"Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata began Wednesday saying he had made enough concessions
to secure a budget deal with the governor and called for Republicans to sign
on," write Jim Sanders and Kevin Yamamura in the Bee.
"But the day ended with little progress, as Perata concluded
that negotiations remained at 'impasse.'
"'We're huddling now and trying to see what our next step
will be,' Perata told reporters Wednesday afternoon.
"Hours earlier, Perata described a compromise with Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger that would temporarily increase
the state sales tax by 1 cent and restrain future state spending.
"The spending restraints include a rainy-day fund and a spending cap, but not gubernatorial
authority for midyear budget cuts if the economy nose-dives, the Oakland Democrat said.
"In the five hours between Perata's two comments, it became clear that Republican leaders
were not joining Perata's call for a vote. Neither were Assembly Democrats
nor Schwarzenegger."
But other than that, we're done!
"Key issues that remain unresolved include how long
a temporary 1-cent sales tax hike would remain in place and, when
it is dropped, whether it would temporarily or permanently
fall below the state's existing base rate of 7.25 percent.
"The issue of a spending cap also remained controversial
Wednesday.
"Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines disputed Perata's characterization of agreement on a spending cap."
Evan Halper looks at the fight over a corporate tax proposal reportedly
included in the Perata-Schwarzenegger compromise.
"The plan would allow many large financial companies
that are currently enduring record losses to eventually
receive tax breaks millions of dollars greater than
are currently available to them. Subprime lenders would
be among the largest beneficiaries because they experienced
a large boom followed by a bust.
"Businesses that have had more modest revenue swings
might not benefit at all.
"'This is all about bailing out the subprime lending
industry,' said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project,
a nonprofit that advocates for low-income Californians in the state budget process. 'They will have checks written to them by the state
of California if this goes through.'
"It stems from a Democratic proposal to close the budget
gap by suspending loss write-offs for three years, saving the state $1.1 billion a year. The counter-proposal crafted by the business groups would put the
more generous tax breaks in effect once the suspension
ended.
"The new tax breaks would ultimately permit financial
institutions to use this year's losses to claim refunds against large tax bills they
paid in 2006 and perhaps 2005, years when they had record profits. Business lobbyists
who support the tax breaks point out that companies
can already claim them on their federal taxes."
Capitol Weekly reports on one of the last-minute megadeals that may be coming down the pike in
the closing days of session.
"A publicly funded, world-class research institute that would develop answers
to the threat posed by climate-changing greenhouse gases is being crafted in the Legislature,
and is among the last-minute proposals expected to come before the Legislature
in the closing days of this year's legislative session.
"The plan differs sharply from the original blueprint
proposed by California's top utilities regulator, state Public Utilities Commission
President Michael Peevey. Legislation encompassing
the new, estimated $87 million-a-year plan is likely to be completed within a few days.
"The institute is the latest example of Californians
being asked to pay for reducing the state's greenhouse gas emissions. The California Air Resources
Board is currently concluding economic modeling that
would help determine the cost of implementing AB 32, the 2006 legislation that requires the state to cut greenhouse
gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020.
"Proponents of the institute say it will lure scientific
innovation to California and help stoke the growing
industry of developing green technologies. Critics
say it is a publicly subsidized power play led by Legislative
Democrats and Peevey."
"Frustrated and showing signs of temper, California's prison medical receiver on Wednesday asked a federal judge to give him what the governor,
the controller and the Legislature have not – enough money to fix the state's correctional health care crisis," reports Andy Furillo in the Bee.
"The bill will be $8 billion over five years, J. Clark Kelso said at his downtown Sacramento office. It would go
toward building seven new chronic-care facilities to house 10,500 inmate patients and upgrading medical units at all
33 state prisons.
"In the legal motion filed in U.S. District Court in
San Francisco, Kelso blasted ahead in what amounted
to the receivership's boldest move yet in the 2 1/2 years since it was created by judicial mandate.
"'I think Mr. Kelso got their attention,' political consultant Ray McNally said later, after hearing the receiver address a Sacramento
Press Club luncheon. 'He's forcing them to finally admit that the California
correctional system is in desperate need of reform
from top to bottom.'
"Besides the money, Kelso's motion also asked that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
and state Controller John Chiang be held in contempt
of court for failing to provide the prison medical
fix-it financing. The receiver wants Judge Thelton Henderson to fine them $2 million a day until they come through with the cash.
