"California
is facing a cash crisis this summer, putting pressure on elected officials to submit an on-time state budget or risk asking taxpayers to pay a premium on loans," reports Judy Lin in the Bee.
"In the past, the state has been able to pay its bills despite projected deficits by borrowing money internally from some state special funds and by selling short-term notes on Wall Street.
"But a lack of cash reserves this year combined with lagging revenues has led officials to predict that the state will run out of cash as early as August, giving lawmakers a smaller-than-expected window to strike a budget deal.
"Without a budget in place, the state would have to borrow money from banks at higher interest rates than those they can secure with internal borrowing. Such a move also could negatively affect the state's credit rating, making future borrowing even more expensive.
"'
In essence, it's taking a subprime loan for the state, and it comes with greater costs,' said state Controller
John Chiang.
"In separate interviews, Chiang and Treasurer
Bill Lockyer, who respectively act as the state's chief financial officer and banker, said they are closely monitoring the situation and have been pressing lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to quickly work out the budget shortfall, which the governor now estimates to be as much as $20 billion – or one-fifth of the general fund – for the new fiscal year."
Today's doom and gloom is brought to you by San Diego's Jackson Elementary, which
is threatening to layoff nearly all its teachers.
The U-T's Maureen Magee reports: "Jackson is on the brink of losing nearly its entire staff even though teachers are desperate to stay. Twenty-four of its 26 instructors received layoff notices as the San Diego Unified School District is seeking $80 million in cuts to its $1.2 billion budget.
"Schools from Chula Vista to Carlsbad are looking at profound changes in their faculty; about 2,000 teachers in the county received pink slips to deal with pending statewide spending cuts. However, Jackson's situation underscores the unintended consequences of seniority-based layoffs.
"Jackson has been hit so hard by potential job cuts because experienced teachers have steered clear of the school. Under the California Education Code, layoffs are issued based on seniority, not professional performance.
"'It's just not fair to the kids after everything that's happened here,' said
Mike McEwen, a fourth-grade teacher at Jackson who received a pink slip."
"is on the brink of losing nearly its entire staff even though teachers are desperate to stay. Twenty-four of its 26 instructors received layoff notices as the San Diego Unified School District is seeking $80 million in cuts to its $1.2 billion budget.
Meanwhile, another lawsuit could make putting that budget together more difficult. "Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers
filed a class-action lawsuit Monday seeking to block the state from cutting payments to them for treating the poor," writes Lin.
"The lawsuit challenges the single- biggest program reduction that elected officials have been willing to accept thus far as the state faces a deficit Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said could be as high as $20 billion.
"The suit contends that cutting Medi-Cal – the state-run health insurance program serving 6.5 million low-income residents – would making it harder to find caregivers willing to treat poor patients because payments are already so low.
"The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks an immediate injunction to prevent the cuts from taking effect July 1. A smaller group of health care providers succeeded in delaying a three-year, 5 percent rate cut during the 2003 budget crisis.
"Schwarzenegger officials would not comment specifically on the suit, saying they had not had a chance to review the complaint.
"But
Norman Williams, spokesman for state Department of Health Care Services, said as difficult and painful it may be for doctors, dentists, pharmacists and hospitals to accept a 10 percent Medi-Cal reimbursement rate cut, the program 'can't be exempt from the solution.'"
But it looks like legislators are the only lapdogs that are going to be allowed, if
Bill Maze has his way.
"Canines don't have to be back-seat drivers, but they'd
better stay away from the gas pedal under legislation passed Monday by the Assembly," writes the Bee's Jim Sanders.
"The measure to ban drivers from holding a live animal has been lambasted by radio's
Rush Limbaugh and ridiculed as the "Paris Hilton Bill" in honor of the celebrity dog lover.
"But Assemblyman
Bill Maze, R-Visalia, said his bill can be a matter of life or death.
"'It's a safety measure,' he said before the Assembly's 44-11 vote sent the measure to the Senate.
Maze therefore gives up his right to accuse any Democrat of advocating a 'nanny state.'
"Current law requires animals to be secured in the back of a pickup, but allows them to roam freely inside a vehicle.
"Supporters hailed the bill as common sense while opponents complained that government shouldn't dictate who can sit in their lap – period.
"'I think we can probably spend the government's money on more significant issues,' said
Vickie Cleary, an Antelope resident and dog lover."
Oh yeah, lady? Name one!
In Los Angeles today, Gov. Schwarzenegger is
expected to announce that his drive to qualify a redistricting measure for the November ballot will begin submitting signatures to county election officials. A press conference with the governor is expected later today.
"The animal-rights group Mercy For Animals
plans to release a video today shot by an undercover worker at a Merced County egg barn that shows hens crammed into cages, suffering from open sores and being handled roughly and stepped on by workers.
"The video is an early attempt to build voter support for a November ballot measure that would make California the first state to ban the sort of cages that house most laying hens.
"
Steve Gemperle, one of the owners of Gemperle Enterprises, whose barns are shown in the video, called the footage a politically motivated attack on the egg industry. 'It's trying to discredit us,' he said Monday. 'My company doesn't tolerate the abuse of animals. Abused animals don't produce eggs.'
"Gemperle said his company sells eggs to NuCal Foods Inc., of Ripon, which packages eggs for many major area food retailers.
"
Nathan Runkle, executive director of Chicago-based Mercy For Animals, said the video aimed to 'get Californians a glimpse behind the egg industry and show the inherent cruelty involved in battery cage facilities.' Mercy For Animals, which has 16,000 members, advocates a vegan diet.
