"California's 51-day
budget impasse ended Tuesday when Senate Republicans who had been blocking a spending plan gave up their fight,
accepting largely symbolic concessions on a few pet issues," report Evan Halper and Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
"The $145-billion budget they approved is nearly identical to the bipartisan plan passed by the Assembly on July 20 and endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It would increase spending on schools, reduce aid to the elderly and disabled, raise student fees at state universities and delay Los Angeles-area mass transit projects.
"'Thank God this is over with,' said Senate Leader
Don Perata (D-Oakland). '
We had a long holdout . . . and I don't believe the institution is any better for it. It certainly wasn't a moment of distinction for any of us.'
"Senate Republicans expressed no regrets. They boasted of gains won at the bargaining table, including a temporary prohibition on lawsuits that invoke new global warming laws to stop development. The ban applies to suits aimed at transportation and levee projects authorized by voters last year."
In the end,
Dick Ackerman and
Abel Maldonado cast the deciding votes for the spending measure.
The budget's passage was eased when
Jerry Brown backed down from a lawsuit against San Bernardino County over development and the state's emissions law.
The SB Sun's Matt Wrye reports: "Members of the county Board of Supervisors
announced on Tuesday the end of litigation by Attorney General Edmund 'Jerry' Brown, who filed suit against the county in April, alleging that its general plan didn't include direction on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
"At a news conference, Brown said an agreement has been worked out, which four county supervisors approved during their morning meeting.
"The county will work with the state in decreasing emissions through conforming county land-use decisions and operational policies to a reduction target goal - all at an estimated price tag of $500,000.
"'This is a landmark agreement,' Brown said. 'This (emissions) problem is so large that no one county can solve it by itself. This plan is extremely innovative.'
"However, Supervisor
Brad Mitzelfelt voted against working out an agreement with the attorney general. The attorney general's lawsuit is "contrary to California's separation of powers, where laws are adopted by the Legislature," he said in a statement."
Carla Marinucci looks at
the winners and losers in the budget impasse. "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, despite his Superman-like persona in the national media lately on issues like global warming and "reach across the aisle" style politics, got mixed reviews after he was publicly criticized by a handful of GOP senators who held up the budget for weeks.
"Some called him the big loser.
"'He didn't drive the process; it drove him,' said Hoover Institution research fellow
Bill Whalen. 'The tail wagged the dog.'
"Not so, says
Barbara O'Connor, professor of political communication at Sacramento State University. "The governor is a winner. He can now move on to other legacy items he cares about: health care, a water deal, reapportionment of state legislative districts as a quid pro quo for term limits," she said. "If things had dragged on, that wouldn't have happened."
"Definite losers, O'Connor says: 14 stubborn conservative GOP senators, led by Republican Senate leader
Dick Ackerman of Irvine, who headed a caucus in a blustery show of defiance that held up the required two-thirds legislative approval for nearly two months. '
The budget deal they struck is pretty much what they had a month ago - and everybody knows it,' O'Connor said. '
The Republican Party, as a whole, doesn't come out looking very good.'
"But there was a standout: GOP Assembly Republican leader
Mike Villines of Clovis.
"'He's probably the biggest winner,' said O'Connor. In a party without a deep bench ready to take the field for future statewide elections, Villines improved his image because 'he delivered his (Republican Assembly) votes, and he was a full partner in the negotiations.'"
Now that the budget's behind us, on to health care.
"Californians
overwhelmingly are dissatisfied with the state's health care system, according to a
new Field poll, but they disagree about how to fix it and are pessimistic about the prospects for reform in the Legislature this year," reports Mike Zapler in the Merc News.
"The results from the poll taken earlier this month offered mixed news for health care reformers. In a sign that would seem to bode well for change, nearly seven out of 10 voters said they are somewhat or very dissatisfied with the state's health care system, while just 28 percent said they are satisfied.
"That marks a sharp downturn from December, when 51 percent of poll respondents said they were satisfied with the way the health care system was working and 44 percent were dissatisfied.
