Price is right

"State Treasurer Bill Lockyer announced Tuesday that he stopped taking orders for the state's general obligation bond sale Tuesday after investors purchased $6.54 billion -- $2.54 billion more than the original $4 billion target," writes Kevin Yamamura for the Bee.

"The additional money should go toward construction projects around the state that slowed or stopped after officials froze California's Pooled Money Investment Account in December. A board that oversees the account last week authorized $500 million in payments toward construction projects contingent on Lockyer selling at least $4 billion in bonds this week.

"The state benefited from heavy demand from individual retail investors, who purchased nearly half of the bond total. Institutional investors, such as mutual funds, bought the remainder."

Greg Lucas reports the state will receive enough federal dollars to backfill the education cuts made in February's budget deal. 

"In good news for public schools, federal recovery money for education should be enough to offset $2.4 billion in budget, state Department of Finance officials said March 24.

"The budget signed last month reduces state support for public schools by $2.4 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Until March 24, there had been no acknowledgement by the Schwarzenegger administration, which receives the federal money, whether the stimulus dollars would total enough to avoid those cuts."

"A federal judge rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to return health care in California prisons to state control Tuesday, ruling that a court-appointed overseer is still needed to restore basic medical treatment in the overcrowded and understaffed prisons," reports the Chron's Bob Egelko.

"U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco said that although health care has improved under federal management since 2006, he has "no confidence that such improvements would continue, or even be maintained," if the state regained control now.

"Federal management 'is not and was never intended to be a permanent solution,' and will end as soon as the state shows it is able to run the system, the judge said.

"Henderson appointed a receiver to run the prison health system in 2006, saying evidence in an inmate lawsuit showed that inadequate medical care at the state's 33 prisons was killing at least one inmate a week. State officials had shown themselves incapable of complying with the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the judge said."

"The state has reached a deal to cut – but not eliminate – the million-dollar phone bills it has racked up for the recorded messages that play on its unemployment insurance call center lines when operators can't handle all incoming calls," reports Andrew McIntosh in the Bee.

"The deal between Verizon and the Employment Development Department, if it receives final approval, would give EDD an estimated $2.6 million credit or refund to be used against future phone bills.

"The Bee reported last month that each time a jobless person calls to file an unemployment insurance claim and no EDD operator is available, the call is routed to a recorded message – and Verizon is paid 5 cents."

The Chron's John Wildermuth follows the money in the developing campaigns for the May ballot measures, including CTA's support for the spending cap. 

"The deal was sealed Monday when the CTA gave $47,500 to Budget Reform Now, the Schwarzenegger-backed group leading the campaign effort. On that same day, Budget Reform Now turned around and gave $31,150 to Repay Our Schools, the CTA-sponsored group that will run a campaign for Prop. 1B, which says the state will repay the schools for the $9.3 billion in guaranteed money that was stripped from them in the effort to spackle over the state's recent budget problems.

"Now there are probably easier ways to shift that money around so that the numbers end up the same, but it's the message that matters here: The CTA is backing the governor and the governor is backing the CTA. No blood needed.

"Schwarzenegger's budget plans got another boost when group calling itself "Californians for Modernization" organized to back Prop. 1C, which allows the state to borrow $5 billion against future state lottery revenues.

"Not surprisingly, the group behind the group is GTech Corp., the Rhode Island company that provides all the equipment for the state lottery and will do any "modernization." They've put $250,000 into the campaign so far and expect they'll make it back."

Dan Walters looks at the 1999 IHSS deal, the recent action to trim back the state's costs, and how it is emblamatic of the boom and bust cycle of state spending.

"Sooner or later, as the state's deficits continue to grow, this syndrome of instant political gratification must give way to more prudent decision-making. Sooner would be better than later."

And it looks like Curren Price's trip to the state Senate will have to wait -- for a while. The LAT's Jean Merl reports, "Democratic Assemblyman Curren Price Jr. was leading a field of eight candidates in Tuesday's special election for the vacant 26th State Senate District seat but in early returns was falling short of the majority vote needed to avoid a runoff.

"The strongly bankrolled Price would likely face Nachum Shifren, a Republican, and Cindy Varela Henderson, of the Peace and Freedom Party, in a May 19 runoff in the heavily Democratic district. Tuesday's primary attracted five other Democrats, including Assemblyman Mike Davis of Los Angeles and financial analyst Jonathan Friedman, who raised a significant sum of money for the race."

The good news for Darrell Steinberg is that Price should be there in time to vote for the next budget mess...

The Gov. and Co. stopped by the Los Angeles Times Tuesday to talk up the initiatives on the May ballot. Michael Rothfeld reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has generally declined to discuss his future after he leaves the Capitol, offered some insight into his thinking today when he and other state leaders spoke to Times editors and reporters.

"'Now, I raised taxes, but I'm not running for anything,' Schwarzenegger said. 'So I'm more comfortable with it because I'm not running for anything, because I know it's the right thing.'"

Gotta hand it to Sen. Dean Florez -- good or bad, he knows how to get media attention.Florez sent out a release Tuesday announcing he would be holding hearings to find out how Bernard Madoff's investment fraud impacted California.

The Fresno Bee's E.J. Schultz caught up with Florez. "People see Bernie Madoff and his penthouse as the face of this scheme, but the victims who have lost it all are more likely to be your next-door neighbor or your grandparents," Florez said. "Those are the voices we want to hear from, and the taxpayers whose rights we are seeking to protect."

And finally, it looks like everything was fake for Orange County plastic surgery client. "Authorities are searching for a 30-year-old woman accused of stealing another woman's identity so she could get new breast implants and liposuction," the OC Register's Kimberly Edds reports. "A $20,000 warrant has been issued for her arrest.

"Officials say the enhancement scam began in September 2008, when Huntington Beach police say Yvonne Pampellonne used a stolen identity to open a line of credit. According to detectives, Pampellonne then used the credit to get breast implants and other cosmetic surgery – $12,000 worth of services – from Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery, a Huntington Beach center.

"Employees said she never returned for follow-up visits."