"California's
legislative salaries, already the nation's highest, will rise to $116,208 today for all but a handful of lawmakers who have declined the hike while the state fights a massive budget shortfall," writes the Bee's Jim Sanders.
"Thirteen legislators -- four Senate and nine Assembly members -- have asked the state controller to kill their $3,110-a-year raise.
"The other 106 lawmakers and 11 of 12 constitutional officers are taking the money, although they officially have until Dec. 17 to turn it down."
Wonder if the No on 93 campaign is on to this one..."The sweeter salaries take effect at a time when the state projects a $10 billion budget deficit, but the pay hike was approved five months ago by an independent citizens commission created by voters through Proposition 112 in 1990.
"Besides [
Abel] Maldonado, legislators rejecting today's raise are Assembly Republicans
Alan Nakanishi of Lodi,
Ted Gaines of Roseville,
Roger Niello of Fair Oaks and
Martin Garrick of Solana Beach; Assembly Democrats
Nicole Parra of Hanford,
Mike Eng of Monterey Park,
Ed Hernandez of West Covina,
Hector De La Torre of South Gate and
Anthony Portantino of La Canada Flintridge; and Sens.
Lou Correa, D-La Habra,
Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, and
Mark Wyland, R-Del Mar."
The U-T's John Maurelius
gives a run-down on Proposition 93, and
notes the irony of Republican Party's opposition and Democratic Party's support.
"Ironically, both parties' positions are contrary to their short-term political interests, said Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book, which analyzes state political campaigns.
"Hoffenblum said there are several vulnerable Republican legislative seats, including those of Assemblywomen
Shirley Horton of Bonita and
Bonnie Garcia of Cathedral City.
"'
There's two seats that are kind of borrowed seats -- the Horton seat and the Bonnie Garcia seat,' he said. '
They were drawn to favor Democrats and still do. The best chance Republicans have to hold on to those seats is for Horton and Garcia to seek re-election as incumbents.'"
The Merc News's Mike Zapler writes that the governor's
option of placing health care reform on the ballot would be a steep challenge.
"A Mercury News review of the 107 initiatives that have appeared on the California ballot since 1998 underscores how daunting a campaign on health care reform would be.
"Only nine of those measures passed when opponents spent at least $1 million, according to campaign finance records. But in five of those success stories, the initiative's backers outspent opponents by at least 2 to 1. The remaining measures featured popular, easy-to-digest causes, such as increasing tobacco taxes for child development programs and requiring that all public school classes be taught in English.
"Going back 15 years, voters have rejected the past five attempts to reform the health care system. Four of those measures embraced populist ideas - regulating HMOs and forcing businesses to offer health insurance.
"'I don't think it has a chance,' said
David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University and expert in initiative politics, when asked about Schwarzenegger's ballot-box strategy. 'He wants to do something really big and leave a legacy, but it ignores initiative history.
The money spent against ballot measures is among the best investment in politics. Add to that the "T" word - taxes - and the "C" word - complexity - and things get messy really quickly.'"
The Bee's John Hill
continues his investigation of the chiropractic board. "The new chairman of the state Board of Chiropractic Examiners lashed out recently at past oversight of the profession, criticizing officials for overpolicing the state's 15,000 chiropractors with '
almost ritualistic sadism.'
"Since taking the helm of the oversight board in March,
Richard Tyler has led other appointees of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in easing up on discipline and remaking a staff they considered too harsh.
"But a Bee investigation found that over the past decade previous boards often failed to consistently protect the public from chiropractors' misdeeds -- the board's primary job.
"Since 1923, the board has been charged with ensuring that chiropractors do not break the law or violate state regulations.
"While the board took away the licenses of 219 chiropractors from 1998 to 2006, and put another 185 on probation, The Bee found it missed or disregarded allegations of questionable activity."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas
writes that California's Healthy Families program is at risk because of a federal funding fight.
"Largely because of the program, the share of uninsured children in California fell from 21 percent in 1998 to 14 percent in 2005, according to a report by the California Healthcare Foundation.
"
But state officials may soon have to drop 66,000 children a month from the program and freeze new enrollment because of a funding impasse between Congress and the Bush administration.
"On Friday, the state's Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which administers Healthy Families, postponed until next month a decision originally scheduled to be made at a hearing Tuesday in hopes that the logjam is broken by then.
"California, which already has about 800,000 uninsured children, is among 21 states that will run out of money from the State Children's Health Insurance Program in July if funding for the 10-year-old federal program is not increased."
"California
pension fund leaders are going international with their climate change campaign, joining 150 corporate executives from around the globe in demanding mandatory curbs on greenhouse gas emissions,"
"The unprecedented call comes as international talks begin today in Indonesia to craft a new global climate change pact.
"'Businesses are very, very concerned. It (climate change) has huge geopolitical consequences,' said state Controller
John Chiang, a trustee of the influential California Public Employees' Retirement System and California State Teachers' Retirement System. 'All of that has implications to the financial markets.'
"Chiang and officials at CalPERS and CalSTRS have aligned themselves with some of the world's largest companies in a British-based petition drive calling for diplomats from more than 180 countries to take "strong, early action" during a United Nations climate change conference. The 12-day summit is aimed at developing a new treaty to replace the landmark Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012."
Matier and Ross write that San Francisco's
budget deficit is due to Newson-backed initiatives, and not a weak economy. "According to the mayor's own memo on the troubles, issued late last month, the city's descent into the fiscal sinkhole was triggered by three big factors:
"-- Voter approval in November of Proposition A, which mandated almost $28 million to the Municipal Railway - a deal that Newsom backed.
"-- New labor contracts for police, firefighters and nurses that included pay bump-ups of 24 percent over the next four years - which Newsom's office negotiated.
"-- And the absence of the usual $100 million carryover from the previous year's budget - which Newsom's office knew about months ago, even as the mayor's people were negotiating those aforementioned contracts.
"Still, they continued spending.
"And unlike the governor, who is facing a $10 billion state shortfall thanks to the housing slump, Newsom can't blame the economy for his troubles.
"'Our revenues here in the city are doing fine,' Controller
Ed Harrington said."
Sounds like everyone on the Board of Supes is uniquely equipped to be a member of the Legislature.
And from our
Tis the Season Files, "A college student accused of shoving a pumpkin pie into the face of a shopping-mall Santa Claus has been charged with misdemeanor assault.
Clint Westwood, 22, said he "lightly smooshed" the pie into the man's face Wednesday and shouted, "What do you think of that, Santa?"
We think that someone who had to grow up with the name Clint Westwood probably has a lot of pent up aggression...
