member Mike Villines out of their Republican leadership posts because they supported a budget agreement that contained tax increases. "These are good men whose conservative credentials had been clearly established," he said.
"The Legislature is about self-absorbed people playing political games. He was smart enough to say he didn't want to be part of it."
Could Shasta County be a blueprint for the state's troubled pension system? The editorial board of the Redding Record Searchlight says yes.
"From Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on down, California public officials facing painful budget squeezes are grumbling about the rising cost of public employees' pensions. But most have done very little to actually tame them.
"Shasta County is a dramatic exception, proving that leaders with backbone can make a change.
"After all the much-publicized drama between the Board of Supervisors and the Deputy Sheriff's Association (DSA), the end result is a contract that substantially shifts pension costs from the taxpayers to the employees who will eventually enjoy the retirement checks. Further, it creates a two-tier pension system so newly hired law enforcement employees will earn full retirement five years later, at age 55 instead of the current 50."
Around the capital today, the state Assembly today will hear a bill discussing ski resort safety. The Assembly Banking Commitete will hold a hearing to discuss credit card fees. Gov. Schwarzenegger addresses the Sacramento Press Club.
And finally,from our Life Imitates Art Files, "Sheriff's deputies in central Florida found a suspected car thief playing the "Grand Theft Auto" video game, and they later charged him with just that.
"Polk County deputies investigating the theft of a 1998 Dodge Durango arrested 30-year-old Michael Ray Ekes on Thursday. They found the SUV outside a Haines City home. Ekes was inside in the house, playing the popular video game."