"State lawmakers plan to vote today in a last-minute attempt by the lame-duck Legislature to bridge a growing state budget shortfall," reports Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"Legislative leaders met Monday with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
in the Capitol to negotiate a package of spending cuts
and tax increases to close the latest budget gap.
"Both houses have called lawmakers back for rare November
floor sessions this afternoon.
"But the leaders did not strike a compromise Monday
and agreed to continue negotiating today, according
to
Jim Evans, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem-elect
Darrell Steinberg.
"Senate Republican leader
Dave Cogdill said 'there certainly aren't any ironclad agreements at this point in time.'"
In this era of budget stand-offs, we take that as progress...
"Aides to Democratic Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said their house would vote on a $17 billion package divided between cuts and taxes. They
didn't specify details."
A press release sent last night by Brian O'Hara for Bass stated "The package will be a combination of $8.1 billion in cuts, $8.1 billion in new revenues, and $800 million in other solutions."
The Chron's John Wildermuth writes:
"While neither side was willing to say exactly what
the latest proposal is, Sacramento state Sen. Darrell
Steinberg, the incoming leader of the Senate Democrats,
reportedly is pushing a plan that would trim this year's $11.2 billion shortfall with a one-for-one mix of the revenue increases preferred by the Democrats
and the budget cuts called for by Republicans.
"Steinberg, the only Democrat to meet with reporters
after the session with Schwarzenegger, declined to
release any details of the plan, saying only that a
variety of "cut and revenue scenarios" have been discussed.
"But Steinberg was careful not to make any promises
as to what, if anything, the Legislature will get done
today.
"'We are committed to going to our respective floors
... to try and make a significant dent in this budget
deficit,' he said Monday. 'The problem is of such significant magnitude that it
is vital we put up our best effort tomorrow.'
"There is no indication of what that best effort will
consist of, but Democrats, who need some GOP support
to pass any budget revisions, still must find a way
to persuade some Republicans to back increases in taxes
and fees.
"The special session is slated to continue until Sunday,
but legislative leaders, eager to get home for the
Thanksgiving holiday, have set today as the deadline
for any action. That time limit would be extended only
if a budget deal were at hand."
Meanwhile if a deal doesn't come together, we now know who to blame.
The Los Angeles Times is to blame, according to Chris Reed's blog on the Union-Tribune site.
"The California Supreme Court’s order last week to consider legal challenges to Proposition
8 contained one surprising twist -- the name of the sole justice who voted against hearing
the cases," writes Maura Dolan in the Times.
"Justice Joyce L. Kennard, a staunchly independent if not stubborn jurist, has
a lengthy record of protecting gay rights, including
the right to marry, and often sides with the underdog
in rulings.
"In fact, her record is so unwavering that many gay-rights activists and several independent legal scholars
surmised that her vote against hearing the legal challenges
was procedural -- for example, she might have wanted them to be filed
in lower courts first -- and did not reflect her thinking on the cases.
"But a close reading of the court's one-page order suggests that gay-rights advocates may have lost a usually predictable
ally in their effort to overturn Proposition 8.
"'It definitely isn't a good sign,' said UCLA Law Professor Brad Sears, an expert on sexual-orientation law."
The Bee's Aurelio Rojas reports:
"California's political watchdog agency is investigating a complaint alleging the Mormon church
failed to report non-monetary contributions to the Yes on 8 campaign, a state official said Monday.
"The sworn complaint by a group called Californians
Against Hate contends the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints organized phone banks from Utah and Idaho
and sent direct mail to voters.
"The complaint, filed four days after Californians voted
to end gay marriage in the state, also alleges the
Utah-based church transported people to California to walk
precincts and distributed thousands of lawn signs and
other campaign materials.
"The church is also accused of establishing Web sites
and producing commercials and other video broadcasts
geared toward nonmembers."
The Bee's Denny Walsh writes that executions are still on hold in California.
"An appellate court has ruled the state failed to follow
required procedures in fashioning a revised protocol
for administering lethal injections.
"The revised protocol was not vetted through a period
of public notice and comment, as required by the state's Administrative Procedures Act, a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled
Friday.
"The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's failure to comply invalidated the protocol, the panel
concluded.
"The ruling leaves the state with two options: send the protocol through the notice and comment process
or appeal to the California Supreme Court, which may
or may not agree to review the matter."
"The University of California plans to review hundreds of double-dipping pensioners, many of whom were rehired for their old jobs - occasionally at a higher salary than before they retired," reports the Chron's Tanya Schevitz.
"The university's use of retirees drew attention in April after UC
Berkeley Police Chief Victoria Harrison left with a lump sum $2.1 million retirement package and then was immediately
rehired for her old job - with a pay raise.
"Some months later, UC's governing Board of Regents adopted stricter regulations
on who may be rehired and for how long.
"According to a university database reviewed by The
Chronicle, there were 1,900 pensioners on the payrolls of the 10 campuses and the university's headquarters last February. The review also found
widespread violations of guidelines that limited retired
workers to no more than one year of re-employment and generally no more than about 19 hours of work each week."
"Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled an ambitious long-range plan Monday for securing enough solar power to
meet one-tenth of the city's energy needs by 2020, a move aimed at making L.A. a hub of the solar-energy industry," write David Zahniser and Phil Willon in the Times.
"Appearing at a South Los Angeles manufacturing plant
where solar panels are made, Villaraigosa said the
initiative will help the Department of Water and Power
wean itself off of fossil fuels -- natural gas and coal -- as part of the effort to address global warming.
"The plan calls for enough solar panels to produce 1,280 megawatts of power, a goal that would be reached through
a combination of private and public generating facilities
and the installation of solar panels on homes.
"'Nobody's contemplated that many megawatts for one city,' said Rhonda Mills, Southern California director of the Center for Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Technologies and a solar power
advocate."
Meanwhile, in more proof that our governor is no Sarah Palin, the Bee's Buzz reports: "A national magazine has singled out Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
– only
this time as a bad guy. The guv is often praised by
mags for his
environmental stances. But Field & Stream has named him "Villain of
the Year" for cutting funds for fisheries and signing a ban
on
.50-caliber rifles. The governor beat out Paul McCartney
and the
president of PETA. And to rub salt in his wound, the
mag named Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin as a hero."
And finally, we were modestly intrigued by an email
we received yesterday
touting the launch of a new blog. Originally, when we saw the e-mail was from "Bass Lover" we thought it was just a local sports fishing pitch.
But alas, no such luck...
"I am not a blogger, writer, or web designer. I am
just a HUGE Karen Bass fan," Bass Lover writes.
"The
reason for this blog is hopefully pretty obvious by
the title. I just
wanted to create a little site to let State Assembly
Speaker Karen Bass
know how much we care about her, lover her, and to
let her know that we
NEED her to continue her work in the State Senate.
"I,
probably much like all of you, am NOT impressed with
Assemblymen Mike
Davis and Curren Price. Can anyone name anything those two have done
other than sell themselves out for campaign money and
for corporate
America? My biggest fear will be that Merv Dymally runs and beats both
of those two."
Who knew speaker-in-waiting Kevin De Leon was into anonymous blogging?
