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Policy
May 5,
2008
New
twist to old issue of 'taking' of property
SACRAMENTO - Dueling initiatives on
the statewide ballot June 3 are being framed as a showdown
over government's power to seize private property, but the
outcome could turn on the underlying issue of rent control.
March 23, 2008
California
budget cutters look at tax breaks
State leaders are battling over how
to solve the budget, with Democrats pushing to increase
revenue and GOP lawmakers advocating only cuts. The governor
and lawmakers have yet to embrace a specific tax break, but
both sides are analyzing the possibilities.
March 22, 2008
High-speed
rail backers hope adding private investors to bond measure
will avoid delays
Democratic lawmakers have agreed to
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's request to include public-private
partnerships for a high-speed train that could travel from
either San Francisco or Sacramento to Los Angeles in 2 1/2
hours.
California
seeks new ways to recover unpaid taxes
As California struggles to bridge
an estimated $8 billion budget deficit, it just so happens
that's about the same amount the Legislative Analyst's Office
estimates the state loses annually in uncollected taxes.
February
26, 2008
OPINION
"Even Reagan raised taxes"
Past governors boosted rates drastically during recessions; Schwarzenegger should do the
same
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has joined the anti-tax Republicans in the Legislature -- that is, all of them -- in declaring, "You can't tax your way" out of the state's budget deficit problem. But, in fact, you can. California governors have been doing that for the last 40 years, and the most spectacularly successful were Republicans -- Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson.
February
25, 2008
LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL
"Channeling Mulholland"
The Times launches an editorial series on water and water policy in
California and around the world
Our state's breathtaking natural beauty, envied easygoing lifestyle and
booming economy -- the California dream chronicled and immortalized by our
resident historian, Kevin Starr -- depend on an ambitiously conceived
network of aqueducts, pumps, dams and pipes that will literally run dry if
we don't invest heavily to change the way we use, capture, store and
distribute water.
Speaker race is a Capitol brawl
With Fabian Nunez termed out, 10 Democrats are politicking for the
Assembly's biggest prize.
DAN WALTERS
"Shake-up looming in Capitol"
Voter rejection of Proposition 93, a measure that would have eased
legislative term limits, touched off an immediate scramble for power in the
Capitol.
February
24, 2008
Ready for the Capitol's big stage
SACRAMENTO - Sacramento hasn't seen a leader like Modesto's Dave Cogdill in
a quite some time: Cogdill, who became the Senate minority leader this week,
is neither a glad-hander nor a political acrobat intoxicated by the art of
the deal.
DANIEL WEINTRAUB
"Budget crisis puts the governor at a turning point"
Schwarzenegger might be proud of his leadership in the fight against global
warming and pleased with his program to rebuild California's infrastructure.
But unless he attacks the state's fiscal mess with the same gusto he applied
to those issues, he will leave his successor with the same kind of problem
he inherited. History will judge him to be, for the most part, a failure.
February
23, 2008
Villaraigosa's cousin vies for Assembly seat
The labor organizer and relative of the Los Angeles mayor is up against
other candidates with political ties for the seat being vacated by Speaker
Fabian Nunez.
February
22, 2008
SAC BEE EDITORIAL
"Analyst offers a sensible alternative on budget"
Targeted cuts, elimination of tax breaks offer a better way to deal with
state deficit
February
21, 2008
Cogdill
to lead Senate GOP
State Senate Republicans on
Wednesday elected Modesto's Dave Cogdill as their next leader,
giving the San Joaquin Valley a monopoly on GOP power in the
Legislature.
February 20, 2008
GOP
sails to rescue of yachts
SACRAMENTO -- Yacht buyers will
continue to benefit from a loophole that allows them to avoid
sales tax on their boats, after Republicans in the Assembly
blocked an effort to close it Tuesday.
California's
budget gap jumps to $16 billion
SACRAMENTO -- California's
budget shortfall has swollen from $14.5 billion to $16 billion, according to the
state's chief budget analyst, who calls on lawmakers to reject the governor's
approach for closing the deficit through spending cuts alone and consider
raising taxes.