"But that distaste doesn't translate into consensus on a solution. Ironically, the drumbeat of attention on health care this year, fueled by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other would-be reformers, seems to have dampened support for the one approach to change that had majority backing last year: shoring up the current insurer-based system. That solution, which is favored by the governor and calls for shared responsibility among government, employers and individuals, is now favored by just one-third of voters, down from 52 percent in December.
"By contrast, 36 percent of registered voters prefer replacing the current insurance-based system with a government-run system, up from 24 percent last year. That approach is more popular among Democrats and non-partisans, and among those who say they are very dissatisfied with the current system."
"A proposed initiative limiting how governments seize private property
has drawn concerns from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a Republican state senator that it could block construction of dams and a Delta canal," reports Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"A legal analysis issued this week by Richard Martland, a former state attorney general official, argues that the eminent domain initiative would prevent government from taking private land "for the consumption of natural resources," including water storage. Martland wrote the analysis for initiative opponents, including environmentalists and local governments.
"The initiative is backed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2005 allowed cities to transfer property from one private owner to another for redevelopment, enraging property rights groups.
"
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis group, charged Tuesday that the Martland analysis was flawed because Coupal believes the initiative does not restrict large public works projects. Proponents have circulated petitions since June and plan to collect the necessary 694,354 signatures without changing the initiative language, he said."
"Secretary of State
Debra Bowen appears poised to deliver another blow to the e-voting industry, threatening Election Systems & Software on Tuesday with fines of nearly $15 million and a three-year ban on doing business in California for selling uncertified equipment to five counties.
"Bowen accused Omaha, Neb.-based ES&S of illegally selling 972 uncertified AutoMARK Version 1.1 machines to Marin, Solano, San Francisco, Colusa and Merced counties.
"'If ES&S has broken the law and misled counties into buying nearly 1,000 uncertified machines,' Bowen said, 'I intend to go after the company for the full $9.72 million in penalties allowable under the law, along with the original $5 million the company took from counties' pockets.'"
In the least suspenseful election since the reelection of Brezhnev, "Assemblywoman Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach)
defeated candidates from three parties in Tuesday's special election to capture the 37th Congressional District seat left vacant by the death last spring of Rep.
Juanita Millender-McDonald.
"Richardson, who in less than a year has risen from the Long Beach City Council to Congress, was considered the overwhelming favorite in the largely Democratic district that encompasses Compton, Carson, much of Long Beach and parts of South Los Angeles.
"Her opponents included the Green Party's
Daniel A. Brezenoff, a social worker and peace activist; Libertarian
Herb Peters, a retired aerospace engineer; and Republican
John Kanaley, a Long Beach police officer."
"State pension fund officials
apologized Tuesday to hundreds of thousands of retirees whose Social Security numbers were printed on brochures mailed out last week and vowed to take immediate steps to ensure that such an error does not happen again," reports Darrell Smith in the Bee.
"Roughly 445,000 retirees across the state received the brochures announcing an upcoming election to fill a rare vacancy on the board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System. All or a portion of each person's Social Security number appeared -- without hyphens -- on the address panel.
"'While it is unlikely that someone would recognize the series of numbers as being a Social Security number except you, we consider this a serious incident,' read a letter to state retirees explaining the breach. "
Los Angeles City Councilman
Bernard C. Parks took the first step Monday toward running for the seat held by county Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, forming a committee that would allow him to raise money for the June 8 election," reports the LAT's David Zahniser.
"Parks, a former Los Angeles police chief who has served on the council for four years, is the first politician to make such a move toward seeking the seat, which encompasses much of South Los Angeles as well as the recently closed Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital.
"
If Parks wins, he could wind up shaking up the politics of the five-member board, which has three Democrats and two Republicans, although the offices are nonpartisan. Parks, a Democrat, has taken some of the most fiscally conservative positions on the City Council."
Former Chronicle Capitol Bureau Chief
Greg Lucas was feted at the California State Museum last night, with an open bar and a guest list that was like a who's who of California politics. Everyone from Willie Brown to Bill Lockyer was in attendance, and heard Lucas announce his future plans.
On Monday, Lucas said, he plans to
launch a blog with former Sen. John Burton, whom Lucas described as the only person less Internet-savvy than himself.