"Runkle said his group will call on the Merced County district attorney to charge Gemperle Enterprises with neglect under state animal-cruelty law. Federal animal-welfare statutes do not apply to livestock, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman."
Meanwhile, the LAT's Evan Halper reports that
state regulations make it difficult to use alternative fuels and could lead to fines and unexpected taxes.
"The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil he buys at Costco, had not complied. Schwarzenegger, who has said that the exhaust from his Hummer smells so much like French fries that his passengers get hunger pangs, was unaware that
he was required to send Sacramento an 18-cent road tax for every gallon of kitchen oil he burned, according to spokesman
Aaron McLear. After The Times raised the issue, McLear said the governor would pay the taxes he owed.
"The governor's staff says it is working on
making it easier to drive using vegetable oil without being an outlaw.
"'We are very interested in making sure people who have these kinds of vehicles are able to comply as easily as possible,' McLear said.
"But environmentalists are frustrated. 'It is ridiculous that we live in what is presumed to be one of the greenest states in the nation, yet we have the most antiquated laws to deal with green energy,' said
Josh Tickell, an alternative-fuels advocate and filmmaker whose documentary "Fields of Fuel" recently won the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival.
"'Everyone I know wants to do the right thing by the law,' he said. 'But the state is not set up to even clearly provide information to folks.'"
"Higher fees for parking tickets, traffic school, criminal convictions and civil court filings
would pay for $5 billion in improvements to California's deteriorating courthouses under a proposal announced Monday by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court and legislative leaders," writes Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
"Penalties on criminal convictions would rise by $40. The state fee for attending traffic school would go from $24 to $64, and $2 would be added to parking tickets. The cost of filing civil cases would increase by $25 to $35, depending on the type of case.
"'
The physical condition of California's courthouses has reached a state of crisis,' Chief Justice
Ronald M. George said. 'Some court buildings are in such desperate shape that they no longer provide a safe and secure environment for conducting everyday court business.'
"Some courthouses are in danger of collapsing in an earthquake, while others are so crowded that judges conduct hearings in the parking lot, George said during a news conference in the state Capitol."
Sen. Don Perata announced yesterday he was supporting a proposal for $5 billion in bonds to help the state's crumbling courthouses.
"A
15-square-mile quarantine was established Monday in Sonoma County in the ever-widening - and increasingly controversial - war against the pest known as the light brown apple moth," reports Peter Fimrite in the Chron.
"The quarantine will subject grape growers, nurseries and other businesses inside the infestation zone to inspections and, if the alien moth is found, an extensive treatment program.
"A team of scientists from the California Department of Food and Agriculture also announced Monday that sticky traps alone are not an effective way to fight the destructive Australian invader. Instead, they concluded, aerial spraying will have to be used to fight the pest.
"The quarantine in Sonoma County was set up after Food and Agriculture officials discovered brown moths in the city of Sonoma on Feb. 15 and April 20. The quarantine area is essentially a circle around the city.
"'The detection of a second moth in Sonoma is evidence that we must take action to keep this pest from breeding and spreading,' Food and Agriculture Secretary
A.G. Kawamura, wrote in a statement."
Meanwhile, in more bad news for the fuel of The Roundup, "April
was a cruel month for winemakers in Northern and Central California, where a series of unusually late frosts struck vineyards baring the tender, green shoots of spring," reports the AP's Michelle Locke.
"The damage is being assessed – it could be June before growers know the full extent – but most expect smaller-than-average harvests this year.
"'It was cold in lots of places,' said
Karen Ross, executive director of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. 'There's lots of misery to be shared.'
"The cold snap's immediate effects can be seen in some vineyards, where leaves that normally would be fluttering pale green in spring breezes are curled up brittle as December leaves."
"A recreational
bike ride went awry Sunday, leaving [Assembly Republican
Roger Niello] . . . with a broken clavicle," the Bee reports.
"Niello went to work Monday in a sling, which he expects to tote around for about six weeks."
That's not going to affect his ability to use his 'voting for the budget' finger, will it?
"The accident occurred when he returned to his Fair Oaks home after pedaling around Lake Natoma. He glanced at a gauge on the bicycle, then lost control when a wheel hit the curb beside his driveway, sending him sprawling, Niello said.
"'I'll survive,' he said, smiling."
Here are yesterday's big campaign contribution hauls reported by
ElectionTrack.comNo 98/Yes 99 - $115,000
California Voters First (Redistricting reform) - $25,000
John Perez for Assembly - $20,800
Dean Florez for Lt. Governor - $10,800
Dymally for State Senate - $9,600
Alberto Torrico for Assembly - $9,500
Jim Silva for Assembly - $9,000
Joe Coto for Assembly - $8,500
Noreen Evans for Assembly - $8,500
And there's
a new security guard at the Louisiana State Penitentiary -- a 400-pound black bear.
"I love that bear being right where it is," Warden
Burl Cain said Monday. "I tell you what, none of our inmates are going to try to get out after dark and wander around when they might run into a big old bear. It's like having another guard at no cost to the taxpayer."
The bear was first seen by an inmate crossing a road in the prison on Friday. It was taking a stroll near the center of the state's only maximum security prison, which is about 115 miles northwest of New Orleans. Most of the roughly 28-square-mile prison is run as a farm, but about 5 1/2 square miles is mostly untouched piney woods."
CCPOA better watch out. I can see the budget penny-pinchers' heads whirring now...
