"With home foreclosures at record levels and threatening to rise even further over the next several years, Assembly Democrats
took steps Thursday they hope will tighten lending practices that have led to the massive defaults on loans that threaten the California economy and have cost the state budget billions," reports Steven Harmon in the Merc News.
"The lawmakers unveiled five proposed laws and asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also has been vocal about the impact of the mortgage crisis on the state,
to call a special legislative session so the measures can be adopted more quickly. But lawmakers conceded there is little that can be done to help those who already have lost their homes to foreclosure - or those facing it - other than to use the bully pulpit."
Maybe a hat trick of special sessions will lead to something that two has not.
"'We believe we can shine the spotlight on what lenders are doing,' said Assemblyman
Ted Lieu, D-El Segundo, the chairman of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee. 'We can't rewrite these contracts. It will be through cajoling, shame and persuasion.'"
The LAT's Jordan Rau
looks at the fight over the control -- and position on health care reform -- of the Service Employees International Union State Council.
"While enthusiastic about the goal of securing coverage for the 5 million Californians who now are uninsured,
Sal Rosselli -- the president of an Oakland-based SEIU local as well as the state council -- has insisted that any deal fully protect middle-class residents from having to pay premiums they may not be able to afford or forcing them to buy bare-bones policies.
"But through a labor fight that has been more than a year in the making, Rosselli may be removed as president of the state council as early as this morning, two years before his term is scheduled to expire, according to union officials.
"Many of the issues involved in the action have more to do with internal union politics about labor's direction than with the healthcare battle, but the leadership change could have substantial consequences. The potential new leaders are more eager than Rosselli and longtime Executive Director
Dean Tipps to cut a deal with Schwarzenegger -- in part to help advance their campaign to overhaul healthcare nationally.
"That has been the view of
Andy Stern, the president of the international union, who has personally expressed to the governor's office his frustration with the stance of California SEIU leaders, according to people familiar with the discussions."
In
lower carbon footprint news, the Bee's Peter Hecht writes: "According to a new Field Poll released Thursday,
more than 4.2 million of the state's 15 million registered voters -- 27.2 percent -- have signed up to cast their ballots by mail. In the June 2006 state primary election, a record 47 percent of the ballots cast came from absentee voters.
"'People who vote by mail once are more likely to vote by mail again,' said California Field Poll director
Mark DiCamillo. 'It's a fundamental change in the way people vote.'
"With absentee ballots for California's Feb. 5 presidential primary going out on Jan. 7, millions of state residents will have a chance to vote ahead of earlier state primaries in Nevada, South Carolina, Michigan, Florida and Maine."
Dan Walters
looks at the political implications of mail-in balloting.
"The state Air Resources Board
will launch into a yearlong planning effort today that it hopes will yield a workable plan for slashing California's annual greenhouse gas emissions by 100 million metric tons in just 12 years," writes Jim Downing in the Bee.
"That goal -- the equivalent of cutting the state's gasoline use almost 70 percent -- represents most of the reductions mandated under Assembly Bill 32, passed last year. The specific regulations enacted to meet it likely will affect virtually every sector of the California economy, from how electricity is generated to how new communities are planned."
My SUV says this is going to be awesome.
"Many of the emissions reductions will be straightforward expansions of energy-efficiency programs that the state already has pursued for years. But others -- like rules that could affect land use -- will put the agency in unfamiliar regulatory territory."
Bring on the crab! "'Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
lifted the ban on crabbing and fishing in San Francisco Bay on Thursday after studies showed no ill effects from the fuel oil spill three weeks ago, but state officials urged seafood lovers to stay away from some mussels and oysters," writes Peter Fimrite in the Chron.
"'We have been advised and have concluded that the fishery is safe and that all existing seasons can resume according to existing laws,' said
John McCamman, acting director of the California Department of Fish and Game, announcing the end of the ban that began Nov. 13.
"'There is a possibility of residual oil remaining in the water, and it could remain over the next couple of months.
We urge fishermen to use common sense. If it looks like oil and smells like oil and tastes like oil, you don't want to eat it,' McCamman said.'"
LA Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa has pretty much accepted life without the NFL, reports the LAT's David Wharton.
"With USC threatening to move its home games to Pasadena's Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa called for a long-term deal to keep the Trojans in the Memorial Coliseum, saying for the first time he has given up hope of the National Football League returning to the aging stadium.
"While I remain committed to bringing a professional team to Los Angeles, it is time to read the scoreboard," Villaraigosa said in a statement Wednesday. "The Coliseum is no longer a viable option for the NFL."
The question is, how's he coping with the reality of life without the governor's office in 2010?
