"In their first face-to-face meeting, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and automakers
agreed yesterday to explore new cooperative approaches to reducing greenhouse gas emissions even as they duel in court and in Congress over just how far the state can go," writes the U-T's Michael Gardner.
Once again, we'll hold our breath on that one.
"During the closed-door meeting, Schwarzenegger and six top executives of the world's largest auto companies exchanged ideas that could take strategies to curb emissions beyond enacting tailpipe standards.
"Among the ideas: Automakers could sponsor more programs to take high-polluting older cars off the roads, help add synchronized traffic signals to limit idling times, incorporate more Global Positioning Systems that steer drivers away from choked traffic and encourage drivers to adopt more 'eco-friendly' habits -- from regulating speed to keeping tires inflated.
"The gathering marked a significant thaw in relations, which had grown so bitter
at one point that a billboard in Detroit pronounced: 'Arnold to Michigan: Drop Dead.'"As recently as three weeks ago, at a speech at Yale University, Schwarzenegger's response was:
'That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is: Arnold to Michigan: Get off your butt.'"He repeated that message yesterday in private and in an interview, declaring that California has no plans to back away from its landmark law requiring automakers to gradually roll back greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming starting with 2009 models. The state is seeking to cut the emissions by 30 percent on vehicles sold in the state by 2016."
The LAT's Evan Halper
looks at the revenue sources being whispered about in the Capitol. "
Strip clubs, six-packs, grocery bags and iTunes downloads are all in their sights as alternatives to broad income or sales tax hikes. So are gas guzzlers and yachts -- and a tax loophole for criminals.
"Despite tough odds of overcoming an oath signed by their Republican colleagues to stop any tax hikes, Democratic lawmakers seem confident that their ideas will carry the day. They predict the public won't stand for painful cuts to schools and healthcare to close a shortfall the governor now pegs as high as $20 billion, and say anti-tax forces will ultimately have to accept that more revenue is needed to bring the state into the black."
Now, did that oath say Republicans wouldn't
raise taxes, or did it mention anything about
new taxes?
"GOP lawmakers say the majority party simply has an insatiable appetite for taking money from Californians. The California Republican Party recently released an Internet video, set to the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," in which the tax ideas float across the screen after footage of Senate leader
Don Perata (D-Oakland) telling the media in March his prescription for balancing the budget: "Raise taxes. That clear enough? Raise taxes."
Can't they all just get on the
Love Train"Almost all of the Democrats' ideas are being met with some degree of scorn.
"'
Some people are e-mailing, threatening to come and slug me,' said Assemblyman Jim Beall (D-San Jose), who hopes to see a $1.80 tax added to the price of every six-pack of beer sold in the state. 'We're getting some pretty nasty comments.'For the record, our money is on Beall in that fight.
"The idea of taxing comforts and conveniences evokes the budget crisis of 1991, when then-Gov.
Pete Wilson agreed to impose a "snack tax" on Californians, raising the cost of junk food and bottled water. Voters repealed it a year later."
At least we got
a song out of it.
"With Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger set to unveil his revised budget next week, Republican legislators on Thursday
announced a series of proposals they said would save money and help the state run more efficiently," reports Mike Zapler in the Merc News.
"Some of the ideas already have been rejected by Democrats. And even if they were adopted, the GOP proponents could not say how much they would save. The state faces a deficit of at least $10 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, and possibly as much as $20 billion.
"Still, lawmakers described the proposals as common-sense ideas that are worth including in budget talks.
"One proposal, opposed by unions and rejected by Democrats in 2006, would allow public schools and community colleges to hire private companies to do janitorial and maintenance work. Another, advocated by Schwarzenegger but killed in an Assembly committee last week, would authorize the state to enter into partnerships with the private sector on transportation and other public works projects.
"Another proposal would create a searchable public database detailing every state expenditure higher than $1,000. The idea is that making such data public would put bureaucrats on guard against extravagant spending."
...not to mention create another distraction for state employees convinced that their bosses are squirreling away money.
"Republicans also want to strengthen protections for whistle-blowers who report misspending or corruption."
"State Sen.
Jeff Denham said Thursday he
intends to campaign through Election Day despite Senate leader
Don Perata's decision to drop his bid to recall the Merced lawmaker," reports Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"On the day after Perata made his surprise announcement in what he said was an effort to jump-start state budget talks with Republicans, the campaign was still running television ads.
"Campaign spokesman
Paul Hefner said television stations were notified Wednesday night 'to pull the ads immediately.'
"But he said it was taking time to get the word out because Denham's sprawling 12th Senate District has three television markets: Sacramento, Fresno and Salinas-Monterey.
"Even after Perata's about-face, the recall will remain on the June 3 ballot -- making it possible, though more unlikely, that the Atwater Republican could still be unseated.
