For all of you staffers who were tired of working six-hour days and wearing jeans to work, good news! The
Senate's back in town today.
Capitol Weekly reports there are about three dozen
bills eligible to be heard in today's floor session, but it was unclear what progress, if any had been made in negotiations
between Senate leader Darrell Steinberg and Senate
GOP leader Dennis Hollingsworth.
"While differences between the two leaders remain, Senate
sources in both parties say there is optimism that
a pair of local government finance bills will be passed
by the Senate Wednesday. The Senate may also take up
a bill that would streamline environmental regulations
to ease construction of a new football stadium in Eastern
Los Angeles County.
"But there did appear to be some movement on a pair
of bills of those bills, that would impact funding
to local governments. SB 65 and SB 67 would allow cities to essentially
avoid any out-of-pocket costs when the state borrows $2 billion in
local revenues next year.
"The securitization language has been the top priority
for the League of California Cities since the end of
session said the League’s Dan Carrigg.
"Carrigg said his “conversations with some Senate Republican staff have
gone a lot better than they've gone over the last 3-4 weeks. I believe I've received some assurances that the door is open on
the GOP side to pass SB 67. Now, have I been assured by the Senate Republican
leader personally? No."
James Wagner reports the LA football stadium bill may come up in the Senate
after all.
"The state Senate may act today on a bill that would kill a legal challenge to an NFL
stadium proposal in Industry.
"The
special legislative session, originally expected to
start Tuesday, is
scheduled to convene this morning, with state Senators
returning to
Sacramento from overseas trips and time in their districts.
"The bill, sought aggressively by billionaire Ed Roski Jr.
and his Majestic Realty Co. in September, would grant
the 75,000-seat
stadium project an exemption from the California Environmental
Quality
Act, the environmental law that governs development.
It would take 21 votes to pass the bill and according to some lawmakers,
there's enough support for the legislation."
John Howard reports on a key funding provision of the $9 billion water bond backed by legislative Democrats. "The closed-door negotiations over California's water future between
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Legislature's leaders include a plan to borrow $9.4 billion with voter
approval -- but use only half the funds through 2015 and the rest
later.
"About a third the money, perhaps $3 billion, would be used to develop storage, but whether that would be performed by dams
or through groundwater storage has not yet been spelled
out. The bond money would be spent in conjunction with matching
funds from the locals and money derived from the rates of water consumers.
The money would not be used to build a canal through
or around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco.
"Generally, we support what the Democratrs came out
with yesterday," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "Hopefully, we are in a position to have a vote soon."
The Bee's Matt Weiser says plans are being made to hear water bills in the Legislature
this fall.
Shane Goldmacher looks at the furloughs that may actually cost the state money.
"Staff shortages are forcing tens of thousands of state workers employed
at prisons and other around-the-clock institutions to report to work on
their furlough days -- and the state is paying them with what amount to
IOUs that will be costly to taxpayers, according to a Senate
report to
be released today.
"In the long run, the state will save far less than
the $1.7-billion
touted by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he ordered
state workers
furloughed three days a month, the report concludes.
"Really what is happening in these facilities is the
state is not
reducing hours, they're just deferring paychecks," said Senate
President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who ordered the
report."
There's a hole in the budget, Dan Walters, Dan Walters ...
"Controller John Chiang is providing new evidence that the 2009-10
budget is leaking red ink. During the first quarter of the fiscal year,
state revenues came in more than a billion dollars
under the budget's
forecast.
"Other key assumptions in the budget, such as
a $1 billion sale of the State Compensation Insurance Fund
or another
billion in federal funds, are also not happening, a
series of wildfires
scorched a tiny emergency reserve, and so far the state
is losing
budget-related lawsuits.
"Revenues
more than $1 billion under estimates and recent adverse court rulings
are dealing a major blow to a budget that is barely
10 weeks old,"
Chiang said. "While there are encouraging signs that California's
economy is preparing for a comeback, the recession
continues to drag
state revenues down. I urge lawmakers and the governor to prepare for
more difficult decisions ahead."
Having fun yet?
"Supporters of a drive to recall Assemblyman
Anthony Adams , R-Claremont, turned in thousands of signatures Tuesday
to election officials in Los Angeles and San Bernardino
counties, a
step that could lead to a recall election early next
year," reports James Koren.
"The estimated signatures turned in Tuesday and earlier
this
month give recall proponents an estimated 58,542 signatures, thousands
more than the roughly 36,000 signatures needed to call for a recall
election. Elections officials must now determine how
many of the
signatures are from registered voters in Adams' 59th District.
"I feel beyond confident that we'll have 36,000 and quite a bit more," recall proponent Lee Lowry said.
While the LAT plays gotcha with Maria and Arnold, Lisa Vorderbruggen reports John Garamendi is beating up the wrong David Harmer.
"The Garamendi mailer states that his Republican challenger
“David
Harmer supports off shoring jobs” and cites a story from the Utah’s
Deseret News from April 23, 2004.
"Unfortunately for Garamendi’s opposition research team, the story
quotes the David Harmer who was executive director
of the Utah State
Department of Community and Economic Development.
"The David Harmer who is running against Garamendi never held that job
and wasn’t living in Utah at the time. It’s a different David Harmer."
We're sure a correction mailer is coming soon, right?
And finally, if you can't afford a zebra, why not just dress up your donkey ? AP reports, "Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted
Palestinian kids
at a small Gaza zoo on Thursday who had never seen
a zebra in the flesh.
"With their long ears, drooping heads and sleepy eyes,
the impostors
probably would not have fooled the zoo's only lioness. But the effect
achieved by the zoo owners' dye job looks not so bad -- to the
unpracticed eye, and from a distance.
"Nidal Barghouthi, whose father owns the Marah Land zoo, said the two female donkeys were striped using masking tape and women's hair dye, applied with a paint-brush.
"The first time we used paint but it didn't look good," he said. "The
children don't know so they call them zebras and they are happy
to see
something new."
