Capitol Weekly takes a look at some of the bills that are sitting
on
the governor's desk, er, sitting on the Assembly and Senate desk, in
the wake of last week's flury of activity. They also monitor the fate of
some of the biggest health care legislation of the year.
Lawyers and clerks are scrambling to figure out just how long the houses can
hold bills before sending them to the governor. And there is
some difference of opinion over what happens to them
if they are held past the end of September.
"Privately, legal experts in the Legislature believe
that lawmakers have until Nov. 15 to send bills to the governor. The Legislature did
not adjourn on Sunday, it recessed. The constitution
says the Legislature can remain in session until Nov.
15 – which means those bills are still alive.
"Under normal circumstances, the governor has 12 days to act on any bill that arrives on his desk.
The governor is given a month to act on bills at the
end of the session."
The governor's office, meanwhile, says their "reading of the constitution is that
any bills he receives after Sept. 29 are automatically dead."
Let the game of chicken begin!
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made a unique appeal to
Californians yesterday, saying they must do their part to prod lawmakers into
passing a budget because the state isn't run by a dictator," reports Judy Lin for the AP.
"Schwarzenegger said he needs the public's help in coaxing lawmakers out of ideological corners
and ending a record-long stalemate that shows no sign of ending. He joked
by making a reference to his native Austria, which
he said was surrounded by totalitarian governments
when he came to America in the late 1960s.
"'I left because of that,' Schwarzenegger said to a crowd of health care providers,
school administrators and public safety officials outside
a medical center in Placerville, a Gold Rush-era town in the Sierra foothills.
"He urged California voters to start pressuring lawmakers
and use the November election as a referendum on their
disappointing performance.
"'You can have the power,' the governor said. 'I alone can't do the lifting.'"
So, let's get this straight. It seems like this stalemate is
turning into a push for the redistricting initiative,
which will help Republicans pick up seats --
even though the governor seems to be blaming them for
the budget standoff? It sort of reminds us of that
old P.J. O'Rourke quote: Democrats are the ones who say government can work.
Republicans are the ones who say it can't work, and keep getting elected and proving it.
"California senators are profiting this week from the
state's budget misery, earning an extra $170 per day at the Capitol while the state's multibillion-dollar standoff drags on ," report Jim Sanders and Aurelio Rojas in the Bee.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger targeted the extra per diem
Wednesday in blasting a system that does not punish
lawmakers for violating their constitutional duty to
pass a budget by June 15.
"'There are absolutely no consequences to legislators,' Schwarzenegger said at a news conference at Marshall
Medical Center in Placerville. 'Absolutely none. They go on vacation, they go on recess,
they go home on the weekends and have their two days
off – because God forbid they have to work through the weekend.
"'As a matter of fact, they are even collecting per diem
every day when they go to the Capitol, of $1,000 a week tax-free,' he added.
"Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, characterized the governor's criticism as unfair and unwarranted, but understandable.
"'I understand the governor's frustration,' Perata said. 'I've probably popped off once or twice myself about the
governor. But it's just not helpful to accuse us of not working hard.
We have people who have been working weekend after
weekend after weekend.'"
George Skelton is ready to throw in the towel and pass a get-out-of-town budget.
"This is an abysmal impasse, the worst I've seen.
"One major problem is Republican lawmakers feel they
owe nothing to Schwarzenegger. They view him as unreliable
politically and philosophically. So the governor can't deliver any GOP votes. Hasn't so far, anyway.
"Maybe they'll all surprise us and act responsibly. But it needs
to be soon. Even an irresponsible budget is better
than none as fall approaches.
"Call it a season and wait until next year. The team's bound to get better."
"Fallout from the state's longest budget standoff on record is rippling through
California, with scores of healthcare providers on the brink
of bankruptcy, schools and community colleges scaling
back offerings and contractors struggling to hang on," report Evan Halper and Molly Hennessy-Fiske in the Times.
"If there is no spending plan by the end of the month,
the state will owe $12 billion to government service providers who by law
cannot be paid in the absence of a budget. Many in
the Capitol predict the stalemate could easily last
that long, and service providers up and down the state
are warning that they will go under if it does.