A hearing is set for Sept. 22. Kelso also wants Schwarzenegger and Chiang to attend
the hearing."
CW's Andrea Weiland catches up with some of the state's top professional fundraisers. "It's their job to make sure the chicken isn't too dry, that guests find
their seats, and that the
all-important money is promptly collected. The fundraiser
is the top-to-bottom organizer of every fund-generating campaign event
in the Capitol. Almost every
day of the week the fundraiser is thinking about fund-raising events,
from party-planning minutiae to how much money they want their
client to make this year."
Meanwhile, CW's Nick Brokaw catches up with the man who used to routinely beat up Maria Shriver
-- and isn't apologizing for it.
"Faced with hundreds of sprawling, hard-to-control blazes, California is struggling with what could be its most expensive
wildfire season ever, burning through nearly $300 million in just the past six weeks," reports the AP's Don Thompson.
"Costs have soared since the 2003 Southern California firestorm and keep rising, creating
a quandary for state officials already struggling with
a severe budget shortfall. They're considering slapping homeowners with a natural disaster
surcharge, with those at higher risk paying the most.
"The $285 million California has spent since its fiscal year
began July 1 is more than the state spent to fight fires in nine
of the previous 10 years.
"Even worse, the Santa Ana season, when hot winds fan
Southern California's fire season, lies ahead.
"'The costs have just been staggering,' said state Sen. Christine Kehoe, a San Diego Democrat who is pushing one of several
funding proposals in the Legislature."
Malcolm Maclachlan checks in on the ongoing fight between Indian tribes and bingo machine
operators.
"In recent months, Sacramento has seen a legal and media
battle over charity bingo halls. The California Tribal
Business Alliance (CTBA) and the Attorney General have been trying to shut
down several charity bingo halls they say aren't complying with the rules set out for the game in
state law. These so-called bingo parlors, they say, resemble Vegas casinos,
with electronic "bingo" machines that look and play like slot machines or
video poker.
"The California Charity Bingo Association has fought
back with an ad campaign accusing "powerful special interest groups" wanting to cut off money for disabled veterans and
sick children."
"The state Assembly on Wednesday passed a bill aimed at improving the $9.9 billion high-speed rail bond measure on November's ballot. But the bill won't be sent to Gov. Schwarzenegger until there's "a signal" he will sign it, the bill's author said," reports E.J. Schultz in the Fresno Bee.
"By holding the bill, Assembly Member Cathleen Galgiani,
D-Stockton, is buying more time for the governor. He
supports the legislation but has vowed to veto all
bills until lawmakers strike a deal on the 2008-09 budget, now 45 days late.
"But the clock is still ticking. The deadline to put
a new measure on the Nov. 4 ballot is Saturday, though that could change. If a
budget deal is cut soon, it would clear the way for
the governor to sign the rail bill without breaking
his pledge.
"Rail supporters believe they might have as long as
two weeks to change the measure because counties will
not start printing ballots until the end of the month."
"Money collected in Los Angeles County to clean up its
polluted ports would be shared with the Central Valley under a proposal
by the Schwarzenegger administration that is drawing opposition from Southern California
leaders," writes Patrick McGreevy in the Times.
"Sponsors of legislation that would charge shippers
about $60 a container in the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach
and Oakland had intended to use the money in areas
close to those cities' ports to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution.
"But after the bill passed both legislative houses,
aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed last-minute changes that would funnel some of the money
to a statewide transportation fund and the California
Air Resources Board, which could use it in areas such
as the Central Valley, which suffers poor air quality
from traffic, agriculture and other sources.
"'Do we believe the Central Valley has huge problems
that need help? Yes,' said state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), author of SB 974. 'Do we believe that emasculating this bill to meet those
needs will meet anyone's needs? No.'
"Lowenthal said he hoped for a compromise, but vowed
to fight the changes even if it meant risking a veto
by putting the bill, as passed, on the governor's desk."
And finally, in another of a long list of awards we
didn't win, The Roundup was bested again in San Jose State University's annual bad writing contest.
"Garrison Spik, a 41-year-old communications director and writer, took top honors
in San Jose State University's 26th annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest with this opening sentence to
a nonexistent novel:
"Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning
rubber,
and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their
bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white
breath through
manhole covers stamped 'Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.'"
The contest is named after Victorian novelist Edward
George Earl Bulwer-Lytton, whose 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" famously begins "It was a dark and stormy night."
