The Bee's Peter Hecht looks at the
reliance of the state budget on the new tribal compacts. "Schwarzenegger negotiated compacts last year for casino expansions -- of between 3,000 and 5,500 new slot machines each -- for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
The compacts for the Southern California tribes bogged down in the closing hours of the last legislative session in a bitter showdown between two powerful constituencies -- tribal governments and organized labor.
Now Schwarzenegger is raising the stakes on lawmakers by penciling in $509 million in tribal casino payments into this year's state budget -- money the state will receive only if lawmakers approve the gambling agreements.
"We have $509 million in the budget that assumes we're going to pass five compacts this year," said state Sen.
Dean Florez, D-Shafter, whose Senate governmental affairs committee will review the compacts.
'The governor is raising the ante,' said Florez, who supports the compacts but plans hearings in March on the agreements and anticipated state revenues. 'He is saying you're going to blow a hole in the budget if you don't pass the compacts. The governor is putting a bit of pressure on the Legislature.'"
Even so, the legislative analyst has said that even if the Legislature does approve those compacts, the administration's prediction of $500 million in new revenues this year is simply unrealistic. But that said...
"'The Assembly will not ratify those compacts,' said [Assembly GO chair
Alberto] Torrico, who said he wants improved labor and environmental concessions in the agreements. 'Everybody knows the governor needs to reopen negotiations.'"
The Chron's Lynda Gledhill looks at the
tax vs. fee obstacle to the governor's health care proposal. "A central component of Schwarzenegger's $12 billion program to provide health insurance to all Californians are fees on employers, physicians and hospitals. But Republicans and business groups argue that these are really taxes -- a key distinction in California, where a tax requires approval by a two-thirds majority in the Legislature, which means minority Republicans would need to go along. A fee can be passed by a majority vote.
For Schwarzenegger, the need to bridge the partisan divide is critical if he wants to achieve success, said
Mark Baldassare, director of research for the Public Policy Institute of California.
'Where he has gotten so much of his recent star power is in his ability to work compromises with the Legislature,' Baldassare said. '
So I don't think his popularity alone can carry the day. His popularity is derived from working with both sides of the aisle to come to a compromise. That's what he's going to have to do, or he will see his star power diminish.'"
Next time Gledhill writes about the governor's health care plan,
she'll likely be picking it apart on behalf of Sen. Don Perata. Gledhill was hired on by the pro tem's communications shop last week.
George Skelton argues that the governor
should focus on providing health insurance to all children first. "But the governor doesn't like it when somebody suggests that perhaps the Capitol should move incrementally on healthcare and start with insuring all children.
'No, absolutely not,' he told the Sacramento Press Club last week. 'We should take it as a comprehensive approach. We have the talent here; we have the intelligence in our Capitol to get our act together.'
I'm not so sure. Not with term limits, extremist lawmakers produced by gerrymandering and special interests ganging up on all sides.
Meantime, kids' germs aren't conservative or liberal, documented or undocumented. They spread indiscriminately, regardless of immigration status or tax brackets.
If nothing else, the politicians should protect every child."
Speaking of health care,
President Bush will get into the mix, unveiling
a new health care proposal in the State of the Union address.
"The president, looking to gain momentum for his domestic agenda that is at risk of becoming overshadowed by the Iraq war, will include the health proposal in his State of the Union address on Tuesday," writes the Washington Post's Caren Bohan.
"'We must address these rising costs, so that more Americans can afford basic health insurance. And we need to do it without creating a new federal entitlement program or raising taxes,' Bush said in his weekly radio address."
The Bush plan would end tax deductions for health care among for current taxpayers, and introduce a new program to help cover the uninsured.
"The
California Highway Patrol, partly responsible for enforcing state law on certifying the safety of cars that have been in accidents,
failed for four years to turn in the proper paperwork when it sold its own wrecked cars and motorcycles," reports John Hill in the Bee.
"'They should be crimson red with that disclosure,' said former state Sen.
Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, who wrote legislation to protect consumers from unsafe salvage cars. 'They were part and parcel of the whole debate on this bill. Not to enforce the law is very negligent.'"
Wow, Jackie beating up government from beyond the grave. What's she running for, anyways?
The
error has been fixed, officials from the CHP and the Department of Motor Vehicles say.
'Since the end of 2005, the procedure has been changed so that this doesn't happen,' said CHP spokeswoman
Fran Clader.
But 60 vehicles did not get the proper "salvage certificate" required when cars or motorcycles have been deemed "totaled" in accidents."
Dan Walters looks at the
governor's chances of building a centrist coalition. "So far, Schwarzenegger is the lonely champion of centrism in the Capitol, excoriated by conservatives in his own party and winning votes from Democrats only when he deals with their pet issues. The Legislature and the two parties, if anything, are more ideologically divided today than ever before. But, as the parties' declining shares of voters indicate, that confrontational posture alienates ever-larger numbers of voters.
Schwarzenegger is on to something, but whether "post-partisanship" is a viable option remains to be seen."
"Seeking to return to the Los Angeles City Council, Assemblyman
Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys,
kicked off his volunteer campaign Saturday," writes the Daily News' Rachel Uranga.
"Surrounded by former opponents and the state senator and former councilman he's trying to replace, Alarcon vowed to improve the northeast San Fernando Valley. He promised to complete the Children's Museum at Hansen Dam, develop the former Price Pfister plant and bring a new fire station to Sylmar.
Alarcon wants the council seat vacated by Alex Padilla, who was elected to the state Senate in November.
Both Padilla's chief of staff, Felipe Fuentes, and former Assemblywoman Cindy Montañez had considered running for the seat but dropped out."
The Bee's Steve Wiegand writes "Former Senate Prez
John Burton may not have been much of a centrist, but the
guv misses the termed-out S.F. Democrat anyway.
'
He really knew how to work me, you know,' Schwarzenegger said in an interview with The Bee's Kevin Yamamura last week. The guv waxed nostalgic on the liberal Democrat's custom of bringing him culinary delicacies from Schwarzenegger's native Austria and chatting him up on Austrian history.
'(Reep Senate leader
Dick) Ackerman is providing a great leadership now up there, and also
Perata is providing great leadership on the Democratic side,' the guv said. '
But you know, Burton was Burton. So for me, especially since I came in here and it was all new, I think he was the right man at the right time.'
Take that,
Willie Brown."
From our
Song Remains The Same Files, our hearts go out to former Assemblyman
Kevin McCarthy. The Bakersfield Republican left Sacramento for Congress this year so he could serve in the majority for once. But alas...
"In one of Washington's rituals, Bakersfield Rep. Kevin McCarthy and his fellow House Republicans are
seething about the shabby treatment they say they've received so far from the new Democratic majority.
"The Democrats have been
ramming major bills on issues like the minimum wage, stem cell research and prescription drug prices through the House with no committee hearings and no opportunity for amendments, McCarthy said. They've also refused to disclose votes by the powerful committee that sets procedural rules for floor debates.
"McCarthy said that is just the opposite of what the Democrats and their new speaker,
Nancy Pelosi, promised in the campaigns last year.
"'When she was sworn in, she said she wanted partnership, not partisanship,' McCarthy said by phone from Washington. 'It's just the opposite of what they said they would do.'"
Diaper and rattle sold separately.
Finally, congrats to
Karl Kemp for winning the Roundup's
Compassionate Antique Dealer of the Year Award.
"Kemp, owner of the posh Karl Kemp & Associates Antiques, Ltd. on Madison Avenue,
sued three men and a woman for $1 million earlier this month, alleging they scare away customers when they drink alcohol, urinate and warm themselves above a heating duct in front of his shop.
The New York Post backed Kemp, writing in an editorial on Friday, 'We're no fans of frivolous lawsuits. But kudos to Kemp.'"
