"A drive to alter California's legislative term limits
has collected 400,000 signatures more than necessary to place the issue on the February ballot, backers announced Monday," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"The proposal, backed by Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, would reduce the total number of years that lawmakers can serve but provide at least one extra term for sitting incumbents.
"'While the secretary of state still needs to certify our signatures, we're looking forward to running a vigorous campaign through the fall and winter,' said
Gale Kaufman, Núñez's political consultant.
"
Kevin Spillane, a GOP consultant who is leading the opposition, said the measure attempts to deceive voters. By benefiting incumbents, it undermines the state's term limits, he said.
"'It's a fitting statement that legislative leadership is turning in signatures on an initiative to extend their terms when they haven't even passed a budget yet,' Spillane said. 'It's hardly a rousing argument for why these politicians deserve to remain in power.'"
Meanwhile, "
Senate Republicans, the lone group standing in the way of the overdue state budget, on Monday
said they would seek to cut programs that receive relatively small amounts of government funding," reports the AP's Don Thompson.
"But as they have for weeks, Republicans would not detail which programs they wanted to ax.
"The cuts will come from "a couple dozen programs that are $20 million and less ... where we've seen tremendous growth in the last few years," said Sen.
Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Temecula, vice chairman of the Senate budget committee. 'Pretty soon they start adding up.'"
"Republicans said trimming those programs will not only balance this year's budget but also help prevent a deficit projected to top $5 billion next year. Hollingsworth said he and other Republicans in the Senate are still trying to decide which specific cuts to endorse."
"'Right now, the budget is $700 million out of whack,' he said. 'We're putting together a budget proposal that will be balanced and responsible.'"
Dan Walters argues that
it's time to make tough decisions regarding the state budget. "With a stalemate in the Senate, Democrats are demanding that Republicans reveal the specific spending cuts they want to reduce the operating deficit to zero -- and that's not unreasonable. But by the same token, the governor and Democrats who want the current version enacted should be telling us how, in heaven's name, they would balance the budget without more spending cuts. If they want new taxes, they should say so.
"This should be the day of fiscal reckoning. It's time for everyone to put up or shut up -- and if it takes a prolonged stalemate to get there, so be it. Doing it correctly is more important than being timely.
"California's budget crisis, unlike its wines, will not get better with age."
But over in the Bee's B Section,
Dan Weintraub doesn't see it that way.
"The Republicans are right to raise questions about the state's fiscal viability over the long term, and their stiff resistance today suggests that anyone who thinks Republican lawmakers will vote to raise taxes next year is probably mistaken. But even with all their tough talk, Republicans in the Senate have yet to go public with a list of spending cuts that would meet their demands.
"
If they are really standing on principle, Republicans shouldn't be afraid to tell voters how they would balance the budget. Until they do, the Democrats win this debate by default. It's hard to beat something with nothing."
Meanwhile, "[a] Bay Area lawmaker
has adopted a state fiscal orphan -- state parks falling apart from neglect -- amid a deadlock on a budget that slashes many such unprotected services," writes Steve Geissinger in the Contra Costa Times.
"Sen.
Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, said Monday it's too late this year to help California's internationally renowned gems, but he hopes to sway fellow lawmakers before he's termed out in 2012.
"'Small problems become big problems,' Simitian said. 'I fear the neglect will become irreversible at some point.'"
"Federal judges seeking to improve prison medical care called the state's latest efforts insufficient Monday and
ordered creation of a three-judge panel to consider capping California's inmate population," writes the LAT's Nancy Vogel.
"The move — the first for a state prison system — has the potential to prompt early release of inmates. Experts and elected officials, however, said that less-drastic measures might appease federal courts and that releases, if necessary, could be made in ways that minimize any threat to the public.
"The rulings are an escalation of federal intervention in California's prisons, which now house nearly 173,000 inmates, 17,000 of them in gymnasiums, day rooms, classrooms and other areas not designed as dormitories. Prompted by class-action lawsuits on behalf of inmates, federal courts have declared the level of medical and mental health care in the prison system unconstitutional and turned over healthcare operations to a court-appointed receiver.
"In separate rulings, U.S. District Judges
Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento and
Thelton Henderson of San Francisco concluded that a $7.4-billion prison reform package enacted by the Legislature and Schwarzenegger in May could worsen prison conditions because it calls for adding beds without bolstering staff."
From our
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Files, "Soccer shoes and other athletic footwear made with prized kangaroo skin
are banned under a state law that was upheld Monday by the California Supreme Court," reports Maura Dolan in the Times.
"The court unanimously decided that a 36-year-old ban on the import and sale of products made from various wildlife species, including kangaroo, was not preempted by federal wildlife law.
"The case was brought by an animal protection group against Adidas, which sells soccer, rugby and baseball shoes made with the hide of kangaroo species that state law protects. Adidas argued that federal law, which permits the import and sale of kangaroo skin, takes precedence over state law.
"A lawyer for Adidas said the shoes at issue would continue to be sold in California until other legal issues in the case are resolved. He said the case eventually could reach the U.S. Supreme Court."
"A longtime Republican activist credited with helping revitalize the GOP in San Bernardino County
was appointed to a judgeship by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in May even though he was rated "not qualified" by a state bar committee, the bar announced Monday.
"But a spokeswoman for the State Bar of California said the organization and members of the judicial evaluating commission were legally prohibited from explaining why San Bernardino Superior Court Judge
Elia Pirozzi was deemed unqualified.
"
Ephraim Margolin, a lawyer based in San Francisco who said he has represented about 130 judges during his more than 40 years of practice, said the situation was not unheard of.
"Is it politics? It smells like politics — maybe it isn't — but we don't know," Margolin said. "It is questionable when committees are disregarded, and usually there's a story behind it."
Because we all know how loyal Schwarzenegger is to Republican activists...
"
Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, wouldn't discuss how the bar committee's rating factored into the appointment. He said in a statement that Pirozzi was qualified to serve in part because he had been serving as a judge pro tem over the last year — a position for which he was selected by peers in the legal community."
Just to show that
nobody is safe from online privacy invaders, "
a prize-winning poodle from North Wales has become the latest victim of online identity theft.
"Details of the two-year-old poodle, named Afonwen Welch Fusilier, were posted on the internet by proud owner Lynne Day.But a crook pilfered the details from the site and is passing the dog off as his own.
"
He claims that Afonwen Welch Fusilier – pet name Blue – has given birth to puppies, despite being male."
