" It was
a year of unfulfilled expectations in 2007, during which lawmakers failed to produce hoped-for reform in health care, water storage and political behavior," reports the Merc's Steven Harmon. "And the prospects are strong for even more legislative paralysis and partisan sniping in 2008, with lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger focused on digging out of a projected $14 billion budget hole.
"
Forget the once-promised Year of Education Reform, political analysts say. The big ideas that Schwarzenegger wanted to chisel into his legacy may be out for next year, along with any other proposals that come with price tags."
"State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata escaped uninjured from a gun-wielding man who
robbed him of his sporty state-leased car at a red light in North Oakland on Saturday, police said," reports the Merc's Steve Geissinger.
The Oakland Democrat was in his red 2006 Dodge Charger, stopped at 51st Street and Shattuck Avenue in the Temescal district, when an armed man tapped on his window about 1:45 p.m., police said.
"It was an automatic and he was nervous, tugging at a mask," Perata said in an interview. "I thought, 'What if he pulls that trigger?' Staring down the barrel from three feet away, it looked like the Caldecott Tunnel from three feet away. He yelled 'gangster style' and I jumped out."
Perata's car was later found in nearby Richmond, about 10 miles from the carjacking."
Though Perata was uninjured, he did say that if Senate Republicans hold up the budget again, he would sneak up behind
Dick Ackerman and yell, "gangster style."
"New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in
challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington," reports the Post's David Broder.
"
Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman."
What, no Schwarzenegger?
The U-T starts looking at the laws set to go into effect tomorrow, including
a spike in the minimum wage.
Jeanette Steele writes, "that minimum-wage worker delivering your deep-dish pepperoni or cleaning your motel room will earn an extra 50 cents an hour starting tomorrow.
The raise, which boosts California's minimum wage to $8, means an extra $20 a week in the pocket of a full-time worker."
The Bee's Andrew McIntosh reports, "California legislators are
reviving efforts to repair the state's oversight of emergency medical technicians, undeterred by the governor's recent veto of legislation requiring mandatory background checks for the state's 70,000 EMTs.
"Assembly and Senate health committees have scheduled hearings for January to evaluate rival bills. Each aims to bolster the county-run EMT certification system with universal background checks and a state license registry similar to what exists for more highly skilled paramedics.
"The renewed legislative efforts come as the state Emergency Medical Services Authority boss officially steps down today and authorities in three counties investigate and try to punish rogue rescuers who had slipped through the cracks."
The Chron's Matthew Yi writes the
obit for David Kennedy, the former state water chief who died last week.
"It was under his watch that the Department of Water Resources expanded the State Water Project's delta pumping capacity and completed construction of the 100-mile Coastal Branch to augment water supply to Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties."
