"Special interests with close ties to lawmakers
launched a ballot initiative Thursday that would allow current legislators to stay in office up to six years longer than term limits now permit," reports Nancy Vogel in the Times.
"The proposed measure, which was filed Thursday with the state attorney general, would do what the Legislature's leaders have advocated with increasing urgency as their 2008 ousters approach: Cut the number of years a lawmaker can hold office from 14 to 12, but allow them to be served in one house.
"Existing law limits total legislative service to 14 years, with a maximum of three two-year terms in the Assembly and two four-year terms in the Senate.
"Authors of the proposal said it would give Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) six more years in the lower house and Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata (D-Oakland) four more in the upper house."
The sweetener: The proposal would allow any member to serve twelve years in the house in which they are currently serving as a transition. This means that
about half the State Senate would be eligible for a total of 18 years, versus the current 14.
"Lawmakers could put a term limits revision on the ballot themselves. But the architects of the proposal said that would appear too self-serving.
"'The Legislature putting it on themselves … doesn't help you build the support you need to pass this as much as 1 million people signing it,' said
Gale Kaufman, a Democratic political consultant and Nuñez advisor who will manage the campaign for the initiative."
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
may have underestimated the cost of his health care overhaul by $150 million to more than $3 billion, the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser said Thursday," writes the Bee's Clea Benson.
"The governor estimates that his plan to bring down insurance costs and extend coverage to the 6.5 million people without health care will cost $12 billion annually.
"But the actual costs may be higher, the Legislative Analyst's Office told the Senate Health Committee during the first hearing on the proposal.
"Marcus Stanley of the analyst's office said the plan would cost more if medical care outpaces inflation, if the numbers of uninsured are higher than estimated, or if insurance company premiums are higher than anticipated."
The Register's Brian Joseph
looks into the industry contributions received by the new chair of Assembly Insurance. "During his first two years in the Legislature, Assemblyman
Joe Coto, D-San Jose, showed no interest in insurance.
"He didn't serve on the Assembly Insurance Committee or sponsor any insurance bills.
"As far as I can tell, he raised just $11,900 from seven insurance groups during the 21 months before the 2004 election.
"But, suddenly, in late August and early September, insurance money started flowing to Coto – right before he was named chairman of the Insurance Committee.
"Coto was one of a few lawmakers rumored to get the job, but the industry didn't give nearly as much to the other potentials I heard about.
"In fact, none of this session's new committee chairmen experienced the sort of focused giving Coto saw in the weeks leading to their September appointments.
"In all, 10 insurance groups gave Coto $18,800 in little more than three weeks before Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez appointed him on Sept. 11.
"Of those 10, six had never given him a dime before."
"For the third time in as many years, lawmakers
have introduced a bill to legalize physician assisted suicide, and this time the proponents have signed up a formidable political ally -- Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez," writes the Chron's Matthew Yi.
"Núñez is one of three joint authors of AB374, which is patterned after an Oregon law that allows terminally ill patients to receive a lethal dose of prescription medicine to end their lives."
"Having the Democratic Assembly speaker's support gives the legislation a boost, but his backing may not guarantee passage given that lawmakers' personal and religious convictions -- rather than political ones -- will factor into the emotionally charged debate.
"'I think a bill like this depends more on individual conscience,' said
John Pitney Jr., a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. 'And if (there is an issue where) lawmakers need to look at their individual consciences more than their political leader, this is it.'"
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, attending a California YMCA Youth and Government conference on Thursday, said he
won't sign a bill to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in California if the measure is passed by the Legislature," reports the Bee's Peter Hecht.
"Asked by a high school student if he would sign a gay marriage bill, the governor said: 'No. I wouldn't sign it because the people of California have voted on that issue.'"
"He was referring to the passage of Proposition 22 in 2000 to limit marriage to a man and a woman.
"Last year, the Republican governor cited the same initiative in vetoing a gay marriage bill by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. Leno has introduced a similar bill this year, Assembly Bill 43."
From our
Really Bad Case of the Muchies Files: "A Pomona woman was arrested on suspicion of assault
after attacking another woman with a baseball bat Thursday at the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant, officials said.
"
Liliana Duenas, 24, is being held in lieu of $30,000 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and possession of an illegal weapon, Covina police Lt.
Tim Doonan said.
"The assault began about 1:30 p.m. as an incident of road-rage turned violent at a Taco Bell at 700 W. Arrow Highway.
"Two women, both driving sport utility vehicles, arrived at the entrance of the drive-through at roughly the same time, said Doonan, when the suspect became angry because she believed she was cut off.
"The women got out of their cars and continued to argue, when the 5-foot-1-inch suspect returned to her car and retrieved a full-sized wooden baseball bat, said Doonan.
"The other woman fled back into her car, and the suspect began swinging the bat, striking the victim in the arm and causing several hundred dollars worth of damage to the victim's car, Doonan said.
"The victim, a 31-year-old Baldwin Park resident, avoided serious injury because the door took some of the impact, said Doonan, adding that her injuries could easily have been much worse."
