"An influential Texas company
faces a state audit and legislative probe for its role in the controversial shutdown earlier this month of California's multibillion-dollar unclaimed property program," writes Tom Chorneau in the Chron.
"Affiliated Computer Services, one of the nation's largest computer technology companies, has served as the state's primary agent for locating lost or abandoned assets outside of California for more than a decade -- under a contract that has earned the company nearly $40 million since 2003.
"Lawmakers want to know if the company, which has been a major donor to California candidates and an active lobbyist at the Capitol, acted improperly in transferring more than $400 million in assets to the state over the last three years.
"'If there's property that isn't legitimately the state's to take, there shouldn't be any commission paid,' said state Sen.
Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks (Ventura County), a longtime critic of the state's unclaimed property program.
"'We should know if that's what has been going on,' he said. 'I think all commissions paid to vendors should be reviewed.'"
Is better parenting the answer to stopping gang violence?
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas
profiles Tony Mendoza's anti-gang bill. "Under his Assembly Bill 1291, parents of first-time juvenile offenders who commit gang-related crimes could be forced by judges to take parenting classes designed to help them control their children.
"In a Legislature where partisan rancor is the norm, the bill sailed out of the Assembly into the Senate on a 78-0 vote.
"'Both Democrats and Republicans love it,' said Mendoza, startled by the bipartisan support the bill has received."
The AP's Steve Lawrence
reports on the privacy bills moving through the Capitol.
Joe Simitian's "measure is one of a series of bills the Palo Alto Democrat has proposed to control the use of so-called radio frequency identification devices, or RFIDs, which can be placed in badges, passports, driver's licenses and on bodies to transmit radio signals with identifying information.
"The Assembly Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider four of the bills tomorrow.
"They also include measures that would bar use of RFIDs in driver's licenses and student identification badges before 2011 and set privacy-protection standards for the devices.
"A fifth bill by Sen.
Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, is also on the panel's agenda. It would require companies that issue identification cards or other items containing RFIDs to disclose the personal information that would be revealed by the devices and what steps they've taken to protect that data."
"State lawmakers have given tentative approval to four different measures to redraw political boundaries. Yet it remains far from certain just where these measures will wind up or in what form redistricting might finally take," reports Steven Harmon in the San Bernardino Sun.
"Two Assembly measures, ACA1 and ACA4, which were passed out of a key committee last week, have little in common - from the makeup of the members who would be asked to draw political boundaries to the criteria they'd use to make the maps - other than the desire of Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Minority Leader
Mike Villines to keep redistricting reform from flaming out so early in the legislative session.
"A week earlier, the Senate approved two equally disparate redistricting measures.
"SCA9 would allow retired judges to pick an independent committee to draw maps for state legislators, the Board of Equalization and Congress; and SCA4 that blends redistricting - excluding Congress - with an array of other government reforms.
"The competing measures not only paint a muddled picture, observers said, but also reflect just how conflicted lawmakers are about handing over the power to draw their own districts.
"'I don't think they're truly committed to redistricting reform,' said
Melissa Michelson, political science professor at Cal State East Bay in Hayward. 'They're going along with it because they have to, to get a term-limits extension.'"
The Bee's Steve Weigand reports in The Buzz: "With the 2010 gubernatorial primary only, let's see, 36 months away, seems it's high
time for someone to be handicapping the Democratic wannabes. Wait! Here's
Steve Maviglio, former New Hampshire legislator and current communications guru for Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez, with a rankings list posted on the California Majority Report Web site.
"The way Mavigs sees it, L.A. Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa ranks first, despite the fact that the mayor has been racking up enough political baggage lately to fill a good-sized airport.
"Second is the venerable former guv, Attorney General
Jerry Brown, mostly on the strength of Brown's well-known name. Third is S.F. Mayor
Gavin Newsom, whose baggage cart rivals Villaraigosa's, followed by Treasurer
Bill Lockyer and Light Governor
John Garamendi, mostly because they are statewide officers.
"As for Maviglio's boss, Nunez is only ranked No. 10. Maviglio points out that whether the Speak is even interested in the job may hinge on whether he can hold on to his current post through a voter- approved term-limits extension next Feb. 8."
We're not really having this conversation, are we?
"Amid stalled negotiations over its expired contract, the state correctional officers union has taken its hardball labor tactics to a new level --
it's taking on the leader of the other side.
"The move came at a state Senate Rules Committee confirmation hearing earlier this month when California Correctional Peace Officers Association President
Mike Jimenez told the panel, 'I do rise in opposition' to the appointment of
David Gilb as director of the Department of Personnel Administration.
"Jimenez blamed Gilb for the failure of the state to negotiate a new contract with the CCPOA. He chided Gilb for attending only one of the 20 negotiating sessions the union has had with the state over the past year and complained that the nominee prematurely sought a declaration of impasse in the contract talks. The state Public Employee Relations Board made the declaration May 17 and ordered the negotiations submitted to mediation.
"'
They've been dishonorable and dishonest with us in all of their dealings,' Jimenez said of Gilb in his testimony at the June 4 confirmation hearing."
"Gilb declined through a spokeswoman to be interviewed. He said in his testimony at the confirmation hearing that the state has offered a fair contract to the union. In documents filed with the labor relations board, the DPA charged that the union and Jimenez have blasted state negotiators with profanity-laden diatribes, filed 'obstructionist' information requests and ultimately shut down bargaining altogether."
LA Observed reports on the latest developments in the Times'
hunt to figure out who crashed Rocky Delgadillo's car.
"The Times editorial page launched a Rocky Watch box this morning that counts the days until City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo "comes clean" about who was driving his city-owned GMC Yukon when it crashed in 2004. They started with Day 7. Columnist Steve Lopez has also latched on to Delgadillo (he calls it Day 10) and announced in his weekend column that Rocky agreed to meet with him and a reporter this morning. If you are just tuning in, the deal is that Delgadillo's SUV suffered a couple thousand dollars in damage when he wasn't driving. The city picked up the repair tab, but Delgadillo won't say who was driving � in the face of sources telling the Times that it was Delgadillo's wife Michelle."
Speaking of local pols in trouble, Matier and Ross say
Jerry Brown may have to intervene in the case of SF Supervisor Ed Jew. "The fate of Ed Jew on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors may wind up being decided not by his colleagues or Mayor Gavin Newsom, but by state Attorney General Jerry Brown. Here's why:
Short of a voter recall, only the mayor or attorney general has the authority to set in motion Jew's possible removal from office. And the mayor can order a supervisor suspended only for 'official misconduct.'"The U-T's Bill Ainsworth reports on
the growth of political advertising in the fight over health care. "On the surface, the interest groups buying the ads are seeking to shape the negotiations over health care likely to take place this summer by taking their case to the public.
"Analysts say the most important audience for the ads are legislators, staff members and lobbyists. By appealing to outsiders, these interest groups demonstrate their commitment to insiders.
"'It's a very effective surgical approach to indicate that these groups are intensely interested in what happens,' said
Barbara O'Connor, a communications professor at California State University Sacramento."
All you health care types can place your ads in the Roundup by emailing us
here.
And from our
Can We See Some ID? Files, apparently the
drinking age at the Applebee's in Antioch is only 21 months. "
Kim Mayorga was confused when her 2-year-old started making funny faces and pushing away the apple juice he had ordered at Applebee's. The explanation came when she opened the lid of the sippy cup and was hit by the smell of tequila and Triple Sec.
"The restaurant staff accidentally gave
Julian Mayorga a margarita Monday. He grew drowsy and started vomiting a few hours later and was rushed to the hospital."