February 19, 2008
In
closing state budget gap, vast sums are off limits
SACRAMENTO -- -- The state is
about to pump half a billion dollars into teaching children to roll sushi,
juggle pins and master new dance forms, even as spending cuts threaten to erode
instruction in reading, math and other fundamentals.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE EDITORIAL
Out
to sea
The no-new-tax pledge by
Sacramento Republicans is getting crazier by the minute. The
latest example: The GOP's refusal to close a tax loophole
enjoyed by yacht owners.
DAN WALTERS
Democrats scramble for speaker
Although Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, and Assemblyman Alberto
Torrico, D-Newark, are candidates, the assumption in the Capitol is that
with the Senate leadership post going to Steinberg, the next speaker must
come from Southern California, because of the unwritten rule of regional
bifurcation.
Wall Street says Schwarzenegger is overselling lottery idea
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is dramatically overestimating the
jackpot the state could collect if it sold the rights to operate the lottery
to an outside company, according to confidential Wall Street analyses.
Brown
to launch anti-warming effort
SACRAMENTO - Monday, Brown's
aides told MediaNews he will announce he is convening
voluntary regional schools for California's more than 500
county supervisors and mayors to advocate tough actions such
new transportation impact fees and costly energy-efficiency.
February 18, 2008
SAC BEE EDITORIAL
Budget
deal is nothing to be proud of
California's Legislature has
done such a fine job of creating diminished expectations that
the emergency budget cuts it approved Friday actually
resembled responsible governance.
UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
One cheer, one jeer
Steinberg's rise welcome, but not budget bills.
GEORGE SKELTON
Poor won't have the luxury of a tax loophole
SACRAMENTO - When you've got
Republicans who won't even close a tax loophole for yacht
buyers, there isn't much hope of honestly solving California's
budget mess.
Taxes may stay static, but fees will see a bump
SACRAMENTO - By substituting fees in lieu of taxes, Schwarzenegger proposes
to reach into the pockets of motorists, disabled Medi-Cal recipients and
homeowners for at least $761.5 million.
DAN WALTERS
Recall bid looks like power play
The year's oddest story of
intrigue in California politics may be the recall drive
mounted by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata against
Republican Sen. Jeff Denham - a campaign that appears to be
proceeding even though Perata is being forced out of the
Legislature.
February 17, 2008
'Nice
guy' says he's a fighter
Fellow Democrats on Feb. 7
designated Sen. Darrell Steinberg to be the next leader of the
California Senate. Steinberg, 48, will take over in November
under a timeline established by Senate President Pro Tem Don
Perata.
Downturn
takes a toll on Golden State fortunes
If recent economic history is
any guide, California is in for a nasty tumble. The world's
eighth-largest economy is prone to severe peaks and valleys.
It soars higher when the financial climate is good - and falls
more spectacularly when the nation struggles.
Governor
signs budget bills
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
signed six budget-trimming bills Saturday and urged lawmakers
not to wait until summer to act on the next round of cuts
because state revenue could slip by another $1 billion.
February 16, 2008
California
defers budget deficit
The governor is due to sign off
on the plan today, cutting school and healthcare funding. But
most of the red ink would be pushed forward with accounting
maneuvers and borrowing.
February 9, 2008
Proposal
would bill major Bay polluters
After years of voluntary
measures, the fees, proposed this week by the Bay Area Air Quality Management
District, set a precedent as the first time that businesses and government
agencies would face financial consequences for contributing to global warming.
If successful, the fees could be copied all over the state and country, perhaps
ultimately at much higher prices.
February 3, 2008
OPINION
Budget will test post-partisan governing in California
The question is whether the
governor and the Legislature can seize the moment and take a fresh look at the
long-term, structural budget issues that have been ignored for the sake of
political expediency.
February 1, 2008
PUC eases rules of energy-efficiency program
California regulators Thursday
lowered the bar for an energy-efficiency program to allow utilities to earn
about $89 million in customer-funded incentives for achieving as little as 65%
of the power savings goals laid out for them.
