"An emerging deal on the overdue state budget
stalled in the back rooms of the Capitol on Monday night, apparently over a handful of unresolved issues, including a proposal to give more money to suburban school districts," reports Judy Lin in the Bee.
"Lawmakers returned to work Monday after weeks of little progress on the spending plan and announced a tentative deal in the Senate that raised hopes the $103 billion budget could be resolved within hours.
"Both houses scheduled 10 p.m. floor sessions, but adjourned before taking action. Another session was scheduled for today."
"Without identifying specific concerns, Senate Republican leader
Dick Ackerman said his caucus still had a number of 'outstanding issues' that needed to be resolved.
"'It's not done yet,' Ackerman said."
This, of course, was after Ackerman had been quoted earlier in the day as saying there was a deal in place.
"Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Republicans
wanted more than $100 million in supplemental funding for suburban school districts before the state covered its required payments under Proposition 98 for public school systems.
"The two sides also
remain at odds over a GOP demand to limit lawsuits against development projects based on the state's new greenhouse gas law -- an issue thought to have been resolved earlier in the day."
The LAT's Evan Halper
reports: "'
This afternoon we had a Big Five meeting at 4:30 and agreed to a budget deal,' said Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). But he said Ackerman backed away from the deal soon after. 'At this point, the only thing I can tell you is that we need to hope for a better tomorrow, and it requires a bit of guts on the part of all members of leadership.'
"Nuñez also expressed frustration that the budget continues to be delayed over issues that have little to do with state spending. Democrats say the entire $145-billion budget should not have been held up over Republican complaints about environmental laws and a relatively small amount of money for suburban school districts."
But at least one of those issues may disappear today, according to the LA Times's Margot Roosevelt. "San Bernardino County is expected today to
approve a unique and very powerful plan to combat global warming,' state
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Monday.
"The county Board of Supervisors will meet in closed session to vote on
the settlement of a lawsuit that Brown filed in April to force the county to account for greenhouse gas emissions in its 10-year growth plan.
"San Bernardino County, the largest county by acreage in the lower 48 states, has been growing at breakneck speed in a sprawl pattern that has drawn sharp criticism from environmental planners. More than 500,000 new residents are expected to move into the county by 2030, bringing its population to 2.5 million.
"Brown's suit, which asserted that the county must account for its effect on global warming under California's 1970 Environmental Quality Act, spurred opposition from the building industry and the state Chamber of Commerce, as well as local officials.
"
It also contributed to a stalemate in the Legislature's negotiations over the state budget, with Republicans saying they would not approve a budget unless it contained a provision that barred global warming-related lawsuits under the Environmental Quality Act.
"
There was a lot of fear-mongering in Sacramento," the attorney general said. "There was a lot of false information about projects being stopped."
"A proposed ballot
initiative to change how California awards its presidential electoral votes has initial support from voters, according to a Field Poll released Monday, despite growing concerns among majority Democratic leaders," writes Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"The poll found that
47 percent of registered voters back the proposal to allocate most of California's 55 electoral votes on a district-by-district basis, while 35 percent want to keep the existing system awarding all electoral votes to whichever candidate wins the entire state.
Typically, conventional wisom indicates ballot measures should have at least 5-60 percent approval before the campaign begins if it has any hopes of passing on Election Day...
"The initiative was filed by GOP lawyer
Thomas Hiltachk, who helped initiate the 2003 gubernatorial recall and worked until this spring for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. If initiative backers obtain enough signatures, it would appear on the June 2008 ballot and could take effect in next year's presidential election."
You can download the entire Field Poll
here.
Dan Walters writes that
the initiative could allow California to decide the presidency.
However, the Mercury News's Steven Harmon reports that
Democrats are planning a vigorous fight. "[A] Democratic spokesman said that as voters become more aware of the impact, they will see it as a partisan ploy to 'rig' the presidential race. Only two other states - Maine and Nebraska, with a combined nine electoral votes - divide electoral votes by congressional districts.
"'
As voters learn that California will be the only big state that's doing this, and that not a single prominent Democrat is supporting this and it would essentially turn the White House to Republicans,' said
Chris Lehane, spokesman for Californians for Fair Election Reform, 'they will conclude this is the wrong change at the wrong time and place.'
"The Democratic group is considering filing its own initiative that seeks to get enough states to enter a compact that would dedicate all their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular vote. One state - Maryland - has adopted the proposal as law."
From our
Congressmen Behaving Badly Files, San Diego Democrat
Bob Filner has been
charged with assault after a bout of airport rage.
"Rep. Bob Filner is facing an assault and battery charge after an incident at Dulles Airport where he allegedly pushed an United Airlines bag claim employee," reports ABC News."
"Filner, a Democrat from California, allegedly attempted to enter an employees-only area on Sunday night.
Several witnesses said they heard Filner yell 'You can't stop me,' before pushing aside the employee and refusing to leave the office."
(Reports that he then starting yelling, 'I'm Batman! I'm Batman!' and revealed a pair of blue tights and a plastic mask were unconfirmed, but the Roundup would like to believe they're true.)"Filner disputed the account in a statement issued by his office.
"'Congressman Bob Filner is on his way to Iraq, visiting our troops, and will have a full statement when he returns. Suffice it to say now, that the story that has appeared in the press is factually incorrect - and the charges are ridiculous,' the statement said."
The LAT's Ari Bloomekatz looks into
the perennial budget debate over the UC labor centers. "During state budget deliberations each year since 2003, Republican lawmakers have tried to scuttle funding for a University of California institute dedicated to studying organized labor and workplace issues.
"And each year labor leaders and Democratic lawmakers have rallied to the program's defense. But this year, the fight is different. This year it's personal.
"In January, the UC Institute for Labor and Employment was renamed the
Miguel Contreras Labor Program, after the late labor leader.
"The institute's foes argue that the state should not pay academics to teach unionization, but the program's supporters say attacks on the institute amount to affronts to Contreras' legacy."
State Sen.
Gloria Romero is perhaps the most passionate about Contreras and his legacy.
"'He was a favorite son of ours, a brother to us, someone who truly championed the return of the attention in our state to labor. We've certainly said that this is personal as well as political for us,' said State Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles). 'We can fund $6 million to honor the legacy of one of our own, and that's why we will fight for this.'"
The NYT's Robert Pear reports the Bush Administration has
.
"The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.
"Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a monthlong Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were intended to return the Children’s Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.
Meanwhile, on Planet Maria, "On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, first lady Maria Shriver and the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts announced the 13 people who will be added to the museum's state Hall of Fame exhibit in downtown Sacramento," reports the Bee's Peter Hecht.
The full list of inductees includes: "photographer Ansel Adams, comedian Milton Berle, computer entrepreneur Steve Jobs, former San Francisco Giant great Willie Mays, wine magnate Robert Mondavi, actress and dancer Rita Moreno, civil rights figure and baseball legend Jackie Robinson, medical pioneer Dr. Jonas Salk, author John Steinbeck, actress Elizabeth Taylor, governor and Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren, actor John Wayne and golfer Tiger Woods."
The LA Business Journal published it's Who's Who in the world of LA Law, and a number of former lawmakers are among them: Pete Wilson and Bob Hertzberg make the cut, as does former Assemblyman Dario Fromer. Frommer, who refused to name his clients when asked by the paper, was also asked about what he would be doing if he wasn't in politics.
"'If I Weren’t an Attorney: I’d still be in politics (Frommer served in the Assembly), or singing with a Las Vegas big band.'"
