"Prodded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's veto of a plan backed by Democrats to expand health care coverage, labor unions Wednesday
began 48-hour vigils around the state to oppose the Republican governor's proposal," reports Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"The vigils, including prayer and fasting, outside the Capitol and the governor's district offices mark a change in what until now has been a behind-the-scenes effort by labor to influence the debate over the 6.7 million Californians without health insurance.
"
Bill Camp, executive secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said the public demonstrations are "not about one group or another."
"'It's really about asking the leadership of our state to put together real, affordable, quality health care that stops the escalating costs that are strangling our business communities and our workers,' Camp said at a news conference outside the Capitol.
"But the campaign is being directed by a prominent Democratic political consultant, Chris Lehane, who was hired by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. The effort also includes the Service Employees International Union as well as consumer and faith-based groups."
Capitol Weekly reports labor leaders are
softening their earlier harsh criticism of the governor.
"A day after blasting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the greatest obstacle to health-care reform,
the head of the California Labor Federation appeared to back away from what many interpreted as the informal end of health care negotiations.
"After telling the Los Angeles Times that 'the year of health care reform has been a failure [largely] because of the governor,' the head of the Labor Federation,
Art Pulaski, said Wednesday that he hopes negotiations can start again.
"'Now that we have a new special session, this is the opportunity for us to push through to the next level,' Pulaski said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.
"California's Public Employment Relations Board
has declined to issue an injunction to block the state from imposing contract terms on the correctional officers union," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"The California Correctional Peace Officers Association sought the injunction from PERB after contract talks stalled last month and the state unilaterally imposed its "last, best and final offer" on the 31,000-member union.
"CCPOA spokesman
Ryan Sherman said the union is preparing to seek the injunction in court as a result of PERB's decision that came down last week."
CW's John Howard takes a look at
the governor's signings and vetoes.
"Many of the governor's vetoes and signings were expected--such as his veto of the Assembly's health care proposal, or of Senate Leader Don Perata's water-development plan.But other actions weren't, and caught many in the Capitol in surprise.
"
For example, the governor twice before vetoed legislation requiring employers to notify their workers about filing for the earned income-tax credit, which benefits low-income individuals and families. The credit has been on the books since 1975 and was partly intended to offset the burden on low-income workers of Social Security costs. But this time around, Schwarzenegger signed the bill without comment. Earlier in the year, the governor's wife, Maria Shriver, publicly urged people to take advantage of the earned-income-tax credit."One veto that caught observers by surprise was his rejection of SB 886 by Senate Leader
Don Perata, D-Oakland.
Perata's bill would have a created a regulatory scheme with some autonomy for dental hygienists and would have extended the existence of the state dental board, which licenses and regulates California dentists, until 2011. Absent the extension, the board is scheduled to expire next year. The bill was the result of extensive negotiations and a compromise between the dentists and the dental hygienists, two groups that have been at odds for years in the Capitol.
"Schwarzenegger said he vetoed the bill because he was 'concerned that this measure will lead to increased licensure fees for dental hygienists and dental assistants without providing additional consumer protections.' In his veto message, the governor did not mention the elimination of the dental board."
"Four
state consumer boards could die next year after state lawmakers neglected to pass a crucial bill during a frantic September final night in which both legislative houses raced to adjourn amid rancorous politics," writes the Bee's Kevin Yamamura.
"A fifth board, the Dental Board of California, is scheduled to expire after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a dental hygienists' bill that also would have allowed the regulatory panel to continue beyond next year.
"As a result, consumers could see fewer public protections in services such as barbering and cosmetology, vocational nursing, dentistry and audiology. Workers in those industries, as well as court reporters, may experience licensing inconveniences as their boards transform into smaller bureaus run strictly by the Schwarzenegger administration.
"State consumer boards are scheduled to periodically expire, or "sunset," a provision that enables lawmakers and the governor to review their performance before extending their terms. By the final night of session, the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board, Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, Dental Board and Court Reporters Board had not had their tenure extended beyond next June."
CW's John Howard takes a look at
one of this year's big winners -- Bill Burke.
"For
William Burke, the third time was the charm.
"
Burke, the former head of the L.A. Marathon and the husband of Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke, has been given a gift coveted by many California politicians: an exemption from term-limits. He serves as chairman of the powerful South Coast Air Quality Management District and his chairmanship was scheduled to end by next year.
