What to do with all this free time? The LAT's Michael Rothfeld writes that the 18-month budget plan
creates a window for lawmakers to tackle other pressing
state issues.
"In a Capitol where groundbreaking achievements have
been trumped by money woes in recent years, state officials
are now hoping to broaden their ambitions to more than
paying the state's bills, without breaking the bank. At their disposal
is an unusual new resource: time.
"That may be the only upside of the fiscal crisis. After
lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came together
on a spending plan in February -- instead of at the end of a hot Sacramento summer -- they now see in the eight months ahead the potential
to solidify the state's fragile water supply, to improve foster care and
to make gains on clean energy."
Unless there's a $17-18 billion problem that has to be addressed this summer
But we digress. . .
"Prison costs, education and jobs also top the list
of issues lawmakers hope to pick up that were largely
swept aside as Republicans and Democrats argued over
the budget.
"'I ran for the Senate and I ran to be the leader not
just to deal with crises but to actually help set a
positive agenda,' said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who has dealt with little but crises since taking
his post last year. 'My view is, if we can resolve a $41-billion budget deficit, we can do just about anything.'"
"California Forward, the relatively new bipartisan nonprofit
dedicated to repairing state government, has come out in favor of Propositions 1A through 1F on the May 19 ballot," writes Shane Goldmacher on Capitol Alert.
Shocker.
"The group called the measures 'part of a budget agreement crafted to maintain essential
services during one of the most dramatic economic downturns
in decades.'
"California Forward endorsed Proposition 11 last year, the redistricting measure pushed by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Meanwhile, CTA kicked in $350,000 to the Yes on 1A and 1C campaign yesterday.
Anthony York and John Myers take a look at the week
that was in this week's Capitol Notes podcast.
The Bee's Steve Weigand looks at the role Cynthia Bryant and Ana Manasantos play overseeing the state's federal stimulus dough.
"The team is a group of state officials charged by the
governor with grabbing – and keeping track of – billions of recession-fighting federal dollars that are beginning to pour
into California.
"The money – expected to reach $50 billion over the next 18 months – is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act, or ARRA, designed to help spend the country out
of the worst economic mess since the Great Depression.
"When he signed the 407-page act in mid-February, President Barack Obama pledged his administration
would be accountable for every nickel of the $787 billion the measure plans to spend.
"The governor's goal is to get as much stimulus money for California
and create as many jobs as possible," Bryant said during an interview last week.
"'And once you have those goals in mind, you don't miss a deadline and don't let Joe Biden find a swimming pool being built on
your watch. We're pretty good at all that. It's just a question of staying on top of it.'"
"Tens of thousands of laid-off California workers could obtain federal aid for health insurance under
legislation approved Thursday by the Assembly," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"Assembly Bill 23 was approved without a dissenting vote and now goes
to the Senate.
"The bill, if signed into law, would take effect immediately
as California struggles with an unemployment rate topping
10 percent.
"'This bill is critically important for Californians
facing some of the toughest times our state has known,' said Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento.
"Jones teamed up with Republican Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher in proposing AB 23, which is sponsored by state Insurance Commissioner
Steve Poizner."
"Budget analysts are urging the state legislature to reject the governor's proposal to give the state fire agency $70 million and impose a 2.8 percent surcharge on homeowner's insurance," write John Asbury and Jim Miller in the Press-Enterprise.
"In Sacramento on Thursday, a Senate budget subcommittee
hearing centered on a disagreement between the Legislative
Analyst's Office and the Schwarzenegger administration over
the fairness of the governor's January proposal for 2.8 percent fee on property insurance premiums.
"The fee would raise $70 million in 2009-10 and $280 million in 2010-11. The revenue could be used to expand emergency services
or it could make up for cuts in general-fund spending. Improvements include adding a fourth
firefighter to each engine team, repairing helicopters
and giving $11 million in network access for high speed Internet
in rural areas.
"State analysts decry the measure as a tax that would
increase the state's funding obligations under Prop. 98 and say that fire protection generally falls under
local funding."
"A proposal to force the San Francisco Unified School
District to keep the Junior Reserves Officers' Training Corps program cleared its first hurdle Wednesday as it passed through an Assembly committee.
"The legislation, authored by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, would specifically require San Francisco
public schools to offer JROTC to students in grades
nine through 12 and would overturn the decision of the school board
to eliminate the program.
"'We acknowledge that, in the general course of events,
state government should not dictate programs to local
districts, but we have plenty of case law that tells
us the state is legally responsible for our schools
and that the locally elected school board members are
caretakers,' Ma told the Assembly Education Committee.
"She placed significant emphasis on the passage of Proposition
V in November, a resolution urging the school board
to retain JROTC that passed with 55 percent of the vote.
"Ma said the school board members who will not reconsider
are 'refusing to uphold the will of the voters.'"
In more sausage factory news, "A legislator's bill to freeze the pay of state employees making more
than $150,000 a year has cleared its first hurdle - the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social
Security Committee," reports the Chron's Jim Doyle.
"If signed into law, the bill by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), would impose a two-year salary cap on about 785 state employees - mainly executives and managers - and produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential
savings, according to a legislative analysis.
"It was approved unanimously on Wednesday by the committee
and goes next to the Appropriations Committee.
"Portantino said he was inspired to take action after
reading news reports of big pay hikes in the University
of California and the California State University systems,
especially in light of a multibillion-dollar state budget deficit."
And finally, from our Live Long and Prosper Files, "
Nigeria's anti-narcotics agency confiscated 6.5 tons of marijuana Tuesday from the home of a man who
claimed to be 114 years old.
What we want to know is, how did the old guy lift al
that weight?
"The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency
(NDLEA) said it had found 254 sacks of cannabis at the home of Sulaiman
Adebayo in Ogun state, north of the commercial capital
Lagos.
"The agency said he claimed to have attended the inauguration
of a famous hall in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state, in 1895 as a small boy and said he was 114 years old. There was no independent confirmation of
his age."
And really, why shouldn't anyone believe him?