Parra
says she won't run again
Being around her family,
especially her brother's two boys, has changed Parra's life view so much that
she's decided to end her political career and focus on getting married and
having children.
January 31, 2008
Recycling
fund may be tapped to help enforce greenhouse laws
The Schwarzenegger administration wants to take $32 million in the form
of a loan from the state's recycling fund and use it to hire dozens of air
quality specialists at the state Air Resources Board, the enforcement arm of the
carbon emissions law. The plan, which needs legislative approval, would take
effect with the new budget year on July 1.
Governor's
Fire Tax Plan is Unfair, Unnecessary
Governor Schwarzenegger recently proposed that every California home
owner and business owner pay a new 1.25 percent tax on their property insurance
- a $125 million tax increase - to pay for what he says will be improved
firefighting efforts statewide, but many of us believe that it will largely go
to backfill cuts the administration has proposed at CALFIRE.
January 29, 2008
Los Angles Times Editorial "The disastrous Foothill South tollway"
Maybe Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was trying to make up for planned cuts to
state parks. Otherwise, it's hard to imagine what could have led to his
recent support for the Foothill South toll road.
January 28, 2008
Rejection of fire levy plan urged
SACRAMENTO -- -- State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner on Friday urged
lawmakers not to approve a fee proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to
raise $125 million for fire protection, calling the surcharge
unconstitutional, unfair to many property owners and bad public policy.
January 27, 2008
Proposition 93: Capitol leaders at crossroads
With the economy souring and massive problems looming, California could find
itself with a lame duck governor negotiating with novice leaders in both the
Assembly and Senate by year's end.
January 25, 2008
Little energy behind state solar plant efforts
SACRAMENTO -- -- Despite state goals to encourage alternative energy, no
application to build a large solar power plant in California has been
approved in 18 years, and new projects could face significant delays in the
bureaucracy, the state auditor said Thursday.
Stricter rules on political gifts considered
California's political watchdog agency is drafting tougher disclosure rules
for gifts accepted by elected officials and could ban many of them
altogether for statewide office-holders. Stricter rules on political gifts
considered
January 24, 2008
More firefighters, gear, panel asks
Three months after massive brush fires burned hundreds of homes across
Southern California, a blue-ribbon task force on Friday made dozens of
recommendations aimed at improving the response to large-scale blazes.
January 22, 2008
Schwarzenegger backs O.C. tollway
Backing away from his neutral stance, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday
urged the California Coastal Commission to approve a controversial tollway
in Orange County that would pass through San Onofre State Beach, one of
California's most popular parks.
January 21, 2008
GEORGE SKELTON
"Gov. has power to cut spending if he wants to do it"
SACRAMENTO - Listening to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'd think the role
of California's governor was strictly ceremonial, like being the British
queen. Pageantry but no power, especially over the purse.
January 20, 2008
Schwarzenegger stays neutral in presidential race
Governor says he won't endorse a candidate and denies that he's waiting for
his 'soul mate,' Michael Bloomberg, to enter the race.
Yes on Proposition 93
The term-limits measure would reward a few lawmakers now, but it's right for
the state's future.
DAN WALTERS
"Tax breaks are costly, but popular"
Democrats such as Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez sidestep questions about
raising personal or corporate income taxes or sales taxes. Instead they say
such things as this statement from Nunez: "Revenue sources from closing tax
loopholes and credits must be on the table." But Nunez et al. are very vague
when it comes to specifics.
January 15, 2008
Governor supports term limits measure
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger thinks California voters "went too far" in
enacting legislative term limits and will support the Feb. 5 ballot measure
to alter the law, his office announced Monday.
January 13, 2008
DAN WALTERS "Walking on eggshells about taxes"
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez performed a neat verbal trick the other day in
response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow to make deep spending cuts to
close a massive deficit in the state budget.
Can't blame economy for deficit, critics argue
SACRAMENTO -- While the state's latest fiscal crisis can be blamed partly on
an economic downturn, political experts say there is a far more complex
history of policy failures and political mistakes by state leaders that is
partly to blame.
