"After hours of frenzied negotiations, the state Senate
failed to approve a budget Wednesday, prolonging an impasse that threatens to strap the finances of schools, community colleges and healthcare programs that rely on checks from Sacramento," reports Evan Halper in the Times.
"In a 26-14 vote held Wednesday night,
one Republican senator broke ranks with his caucus to vote with Democrats to approve a bipartisan spending plan passed by the Assembly nearly two weeks ago. But it wasn't enough.
The Senate needs one more GOP vote to approve a spending plan by a required two-thirds majority."The remaining Republicans continued to hold out, demanding more spending cuts and a softening of an environmental law they say is being used inappropriately to block building projects.
"'This budget is late 31 days and I think it is time we start moving forward,' said Sen.
Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), who was under pressure from his caucus to continue holding out but voted for the measure. '
We are getting more than we asked for with this budget.'
"Yet the budget failed to pass, even after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger assured Republicans he would use his line-item veto authority to trim the $700 million in spending from the budget that GOP lawmakers say the state cannot afford.
The Bee's Judy Lin reports "Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata, D-Oakland said he was
frustrated by Republicans' unwillingness to put up the votes for a budget that Democrats have only reluctantly agreed to support. He accused Republicans of negotiating in a 'dishonest' fashion after the governor agreed to address the operating deficit and other GOP concerns.
"The Democratic leader
sent members back to their districts and said 'it's very likely' the Senate will not reconvene until the Assembly returns from summer recess on Aug. 20."
The Merc News's Mike Zapler writes: "Politically,
the budget impasse could be most damaging to Schwarzenegger. He has promised to overhaul the state's health care system, but the Legislature is scheduled to be in session for only four more weeks before it adjourns for the year.
"If the budget debate continues into late August or September, it could deny the governor and lawmakers enough time to craft a health care proposal, let alone to deal with other issues such as water storage and changing how legislative districts are drawn.
"Schwarzenegger, who has kept a low profile during budget talks, is expected to become more vocal about the standoff, starting at a news conference today.
"'I am very disappointed the Senate failed to pass the budget,' Schwarzenegger said in a statement Wednesday night. 'There is no reason the people of California should be forced to go a single day longer without a budget.' He said that financial markets 'may lose confidence' in the state's finances if the budget delay continues, potentially hurting its credit rating and making borrowing money more expensive.
'
We are now more than a month late and the gridlock is unacceptable.'"
But enough policy wrangling, we've got politics to focus on.
Capitol Weekly reports that yesterday was
an important day for those looking for clues as to who the next Speaker and Pro Tem may be.
"It was the deadline for all future leadership contenders to show a little leg--to publicly reveal their fundraising hauls for the first half of 2007.
"While there is no official leadership challenge under way in either house, there is no shortage of leadership candidates waiting in line. And for now,
most of them are in a state of suspended ambition, frozen by a potential tweak in the state term-limits law that would allow both Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata to retain their leadership posts for at least four more years."Voters will vote on the term-limits change in February. But if the initiative fails, it will immediately make Núñez and Perata lame ducks and touch off a race for the next round of leaders.
"
A look at the fundraising totals provides a pretty good clue as to who is in the top tier of contenders to replace Núñez and Perata. Leading the way is Freshman Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles, a close ally of Núñez and organized labor. The caucus' second-leading fundraiser, Culver City Democrat Karen Bass, also has close labor ties. And, like De Leon, Bass is frequently mentioned as a possible successor to Núñez."
CW's John Howard delves into the budget trailer bills yet again, and comes up with another example of
how the budget is used to make policy changes.
"The order of battle: two Assembly districts, side by side, and two school districts, also side by side.
In this corner: Democratic Assemblyman Ed Hernandez and the Rowland Unified School District. In the other corner, Republican Assemblyman Bob Huff and the Walnut Valley Unified School District.
"Huff authored language that is tucked away in SB 80, the budget trailer bill dealing with education, to help out his hometown school district. Like the contents of most of other trailer bills, it has never been aired in a Senate hearing but was negotiated quietly. It stems from Huff's original legislation that was watered down, largely through the efforts of Hernandez, D-La Puente.
"
The fight between Hernandez and Huff illustrates how lawmakers are increasingly using the budget process to revive their pet policy projects. Because Republican cooperation is needed to pass a budget, the process gives Republicans leverage to make demands of legislative leaders. And Democrats use the trailer bills to sock away pet projects or other controversial items without the increased attention of a formal committee hearing."
Daniel Weintraub
looks at the security testing of voting machines, which found that, when given extraordinary access, scientists were able to manipulate results. "Still, there will always be something about paper ballots that gives people a greater sense of security. Ultimately, the best option might be the middle ground -- the kind of optical-scan technology that we use for school testing, where the voter fills in a bubble on paper and then computers count the ballots. That system could also be hacked, but at least we would always have the original physical record of what each voter intended.
"Bowen would be wise to tread lightly here. The UC researchers exposed some potential problems, but no immediate crisis. A crisis is what California would face if she were to ban the machines with so little time left to replace them with something better before the next election."
CW's Malcolm Maclachlan reports on
the incredibly shrinking Chukchansi tribe.
"One of California's major gaming tribes, the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, has kicked out more than 500 members in the last year.
"Last week, letters went out to another 69 people, according to activist Laura Wass of the American Indian Movement. At a recent tribal-council meeting, she said, representatives of the tribe stated that another 200 people would soon get letters.
"
All told, around 3,000 people have been kicked out of California Indian tribes since the advent of casino gaming in the state. But these former Chukchansis make up the single largest block of disenrolled tribal members in California. The numbers put the tribe at the center of a growing dispute over who gets to enjoy the newfound wealth of being a member of a California gaming tribe."
Meanwhile, "
Barbara Johnston of Sacramento
took over the helm of the Medical Board of California on Wednesday," reports Dorsey Griffith in the Bee.
"Johnston replaces
Dave Thornton, who recently retired as the board's executive director. She is a registered nurse with several years of health management experience.
"Most recently, Johnston worked as executive director for the California Telemedicine and eHealth Center, which operates networks for health services to rural and underserved communities.
"The medical board, an agency of the state Department of Consumer Affairs, is responsible for investigating complaints and meting out discipline to licensed California physicians."
"
Charter school advocates are objecting to legislation they say could harm San Diego-based High Tech High and other charter campuses," writes Helen Gao in the Union Tribune.
"Senate Bill 92 would force Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to choose between curtailing the state Board of Education's ability to approve charters or losing $18 million in state grants that help the schools pay for classrooms.
"The bill, attached to the state budget, is backed by Democratic Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez.
Steven Maviglio, a Núñez spokesman, said the Speaker's office is willing to pull the bill from the budget and introduce a revised version later.
"'We are trying to clarify existing law, not undermine or undercut,' Maviglio said. 'We are continuing to talk with the (Schwarzenegger) administration.'
"
Gary Larson, a spokesman for the California Charter Schools Association, said the bill would undermine the expansion of successful charter schools."
And we at the Roundup have our own proposal to end the budget standoff --
put all the negotiators on an Amtrak train! That's because, as the AP reports, "Amtrak is trying to gin up new business by offering
$100 in free alcohol to customers on some overnight trains."
That should be enough to buy Dick Ackerman at least a glass of his favorite wine...
