"The way that
state regulators levy penalties and fees on HMOs is coming under intense scrutiny in the Capitol. And now one Democratic senator is trying to
remove what is effectively a limit on fines against health providers," reports Capitol Weekly.
"The department is supported primarily by an annual assessment on each HMO. That fee is determined in part by other sources of income for the department, including money from fines. So, in effect, the more money the department collects in fines, the lower the annual assessments. Critics of the system contend the money is simply being returned to the same insurance providers who are being punished by the department.
"
It makes as much sense as my old traffic tickets being credited toward my vehicle license fees," said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Van Nuys.
Several of California's largest gaming tribes have
paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a little-known body to successfully speed up their land applications - a necessary step for casino expansion," reports Capitol Weekly's Malcolm Maclachlan.
"The California Fee to Trust Consortium was established under the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs Pacific Regional office in 2000 in order to expedite land claims, many of which have languished for years. The consortium arrangement allows tribes to pay into a fund that pays the salaries of the BIA employees who evaluate these claims."
"Former NBA star
Kevin Johnson announced Wednesday he'll challenge two-term incumbent Heather Fargo, setting up a campaign that political observers said will be
tough, dirty and expensive," reports Terri Hardy in the Bee.
"'It will end up being a knock-down, drag-out fight that will focus on the negatives of both candidates,' said local political consultant
Doug Elmets, who is not representing either candidate. 'Both campaigns' teams are well known for focusing on the dark side.'
"
Robert Waste, a California State University, Sacramento, public policy professor and consultant, agreed. "We're going to need seat belts for this one," he said.
"With the city in the midst of a financial crisis, problems with high-profile development projects, criticism of her frequent travels and a perceived lack of leadership, Fargo is vulnerable, observers said. Underscoring the mayor's political problems is an independent survey conducted by Sacramento State, released Wednesday.
"The survey found
Fargo had an approval rating of 36 percent. Of the residents who answered the poll,
28 percent said they would vote to re-elect Fargo, while 29 percent said they would choose Johnson – leaving 41 percent undecided."
George Skelton writes that the
governor has opened the door to increasing revenues to help close the budget gap.
"Republican lawmakers consider closing loopholes the same as raising taxes. And they're right, of course. Loopholes are plugged to increase tax revenue. That fact can't be disguised with spin words like "loopholes" or "tax expenditures."
"On Tuesday, Schwarzenegger told reporters that lawmakers shouldn't get hung up on semantics.
"'We should not get caught up in what something is called,' he said. '
That doesn't bring anyone any healthcare. It doesn't bring any education. . . . What we need to do is fix problems. Let's just put everything on the table and not debate over the definitions.'
"Democratic leaders should consider it an invitation to offer Schwarzenegger a tax proposal. The governor finally agrees with them, it seems, that the state does have a revenue problem -- not simply a spending problem.
"Republicans still oppose a tax hike by any definition."
But...
"Do they really think that the general fund budget -- currently at $103 billion -- can be balanced with only spending cuts? 'That's our goal,' says Senate GOP Leader
Dick Ackerman of Irvine.
"'
Is it going to happen? I can't tell you that.'
"A slight waver? Maybe he's peeking outside the budget blinders."
Capitol Weekly also reports on
the end of an Assembly rule that has been on the books for nearly a decade.
t was around for nearly a century in the Capitol, the rule requiring new legislation to wait on hold for 30 days before being amended. Generations of California lawmakers and their staffs believed the monthlong hiatus was needed to gain time to get the legislation into print and to allow public investigation and comment.
"It will allow people to have more time to look at bills," said
Jon Waldie, the executive officer of the Assembly Rules Committee. "
The practical effect of this is that the real version of the bill is in print for all to see, by the whole Rules Committee and the House itself."
The Assembly Rules Committee announced the death of the 30-day print rule, which "is a holdover to provisions dating to 1911, when the Legislature was required to recess for 30 days to allow the state printer time to publish bills." The 30-day recess was abolished 50 years ago, but the holding period for the bills remained in effect - until two weeks ago.
The Bee's Andy Furillo reports that, while the face has changed, the
new receiver overseeing prison health care predicts a costly road ahead.
"'Health care has been a decades-long underinvestment' in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's program,
J. Clark Kelso said Wednesday in his first public speech since he was appointed to his job six weeks ago. "As receiver, I'm going to catch up."
"Kelso, addressing an issues forum sponsored by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said he wants to ramp up spending quickly within existing processes in hope of avoiding a "constitutional confrontation" with the state.
"'Too many people are sick, too many people are dying unnecessarily in California prisons, and there are threats to the public health as a result of some of the practices,' Kelso said.
"He did not put a price tag on his fix-it plan."
The Bee's Shane Goldmacher reports on
Eight Things You Didn't Know About Karen Bass. Among them: "As the newest member of the Big 5 – the nickname for the four legislative leaders and the governor – Bass will likely be spending some time in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famed Capitol smoking tent.
Just don’t expect the former nurse and physician’s assistant to light up a stogie with Schwarzenegger to seal a deal. Bass doesn’t smoke, said spokeswoman
Kellie Todd Griffith.
"I'm going to have to make him come out of the smoking tent," Bass said the day she was elected speaker. "That's going to make me sick."
And we close today with a story from the world of religion, from our
Moses in the Sky With Diamonds Files.
"High on Mount Sinai,
Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week."
Talk about a bad trip...
"Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times,
Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.
"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday."
Well, that might explain that whole Burning Bush thing...
