Jan 2, 2008

Good times, bad times

As many return to work, the Bee's Aurelio Rojas reminds us that the health care bill is only half-way through the process with a Q&A on the plan.

"The California Assembly has approved legislation that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, say would provide medical coverage to about 70 percent of Californians who are permanently uninsured.

"If the Senate passes Assembly Bill X1 1 after the Legislature reconvenes next week, voters would be asked next November to approve taxes that would help pay for the $14.5 billion annual tab.

"Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, wants to see the legislative analyst's assessment of the plan's impact on California's $14 billion budget deficit before deciding whether his house will take the decisive vote."

"A batch of new state laws took effect Tuesday, including a ban on motorists smoking with children onboard and a 50-cent raise that brings the minimum wage to $8 per hour," reports Tom Chorneau in the Chron.

"But the big news, at least in Hollywood, might be a law that forces tabloid journalists to get their jailhouse celebrity mug shots without bribing court clerks or sheriff's deputies with a couple of $100 bills.

"Last year, lawmakers passed 964 bills, according to the Senate Office of Research; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 750 into law."

The Bee's Darrell Smith looks at the minimum wage hike. "California's cost of living continues to far outpace purchasing power, but the state's $8 minimum wage will be significant for low-wage earners, said one local analyst.

"'Purchasing power hasn't kept pace, but this will make an impact,' said Jean Ross, executive director of the Sacramento-based California Budget Project, a group of fiscal and policy analysts who focus on low- and middle-income Californians. 'That's a significant increase.'"

"More than half the state's residents say California is in "bad times" economically and only 25 percent think things will get better in the year ahead, according to a Field Poll released today," writes Jim Sanders in the Bee.

"Mark DiCamillo, poll director, said the numbers point to fears that could become "self-fulfilling prophecies" if belts tighten.

"'A big chunk of economic activity is driven by consumer spending,' DiCamillo said. 'And if consumers are feeling gloomy, they may be a little tighter with their discretionary spending.'

"Californians earning less than $40,000 were the most pessimistic, with 57 percent describing the economy as in 'bad times.' Forty-seven percent of respondents with salaries above $80,000 agreed.

"H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance, said the sky is not falling.

"California's economy is expected to continue to grow in 2008, but at a slower pace than in years past, Palmer said.

"'Everyone is focused on what's going on in housing, and that's been a drag on our economic growth,' he said. 'But you shouldn't extrapolate from that that all sectors of California's economy are singing the blues, because they're not.'"

Dan Walters chimes in on the fight over community college fees on the February ballot. "Community college officials fashioned Proposition 92 to protect themselves from being squeezed in a political vise – the powerful, union-driven K-12 coalition being one jaw and the politically connected four-year universities the other.

"Community colleges have complained that they have been routinely shorted on their fair shares of education operating funds and construction bonds, even though their campuses educate two-thirds of the state's public higher education students, and especially those from poor economic circumstances.

"With the state facing increasingly difficult budgets, however, Proposition 92 has drawn fire from both the K-12 coalition and, in back-to-back resolutions adopted in November, from the governing boards of the University of California and the California State University system."

"Now that it has defeated a potentially costly insurgency, the leadership of California's largest state workers union faces a new challenge: unifying its membership ahead of upcoming contract and pension battles," writes the Bee's Andy Furillo.

"Service Employees International Union Local 1000 stood to lose $12.5 million in revenue in the campaign to eliminate "fair share" fees in its largest bargaining unit. But the rescission campaign failed when less than half of the eligible voters mailed in ballots, the Public Employment Relations Board reported.

"By state law, the rescission campaign needed the support of 50 percent plus one of the 44,187 employees in SEIU 1000's Unit One. Only 17,699 ballots were returned to PERB, however, in a month of voting that began Nov. 27. As a result, the ballots were not even counted, said PERB general counsel division chief Les Chisholm.

"SEIU 1000 President Jim Hard said the defeat of the rescission campaign will allow the union to "focus on this huge and growing state budget deficit and our contract negotiations that are coming up quickly," as well as another challenge to its members' pension benefits."

Speaking of moving on, "San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and his girlfriend, actress Jennifer Siebel, became engaged in Hawaii over the weekend, knowledgeable sources said Monday," reports Carolyne Zincko in the Chron.

"One of Newsom's closest friends, high society party planner Stanlee Gatti, confirmed the engagement. The mayor's spokesman, Nathan Ballard, said the mayor popped the question on Saturday.

"'Jennifer told me (about it). She was on the phone first, and then he got on the phone,' said Gatti, reached in Raton, N.M., where he was on vacation.

"Gatti had no details about the proposal, other than that Newsom spoke with his girlfriend's father first and then proposed marriage. No wedding date has been set, Gatti said."

As proof that anything can be cosmetically enhanced in Orange County, sewage is now being turned in to drinking water.

"As a hedge against water shortages and population growth, Orange County has begun operating the world's largest, most modern reclamation plant -- a facility that can turn 70 million gallons of treated sewage into drinking water every day," reports Dan Weikel in the Times.

"The new purification system at the Orange County Water District headquarters in Fountain Valley cost about $490 million and comprises a labyrinth of pipes, filters, holding tanks and pumps across 20 acres.

"Almost four years after construction began, the facility is now purifying effluent from a neighboring sewage treatment plant run by the Orange County Sanitation District, a partner in the venture.

"The finished product will be injected into the county's vast groundwater basin to combat saltwater intrusion and supplement drinking water supplies for 2.3 million people in coastal, central and northern Orange County."

Finally, in case you missed it over the holiday, Senate pro tem Don Perata's Dodge Charger was carjacked, used in a drag race, and later recovered. The chattering class has many questions for Perata, including why he's not driving a Prius, but the real question is, why didn't he fight back?

"A stop at a Northside convenience store went from ordinary to life-changing in a matter of seconds for one woman and her daughter.

"Pat Wells said she was waiting in their running car outside of the store while her daughter was inside. She said she noticed a man panhandling but didn't think anything of it.

"'The next thing I knew, he was in my car. He just jumped in,' Wells said. 'I said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I need a ride.' And so he goes for the gear shifter.

The jacker took off, driving erratically, with grandma in the car...

"'I turned the key off, grabbed the wheel and tried to go over the embankment to try to keep him from going on the interstate,' Well said.

"The man was able keep going until she promised him $40 to stop. Wells said after making that offer she pulled a pen out her purse.

"'I said, 'Look, if you do don't stop this car and get out I am going to stab you in the eye with this ink pen and I'm serious,' 'OK.' So, he turned the corner right there at the Kangaroo and he got out,' Wells said."