"'It is crazy what they are doing,' said Betty Ann Honda, operations manager at Care Van Inc. in Glendale,
which every week transports 200 patients with severe kidney problems to dialysis appointments.
'They are putting people in a position of having to
deny patients services they need to live.'"
The Chron's Tanya Schevitz, Carrie Sturrock and Charles Burress
report: "As the state's budget stalemate reached its 66th day, anxiety spread among thousands of California's neediest community college students who might not
receive promised Cal Grant checks this month, leaving many struggling to pay for everything from
food and rent to books and transportation, campus officials
say.
"With no budget, the state will withhold Cal Grant money
from as many as 86,000 community college students. The grant is a $1,551 check that goes to any graduating high school senior
who meets the financial criteria and has a minimum
2.0 grade point average.
"By the end of this month, if no spending plan is approved,
nearly $12 billion in state funds will have been kept from various
programs, such as Cal Grants, Medi-Cal payments, transportation projects and certain K-12 programs such as special education.
"Only about a dozen of the state's 110 community colleges say they can help out students
until the Cal Grant spigot is turned back on, said
Linda Michalowski, vice chancellor for student services in the state's community college system. The 10-campus University of California and the 23-campus California State University system say they
will front the Cal Grant funds for low-income students."
"California lawmakers acted to curb some of the most extreme practices of
the state's healthcare industry this session, even as they failed to fix some of
its most widespread problems, such as high costs and
uneven quality," writes Jordan Rau in the Times.
"The Legislature's two-year session resulted in incremental tinkering with
California's healthcare system instead of the wholesale restructuring
that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dedicated himself to
shortly after his 2006 reelection.
"After the Senate rejected the governor's $14.9-billion plan in January, healthcare advocates hoped
that piecemeal improvements that didn't tax the state's treasury could be enacted. But aggressive lobbying
by insurers and doctors and internal feuds among Democrats
killed most of the proposals in the final weeks of
the session, which ended Sunday without a budget in
place.
"'We're going to need to make healthcare a big priority
next year, because we obviously didn't come close to completing the work,' said Senate President Pro Tem-elect Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento)."
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan sneaks a peek at the hottest Congressional race in California. "Dean Andal’s Congressional campaign continues to be dogged by
questions surrounding his role in negotiations for
new community
college branch campus. Andal’s campaign has denied any wrongdoing,
characterizing the issue as “internal bickering” on the board.
"At issue are claims made by Ted Simas, a Board of Trustees
member of
San Joaquin Delta College who is also a registered
Republican and a
former Andal supporter. The negotiations among the
board have been the
subject of a grand jury investigation.
Controller
John Chiang’s
office has ordered on audit in response to a request
by the area’s
state Senator,
Mike Machado, D-Linden."
"EdFund, a troubled state agency that has been a moneymaker
for California in the past by collecting on defaulted
student loans, is facing the possibility of an overhaul that could,
among other things, oust its board of directors," writes Carrie Sturrock in the Chron.
"The California Student Aid Commission, which oversees
EdFund, will meet today to discuss wide-ranging organizational changes.
"It's not clear exactly what prompted the proposals, but
controversy has swirled around the agency for several
years.
"The Chronicle reported last year on EdFund's ability to levy huge collection fees on students
struggling to pay back loans. The agency has far-reaching power to get that money by garnisheeing wages,
intercepting tax refunds and diverting disability payments.
Critics told The Chronicle that EdFund stands to make
more money if borrowers default than if they don't.
"EdFund also faced criticism in a 2006 state audit for questionable spending practices involving
large salary bonuses, extravagant dinners and hotel
stays.
"And earlier this year, the Sacramento Bee reported
that EdFund's executives had created their own severance package
collectively worth more than $3 million in the event Gov. Schwarzenegger follows through
on his promise to privatize the agency by putting it
up for sale. The Student Aid Commission later ordered
EdFund to stop discussing the matter behind closed
doors, arguing it violated the state's open meeting law."
And finally, from our Stupid Human Tricks files, "A
man "dubbed Professor Splash, defied death in a warm-up plunge for a world
record attempt he will make live on TV next week," The Sun reports.
"DAREDEVIL diver Darren Taylor hurls himself into a
35ft drop — before
belly-flopping into just 12 inches of water."
And we hope someone posts a video...