"
Earlier bills carried by Burke's supporters in the Legislature to remove the term limits were blocked after news reports disclosed that Burke sought to make an end-run around the mandatory cutoff after two consecutive terms."
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan takes a look at
one newspaper's ongoing war with a local Indian tribe.
"
Nancy Crawford Hall didn't like how her local newspapers were covering the nearby Chumash tribe and casino. So she did something that people have fantasized about for centuries: She bought her own newspaper.
"Last October, she purchased a small monthly, the Santa Ynez Valley Journal. She turned it into a weekly and quickly began having her staff crank out stories that a spokeswoman for the Chumash has labeled "propaganda" and "conspiracy theory of the month."
"'It's an interesting paper,' said
Frances Snyder, tribal member and spokeswoman for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. 'Frankly, every week I dread looking at it. All of the stories are inaccurate. All of the stories are biased.'"
The LAT's David Reyes
profiles a recently enacted bill authored by Assemblyman Todd Spitzer. "The bill, signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week, toughens penalties for drivers who kill someone while intoxicated. It is dubbed the Ambriz Act after
Steve Ambriz, a popular Orange councilman who had been Spitzer's chief of staff. He died in 2006 when his car was struck head-on by a pickup driven by a woman with methamphetamine and marijuana in her system.
"As he held up a crushed mirror from Ambriz's vehicle, Spitzer glanced at Ambriz's widow, Bridget, and the couple's daughter, Kaitlyn, 4, and said, "This is a difficult day for me."
"The mirror, he said, is kept in a bag of items he uses when he talks to schoolchildren about the dangers of driving under the influence.
"The law, co-sponsored by Assemblywoman
Nicole Parra (D-Hanford), requires motorists to acknowledge when applying or renewing their license that if a person is killed while they are driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they can be charged with murder.
"As a result, a motorist who gets behind the wheel while drunk or on drugs and kills someone could receive a 15-years-to-life sentence, Spitzer said. The law goes into effect Jan. 1."
The Bee's Laurel Rosenhall reports on a
new law meant to keep school districts from excluding students from mandatory testing.
"The tens of thousands of California students who struggle in high school and wind up in alternative programs have long existed in a never-never land when it comes to standardized testing. Their test scores don't count toward the ranking of the school they left – and frequently don't count toward the school they transferred in to.
"That would change in a few years under Senate Bill 219, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed last weekend.
"The bill by Sen.
Darrell Steinberg says that beginning in 2011, the test scores of students in alternative programs must count toward the Academic Performance Index of both the school they left and the school they transferred in to, if the alternative program uses the same tests as regular schools. The API is a number between 200 and 1,000 assigned to each public school based on student achievement.
"Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said his bill is designed to stop high schools from boosting their API scores – and their image – by dumping low-performing students before test time."
"The California Supreme Court
denied an appeal Wednesday by a San Francisco man who spent nearly 14 years in prison for a gang murder before being freed by a judge, and now wants compensation from the state," writes Bob Egelko in the Chron.
"After his release in 2003,
John "J.J." Tennison asked a state board for $100 for each of his days behind bars, or $445,000, the amount provided by law for innocent people sentenced to prison. But the Victim Compensation Board rejected the claims of Tennison and co-defendant
Antoine "Soda Pop" Goff in December 2004, saying neither man had proved his innocence.
"A state appeals court upheld the board's decision against Tennison in June, and the state's high court denied review Wednesday, with only Justice
Joyce Kennard voting to hear the case.
"Goff did not appeal the board's ruling but has joined Tennison in a lawsuit against the city, the trial prosecutors and the police inspectors who conducted the original investigation,
Earl Sanders, later the city's police chief, and
Napoleon Hendrix."
Finally, from our
We Only Thought That Happened in Davis Files: "Talk about a potty mouth. A Scranton
woman who allegedly shouted profanities at her overflowing toilet within earshot of a neighbor was cited for disorderly conduct, authorities said.
Dawn Herb could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300."
"'It doesn't make any sense. I was in my house. It's not like I was outside or drunk,' Herb told The Times-Tribune of Scranton. '
The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop.'
"Herb doesn't recall exactly what she said, but she admitted letting more than a few choice words fly near an open bathroom window Thursday night.
"Her next-door neighbor, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, asked her to keep it down, police said. When she continued, the officer called police."
Scranton...was her neighbor
Dwight Shrute?
