Is the governor considering a part-time legislature?
Carla Marinucci reports,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after months of budget
battles with the
Legislature, met Wednesday with a reform group calling for a part-time
state Legislature in a sign of his interest in efforts to reshape
Sacramento's political landscape.
"The governor sat down for the first time with Gabriella Holt, who heads
Citizens for California Reform, a nonpartisan public
interest group
that describes itself as "committed to advancing more limited and more
transparent government."
Adam Mendelsohn, a senior adviser to Schwarzenegger, said that the
Republican governor has not endorsed a part-time Legislature but
considers it to be one answer to the state's political gridlock, annual
budget impasses and partisan dysfunction.
"The governor has been very clear that this state is
in desperate
need of reform," Mendelsohn said. "This is one of the many ideas he's
taking a look at. He's talked about a constitutional convention, he's
involved in an open primary and we're talking campaign finance reform."
Today is prisons day in the Capitol, with both houses
set to take up a billion-dollar prison reform package.
Capitol Weekly reports, "Legislative Democrats will push for a commission to create
a new system for prison sentences as part of Democrats’ prison overhaul plan, which will be voted on the floor
of both houses Thursday.
"The commission, which has been pushed for by liberal
Democrats for years, has been a major rift between
Democrats and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in recent years. But changes
made this week over who controls the commission seem
to have the governor’s OK.
"The governor has said he would support a sentencing
commission if the governor were able to control the
appointments to the panel.
The administration also says the governor wants to
empower a commission to make recommendations that would
have the force of law.
“If there is an unelected, unaccountable sentencing
commission to weaken California’s laws, this will be one of the most historic jailbreaks
in recorded memory,” Republican leader Sam Blakeslee said.
Law enforcement groups are opposed to the commission.
The big question is whether it will be linked to the
rest of the prison package, or left as a stand-alone proposal.
John Myers has more details about the proposal.
"The proposals in ABX3 14 are estimated, when
enacted, to save the beleaguered state budget $524.5 million. Add to
that the $400 million in prisons savings called for in the February
budget deal, and the savings that could supposedly
be achieved by the
governor acting on his own authority to reduce costs,
and you get the
$1.2 billion in reduced corrections spending in the 2009-2010 budget.
The single largest dollar amount of savings -- $198 million -- is
believed to be through parole reform. The bill would send fewer
parolees back to prison for minor violations, and would
create what's
called the Parole Reentry Accountability Program to
allow prison
officials to determine appropriate sanctions for parole
violators."
"The bill also counts a large amount of savings from
changes to the
sentencing process ($134 million). While that includes items like
making some crimes misdemeanors instead of felonies,
the debate will
undoubtedly focus on the creation of a new sentencing
commission -- an
idea long been kicked around the Capitol but one on
which consensus has
remained elusive."
The governor was is prison himself yesterday , taking a tour of the scene of the riot in Chino.
Michael Rothfled reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after touring the site
where a major prison
riot occurred 12 days ago, said Wednesday that the state's prison
system is "collapsing under its own weight" and called on lawmakers to
make changes that could reduce overcrowding and spending
on inmates.
The governor and his corrections chief, Matt Cate, walked through the
destruction at a housing unit for prisoners at the
California
Institution for Men in Chino, where 1,300 inmates rioted on the evening
of Aug. 8.
"The prison housed nearly 6,000 prisoners, twice the number for
which it was designed. About 1,200 beds were lost due to the damage,
forcing the state to transfer inmates to other facilities.
Schwarzenegger, who used to visit prisons to work out
with inmates as a
bodybuilder in the 1970s, said the system has vastly changed since
then, with California now spending almost $49,000 a year -- far more
than other states -- to incarcerate a single inmate in a system that is
"very, very dangerous."
In other news, "California’s largest card club owners are seeking a five-year extension of a state law that protects existing
clubs’ monopoly on non-tribal poker in California,",CW reports.
"The bill, SB 213 by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, would extend an existing moratorium on new
card clubs from 2015 to 2020.
"Card club interests have also invested heavily in Florez,
who is a former chairman of the Senate Governmental
Organization committee and a candidate for lieutenant
governor in 2010.
"According to records from the secretary of state’s office, card club interests have given more than
$200,000 to Florez’s Senate and lieutenant governor accounts since 2007.
"Among those donors are some of the sponsors of SB 213. The Commerce Club, Hawaiian Gardens Casino, Hollywood
Park Casino and Lucky Chances Casino are all listed
as officially in support of the bill.
"Those four clubs, and their employees, have given Florez
more than $150,000.
George Skelton weighs in on Water Buffaloes.
And for those of you on the back 9 contemplating a final resting place, an American widow
is selling her husband's burial spot directly above film legend Marilyn Monroe so that she can pay off her mortgage.
Elsie Poncher has put an advert on eBay to auction off the tomb in Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles.
"Here is a once in a lifetime and into eternity opportunity
to spend
your eternal days directly above Marilyn Monroe," says the
advertisement.
"In fact the person occupying the address right now
is looking face down on her."
If you're in to that kind of thing...
