Well, this ought to make things easier. With the state
facing a deadline this week to find a spending plan,
the governor has announced at the 11th hour that he wants to reform the state's pension system first.
Ed Mendel reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, calling current benefits
“unsustainable,”
proposed a sweeping reduction in pension and retiree
health benefits
for new state workers.
"His plan would give new employees the same pensions
received by
state workers before a major benefit increase a decade
ago, saving the
state an estimated $74 billion over the next three decades.
"The new state workers would have to work 25 years, instead of 20,
before receiving maximum retiree health coverage that
would pay 85
percent of the average HMO premium, instead of the
current 100 percent,
saving the state $19 billion.
"The proposal by the
Republican governor over the weekend is one of a series
of “structural
reforms” he is seeking as he negotiates with the Democratic-controlled
Legislature to close a $24 billion state budget gap."
The Bee's Jim Sanders reports, "Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said he
is willing to consider pension changes but will not
be ramrodded by the governor.
"The entire issue of pension reform
deserves real consideration in the Legislature, but it's not right to jam it into a budget agreement in (the final) hours," Steinberg said.
Au contrair...
"Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's
spokesman, said the pension and retiree health care
proposals for
future state workers were necessitated by Democrats' rejection of about
$5 billion in program cuts sought by the governor.
"What the Democrats have said up to this point is, 'We don't want to eliminate (some programs targeted by Schwarzenegger),
and we don't want to make them run more efficiently – what we want to
do is raise taxes to pay for them.' And that's unacceptable," McLear
said.
Meanwhile, the Legislature passed some veto bait for the governor as the deadline for IOUs approaches.
"With only days before the state begins issuing IOUs,
Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger scolded Democrats Monday for "wasting time" on budget
fixes he won't support while they accused him of making unreasonable
demands," Shane Goldmacher reports.
"Democrats in the state Senate passed proposals to balance
the state's
books with the help of $2 billion in new taxes. But Schwarzenegger had
already promised to veto the plan, which the Assembly
approved Sunday
night.
"I will never sign those kind of things, so why waste
the time and why
run out of time and then all of a sudden we have to
hand out the IOUs?"
Schwarzenegger told reporters.
"We are on the brink," said Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny (D-San
Diego) during the Senate floor debate. ". . . We're passing it to make
sure that we've done our job," she said.
California will begin issuing IOUs for some of its
bills Thursday, according to Controller John Chiang."
Capitol staffers have been notified that they will
be among those not receiving pay if there is no budget
in place by July 15.
The Chron's Kathleen Bender breaks down how the IOUs will work.
"Who will get them, how will they work and will you
be able to use them to pay your bills?
"The state will continue making regular payments to
schools
(kindergarten through college) and to debt holders because the
Constitution gives them priority.
"State employees, who received IOUs in 1992, will not receive them
this time because a court found they violated labor
laws. The state
also must continue making regular payments to state
employee and
teacher pension plans, in-home supportive services and Medi-Cal
providers.
"Without a budget fix, the controller expects to issue
roughly $3
billion in IOUs and $11 billion worth of regular payments in July."
"Three California lawmakers
want to give the Legislature a chance to reshape ballot initiatives
before they're acted on by voters , a process that supporters say could
result in fewer but better proposals reaching the ballot," AP's Steve Lawrence reports.
"Nobody
can write a perfect initiative; nobody can write a perfect law," said
Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies,
a Los
Angeles think tank. "If the Legislature can work something out with
(initiative) proponents, it will be a better-drafted measure."
"The
three constitutional amendments, by Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego,
Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, and Assemblyman Ed Hernandez,
D-Baldwin Park, would reintroduce California to indirect
initiatives.
"Those
are initiatives that are sent to the Legislature for
consideration and
possible enactment or amendment after supporters gather
a certain
number of voter signatures.
"Eight states — Maine,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio,
Utah and Washington
— currently have some form of indirect initiatives."
The LAT's Jim Tankersley says California will receive permission from Washington
today to control tailpipe emissions from cars . "The
Environmental Protection Agency will announce today
that it is granting
California's request to impose tough restrictions on greenhouse
gas
emissions from cars and trucks -- reversing the Bush administration's
position and opening the way for the state to take
the lead on
global-warming policy.
"California developed the standards in 2004 but was barred from implementing them.
"EPA officials say granting California the waiver from
federal standards
gives the state wide latitude to promulgate stricter
rules, restoring a
40-year interpretation of the Clean Air Act.
"It preserves California's role as a leader on clean air policy,"
particularly on motor vehicles, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in
an interview. "It feels good to know that we are able to move past
--
address -- this issue, responding to the president's call."
And finally, from our Lost and Found files, "Bill Fulton doesn't remember losing his wallet, but its return
helped him remember the past. The leather stayed smooth
and the cowboy
design unblemished. The zipper moved with ease. And
when he looked
inside, the contents brought back memories from 1946, when he
apparently dropped the wallet behind the balcony bleachers
in the Baker Middle School gym.
"Fulton's
Social Security card and bicycle license, bearing the
address where he
lived during his teenage years, were positioned in
their respective
compartments, apparently untouched since the year after
World War II ended.
"After that long, my gosh, it stayed in good shape," Fulton told the Baker City Herald. "It's hard to believe."
"Worker
Nathan Osborne found the wallet — along with old homework, lost library
books and a 1964 talent show program — while removing the bleachers for
renovations on June 17. It was brought to Fulton's door the following
day by Melanie Trindle, the Baker Middle School secretary."