Hey, Hillary Clinton's name is still on the ballot in a lot of states, but she isn't getting the nomination. These things happen.
"'I'm glad to see that some of the partisanship has gone away,' Denham said of Perata's decision. 'But at the same time, I'm on the ballot.'"
Denham claimed he had 70% support on the John and Ken show last night.
Dan Walters
criticizes the decision of the L.A. Board of Supes to crack down on taco trucks. "It's likely that public outrage against the Los Angeles County taco truck law will force the county supervisors to back down, as they should. And if they do rescind the law, perhaps it will discourage future efforts to gratuitously make it difficult for those on the lower end of the economic scale to lift themselves up by their bootstraps."
"State Sen.
Jack Scott, the influential chairman of the Senate Education Committee,
will take charge of the California Community Colleges system in January after an 11-year career in the state Legislature, it was announced Thursday," writes Jill Tucker in the Chron.
"After a national search, the colleges' Board of Governors met in a closed session Tuesday and later announced the unanimous vote to select Scott, D-Altadena (Los Angeles County), as the system's 14th chancellor, overseeing the state's 109 community colleges.
"'The future of our state economy and even the California dream are tied to increasing the number of Californians who both enter and complete their college education,' Scott said in a statement. 'That is why the community colleges are so important. They can provide California a competitive edge in the global economy.'
"Before taking political office, Scott spent 23 years working in the community colleges, including as president of Pasadena City College. In 2006, Scott was given the California Community Colleges lifetime achievement award and was described as the "patriarch" of the system by then Chancellor Marshall Drummond. 'The California Community Colleges are embedded in the very fabric of California, and I continue to be one of their biggest fans,' Scott said at the time."
"Scott will receive $198,500 annually, plus a state employee benefit package and state-owned vehicle."
Hey, that's a heck of a lot
more than a state Senator gets.
"Some 240,000 acres of historic Tejon Ranch
will be protected from development in a landmark deal announced Thursday between major environmental groups and the property's owner," reports Jerry Berrios in the Daily News.
"In exchange for the conservation effort, the environmental groups - including the Sierra Club and Audubon California - will not oppose three planned developments on the ranch. Thousands of new homes and an industrial complex are envisioned in those developments.
"'This agreement is the Mount Everest of conservation in California,' said
Joel Reynolds, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Southern California Program.
"'Tejon Ranch is a crossroads of biodiversity, a Garden of Eden unparalleled in California.'
"After roughly two years of negotiations, the agreement was finalized two days ago, Reynolds said.
"The 270,000 acres of Tejon Ranch, largest swath of privately owned wildland in California, stretch through four major ecological regions: the Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, Coastal Range and San Joaquin Valley."
And, we bring you yesterday's top cash collectors, courtesy of
ElectionTrack.
California Voters First (Redistricting): $320,000 (entire amount for Governor Schwarzenegger's "Dream Team" Committee
No 98/Yes 99: $275,000 ($250,000 from the Nature Conservancy)
Yes on 98: $124,000
Hancock for Senate: $26,888
Torres for Assembly: $26,600
Hall for Assembly: $16,800
Levine for Senate: $16,400
Friends of Joan Buchanan: $15,400
Aghazarian for Senate: $13,600
The AP's Don Thompson reports, "The state Senate voted Thursday to
end California's participation in a joint authority created eight years ago to rescue the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta from collapse and resolve persistent water disputes.
"The bill, which goes to the Assembly, would disband the California Bay-Delta Authority. The entity includes representatives from six state and six federal agencies and had been charged with implementing the California-Federal Bay-Delta Program to repair the delta.
"An investigation last year by the Associated Press found that most of the almost $5 billion that has been spent on the Cal-Fed program has gone to projects hundreds of miles from the delta.
"'The delta is in worse condition today despite the authority,' said Sen.
Mike Machado, D-Linden (San Joaquin County), the bill's author. 'The authority has outlived its usefulness.'"
And our Roundup reward for
Most Dedicated Stoners goes to
two Texas teenagers who were arrested for using a human skull as a bong.
And we thought we were clever for figuring out how to use an apple...
"The Kingwood teenager's story of decapitating a corpse and using the head to smoke marijuana was so outlandish that at first Houston Police Department senior police officer Jim Adkins did not believe it.
"Yet, Kevin Wade Jones Jr., 17, appeared almost indifferent as he relayed the bizarre description of his and two friends' activities at an Humble area graveyard, Adkins said."
"Jones claimed he and his friends used shovels to dig up the body and removed the corpse's head with a garden tool, Adkins said. Jones also revealed he and the other two boys took the severed head to the juvenile's home, where they used the skull as a 'bong' to smoke marijuana, the officer said."
