Senate leader
Don Perata and fellow Democrats
held a press conference yesterday to unveil their education reform package. While the package would allow some additional local flexibility and ease funding cuts for districts with declining enrollment, the real purpose appeared to be to stand firm against the governor's smaller-than-required increase in education spending. The Bee reports: "'
We have to raise taxes to pay for schools,' said Perata, D-Oakland. 'There, we've said it."
The Union-Tribune
reports: "Perata said he would consider several options for a tax increase, including
raising the tax rate for the wealthy and extending the sales tax to services, such as those provided by mechanics, doctors and dentists, for example."
However, it appears that
Assembly Democrats have given up on the fight for increased taxes. "'We agree with (Perata) that education is a priority and we have to protect the integrity of Prop. 98,' [Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez's spokesman
Steven] Maviglio said. 'But this is a governor adamantly opposed to raising taxes, and now is the
time to get together and craft a solution.'"
If you feel like you're watching a remake of
"Vice Versa" starring Perata and Núñez, you're not alone.
The Bee's
Peter Schrag is
continues his assault on the governor's reform package. "And so the governor's
four little Indians of political reform are now down to 2 1/2. They deal with real problems, but the proposed solutions all look like they owe more to political macho than to real policy thought."
Democratic Dogfight: Dan Walters
looks at one of the most contentious Democratic primary fights--the three-way brawl between
Liz Figueroa,
John Garamendi, and
Jackie Speier. Walters says to watch the Speier's Senate Insurance Committee, "If Speier blocks or waters down his bills, he can
accuse her of undermining consumer interests on behalf of the industry, but if she goes along with Garamendi's sweeping legislative agenda,
she hands him a career-enhancing victory."
Regardless of who wins the race, two of the Legislature's most prominent women will be gone, and
EMILY's List is
worried that there aren't sufficient women in the political pipeline to continue progress.Now playing: With Friday's policy committee deadline approaching, Capitol hearing rooms are providing great theater this week. Yesterday, Attorney General
Bill Lockyer returned to his old stomping grounds to support a
bill by Senator
Joe Dunn to
require the tracking of handgun ammunition.Perhaps the best theater, however, was in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which approved Mark Leno's
AB 19, allowing legal recognition of same-sex unions. Opponents said they would
look to a constitutional amendment for the 2006 ballot. "
'The war is on,' said
Randy Thomasson of the Campaign for Children and Families, flanked by a few dozen supporters.
'We're not going to give up until we keep marriage between one man and one woman.'"
And, the "No Gays" pickup trucks will continue their asexual reproduction in front of the Capitol until the madness is stopped...
While Leno's bill was being approved, the Assembly Health Committee
killed a bipartisan proposal by
Joe Nation and
Keith Stuart Richman to
require health insurance. A
competing measure that would create a single-payer health coverage system will be heard in Senate Health Committee today.
The Los Angeles Times
looks into the aftermath of several ethnically charged fights among students at 2,400-student
Jefferson High School. While the fights have ceased with increased security and a crackdown on white t-shirts, an extraordinary number of students have been staying away from the school altogether. "'
[I don't] feel comfortable about coming,' said
[Shameka] Bryant, who has only attended school three times in the last two weeks. 'I don't know what can be done.'"
<-- Cue Proposition 98 commercial. -->
But, will they erect billboards? The
Ankara Chamber of Commerce has
launched an attack against Governor Schwarzenegger and, more specifically, his films. "We
condemn and protest movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared April 24 a day to commemorate the Armenian genocide and
accused Turks of genocide by acting under the influence of the Armenian lobby, and without researching historical truths," read a statement from
Sinan Aygun, head of Ankara Chamber of Commerce."
Finally, more bad news for your Roundup editors as the
cost of coffee continues to increase.
