State legislators met the deadline today to approve a state budget, proposing a document that is roughly $800 million higher than Governor Brown has approved. John Myers at KQED has the story:
“’We’re differing from the governor’s proposal by about point eight of one percent,’ said state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) as he introduced the legislative plan which passed both houses on a party-line vote.
’So all of the news stories, all of the drama,’ said Leno, ‘is over point eight of one percent.’
“…Budget watchers believe there’s still substantial work to be done in closed door negotiations between the governor and legislative leaders. And there’s plenty of time to do so, with two weeks left before the beginning of the new fiscal year.”
Meanwhile, the most exciting news of the day was Assemblyman Scott Wilk’s (R, Santa Clarita) inadvertent “yes” vote. From AP:
“A Republican lawmaker accidentally cast his party's first vote for the California budget in years because he was distracted by Facebook.
“Assemblyman Scott Wilk was the sole Republican to vote for California's record $117.5 billion spending plan Monday.
“The Santa Clarita lawmaker later clarified he accidentally supported the bill in the Capitol while opposing it on Facebook. He posted on Twitter ‘My wife is right — I can't multitask!’"
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is facing criticism after the revelation that he was attending a fundraiser in Washington DC as LA braced for a ruling in a high profile police shooting. Peter Jamison, LAT:
“As Los Angeles braced for a ruling last week in the high-profile police shooting of a mentally ill black man, Mayor Eric Garcetti hopped on a plane to the nation's capital, saying he needed to talk to White House officials about community policing and funding for homelessness programs.
"’I will never stop going to Washington for the reasons that I was there,’ Garcetti later told reporters when asked about the wisdom of leaving town a day before the city police commission took up officers' controversial shooting of 25-year-old Ezell Ford. ‘I'll continue fighting for this city.’
“But the mayor wasn't in D.C. solely to seek money for his city. In addition to two short meetings with Obama administration officials, Garcetti attended a reception for his reelection effort hosted by one of the Democratic Party's most prominent fundraisers, The Times has learned.”
Longtime Democrat Joe Baca, a former assemblyman, state senator and congressional representative, has switched his party affiliation to Republican. Joe Nelson, Bakersfield Sun:
“Baca, 68, of Fontana, changed his party affiliation on June 2, said Melissa Eickman, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Elections Office.
“Prior to making the switch, Baca had been a registered Democrat in San Bernardino County since January 1976, Eickman said.
“Baca said Friday he and his wife thought long and hard about the decision, which he said reflects his ‘core Christian values’ and his pro-growth, pro-business philosophy.”
All eyes are on the Supreme Court as the body prepares to hand down a decision in an Arizona case that could upend California’s Redistricting Commission. Political Observer Paul Mitchell says that the 2011 lines may not be valid. From Capitol Weekly:
“The Supreme Court is set to announce a decision in an Arizona redistricting case that could upend the California Redistricting Commission’s congressional lines and return to the Legislature the responsibility for conducting each decennial redraw. Some prominent leaders in redistricting reform are preparing for this eventuality and urging the Legislature to stand down, allowing the current lines to be carried forward until 2022 and giving reformers a chance to develop a new method for independent redistricting of Congressional lines that wouldn’t conflict with the court’s decision in this case.
“This, however, may not be possible or even necessary.
“Keeping the existing lines for Congress may not be possible because the state populations have changed in the past five years, meaning that the lines passed in 2011 may not be voting rights act compliant when viewed with the most recent calculations of Latino, Asian and African American density in particular districts.”
Meanwhile, California’s Supreme Court, handed down a decision approving affordable housing requirements for developers. Maura Dolan Los Angeles Times:
“Citing an affordable housing crisis of “epic proportions,” the California Supreme Court made it easier Monday for cities and counties to require developers to sell some housing at below-market rates.
“The unanimous decision, written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, follows study after study documenting a lack of affordable housing in the state, especially in California’s coastal regions.
“’It will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with California‘s current housing market that the significant problems arising from a scarcity of affordable housing have not been solved over the past three decades,’ the chief justice wrote.”
A pending merger between cable giants Time Warner and Charter Communications could bring changes to nearly 40% of the state’s cable customers. John Howard has the story at Capitol Weekly:
A looming $78.7 billion merger between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications would affect California’s cable TV and broadband markets, with the new entity, called New Charter, serving nearly four of every 10 customers in the state….
“If the merger, which entails the sale of Time Warner and Bright House Networks to Charter is approved, the new entity – called New Charter — would have more than 39 percent of the California market, nearly five-fold Charter’s current market presence.”
And from the UK, a story that takes “bad dad” to a new low: sending an imposter to take the paternity test.
“A feckless father who sent a man who looked a bit like him to a court ordered paternity test has been convicted of fraud.
“Thomas Kenny was in a relationship when his mistress became pregnant but she refused an abortion and the love-rat didn't want to pay child maintenance.
“Birmingham Crown Court heard Kenny already had one child with his long term partner, and she was pregnant with his second when he had the affair….
“When the time came to take a DNA test ordered by the Child Support Agency, he tried to dodge his responsibility.
“Judge Philip Parker QC said he could not determine whether it had been the defendant's idea or the person who had been sent, possibly a work colleague, who had a physical similarity to Kenny.”
