The negotiations over the governor's budget package are history -- at least publicly -- and the Capitol appears caught in an odd limbo. What happens now? A temporary fix to bring negotiators back to the table? A shift to a simple majority vote? A ballot-box war between Democrats and Republicans? The options are intriguing.
From Capitol Weekly's John Howard: "Gov. Brown’s decision to pull the plug on budget negotiations left Capitol partisans plotting their next moves, which could include a push by the Legislature’s ruling Democrats to move Brown’s tax-and-cut package to the ballot with simple-majority votes."
But that move is all but certain to fracture a fragile
coalition, forcing business interests from the fold
and pushing labor into fighting trim."
"Options include a plan to adopt tax extensions temporarily
– 90 days perhaps - while a permanent budget agreement is hammered out
that could go to the electorate in September. The new
fiscal year begins July 1."
One offshoot of the fruitless budget negotiations is the waning influence of the state's Republicans, contends a news analysis by Evan Halper and Mike Mishak in the Los Angeles Times.
"The Democratic governor and legislative leaders offered the GOP a rare chance to shape key policies — and mitigate several that were forged on the other side of the aisle over more than a decade. GOP legislation was suddenly on the front burner. Rolling back government employee pensions, easing regulations on business, limiting the growth of government all seemed within reach."
"The price for this potential bounty was four votes,
the ones Gov. Jerry Brown needed to
place a tax measure before voters. Not an endorsement
of more taxes, just a
vote to let voters decide the matter."
"Today, after the collapse of those negotiations, many
in the
Capitol are asking whether, in declining to provide
those four
"ayes," the Republicans have cemented their fate as
a dying minority
party in this largely Democratic state."
Speaking of money, California's high-speed rail program is going after billions of dollars that Florida left on the table. It's the Golden State vs. the Sunshine State. The LAT's Rich Connell tells the tale.
"California high-speed rail officials voted Wednesday to seek an additional $2.43 billion in federal construction funds recently relinquished by Florida’s new Republican governor.
The money would permit the state to extend an initial, Central Valley leg of the proposed 800-mile system."
The chances of getting the entire Florida allocation are doubtful, but California has received some of the largest federal grants in the nation under the Obama administration’s push to develop a bullet train network similar to those in Europe and the Far East."
"Even getting a majority of the cash, coupled with state match funds, would allow the California High-Speed Rail Authority to extend the starter track from Merced to Bakersfield, officials said. Work already is slated to begin next year on a $5.5- billion section of rail, viaducts and stations from Fresno to the outskirts of Bakersfield."
Shifting from Sacramento to the East Bay, we find the nation's first power plant with a greenhouse gas emissions cap embroiled in a battle with a communtiy college.
From Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas: "Despite being rebuffed for four years by courts and regulators, an East Bay community college continues to spend public funds fighting an already-under-construction natural gas power plant in Hayward that is the first in the country with a greenhouse gas emissions cap."
"The 600-megawatt Russell City Energy Center, which began seeking
operating
permits in 2001, is located on 19 acres near Hayward’s water treatment
facility."
"Russell City’s majority owner, Calpine, says the $1 billion facility uses both
reclaimed water and technology that makes it cleaner
than 90 percent of
comparable older power plants.
“We build a lot of power plants. We’re considered one of the cleanest companies
in the United States because we only do gas and geothermal,” said Joe Ronan,
Calpine’s senior vice president for government and regulatory
affairs."
Money isn't the only thing the Capitol's denizens are battling over. There's the important issue of office space, notes Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan.
"Democrats have long held onto most of the spaces in the Capitol with the best views and, more importantly, the most room to stash employees. While the majority of legislators see the amount of space they have rise with their prominence, what matters far more is which party you belong to. After all, even a freshman Assembly member is kicking around in 869 square feet of office space. A Senate Republican gets an average of 889."
"None of these measurements contain numbers for the
main leadership offices, one
Republican and two Democrats in each house, which generally
are large and often
in the older side of the Capitol. Overall, Assembly
Democrats average 1,090
square feet, with veterans getting an average of 1,186. Senate Democrats have
an average of 1,130."
And now we open our box of "Hot Wheels" to see the case of our favorite television show, BBC's "Top Gear," being sued by those electro nerds at Tesla. Is nothing sacred?
"Tesla claims the show, one of the BBC's most successful programs, faked a scene that appeared to show Tesla's Roadster car running out of energy, according to papers filed at the High Court in London on Tuesday."
"Tesla, which has lost money every year since it was founded in 2003, is seeking to become the leader in battery-powered cars."
"In the "Top Gear" report, first broadcast in December 2008, presenter Jeremy Clarkson said that, even though the car is "biblically quick," and "the first electric car you might actually want to buy," its range is limited."
"Although Tesla say it will do 200 miles, we worked out that on our track it would run out after just 55 miles, and if it does run out, it's not a quick job to charge it up again," Clarkson said, according to a transcript of the show included in the filing."