DANIEL WEINTRAUB" Budget plan is a strategy to get attention"
It's difficult to believe that Schwarzenegger is serious about the proposal
he put on the table last week. He knows that the Democrats who control the
Legislature will not vote for the cuts he is proposing. What, then, is his
strategy? Schwarzenegger appears to be trying to get the attention of the
public and to his Republican colleagues in the Legislature.
partly to blame.
January 13, 2008
State's budget crisis curtails legislators' agendas
California's lopsided budget has squashed legislative ambitions this year
and made it unlikely that lawmakers will be able to do much more than drag
spending and revenue back into balance.
January 9, 2008
DAN WALTERS
- Governor's new stab at reform
Were politics a rational process, the virtue of setting aside extra tax
revenue during prosperous years to cushion the impact of income dips would
be self-evident.
Gov. urges insurance assessment to fund firefighting
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will propose hiking the cost of
insurance for millions of California homes and businesses in the budget he
unveils Thursday, with the money to be used for firefighting efforts.
January 4, 2008
Global
warming goes to courts
The Environmental Protection Agency
can't say it wasn't warned. By denying California - and another 16 states - a
chance to set tailpipe limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the fumbling
feds are lining up for a painful ordeal in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill.
December 23, 2007
Cal Fire drawing heated criticism over policies
Experts cite agency's rigid approach to job
Benedict Arnold?
The next few months should determine whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can,
in any reasonable sense, continue to be considered a Republican. Until now,
the socially liberal governor has shared the GOP's anti-tax mania, which was
essentially the lone bond he maintained with his party.
December 21, 2007
EPA chief is said to have ignored staff
The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ignored his staff's
written findings in denying California's request for a waiver to implement
its landmark law to slash greenhouse gases from vehicles, sources inside and
outside the agency told The Times on Thursday.
December 17, 2007
UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
"Seeing red" State budget crisis even worse than reported
So now we are told the state faces a budget deficit of $14 billion. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is moving to declare a fiscal emergency and has
ordered all agencies to prepare for cuts of 10 percent. The news could
hardly get much worse, right? For three reasons, that's wrong.
December 14, 2007
Budget battle heats up
Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to seek across-the-board budget
cuts to solve an estimated $14 billion deficit, but Democratic Assembly
Speaker Fabian Nunez said Thursday the state should now consider tax hikes.
DAN WALTERS
Odd allies, confusion bend vote
As voters begin to focus on the Feb. 5 presidential primary - and especially
on the array of non-presidential ballot measures - they'll need a scorecard
to follow the players. While all campaigns on ballot measures tend to be
misleading, those lining up for and against the Feb. 5 measures are an
especially odd collection of bedfellows.
December 13, 2007
Speaker on FPPC list of lawmakers, lobbyists to get random audit
Assembly Speaker Fabian NunezÕs campaign finance activities have been in the
news in recent months. But the Nœ–ez camp said that by early next year the
Fair Political Practices Commission will show that the Los Angeles Democrat
has done nothing illegal.
December 12, 2007
State's budget shortfall widens
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told social service advocates
Tuesday that the state's anticipated budget shortfall -- already feared to
be the worst since he took office -- has widened to $14 billion, according
to people at the meetings.
November
28, 2007
Schwarzenegger calls for new tack on infrastructure
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signaled a controversial
push to engage private companies in the building and management of state and
local public works projects, proposing a strategy widely employed in Canada,
Europe and elsewhere.
November
24, 2007
Transit
Gov. finds himself in a bigger budget bind
SACRAMENTO - As he prepares the budget blueprint that he will release in
January, the governor is in a bind. There isn't as much red ink this time,
or an emergency cash shortage -- at least not yet. But deals he made to keep
the state afloat earlier in his tenure now hamper his ability to take on a
rapidly swelling deficit that early projections show will hit at least $10
billion.
November
19, 2007
Transit
Schwarzenegger sets California campaign fundraising record
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has become the most prolific
campaign fundraiser in California history, taking in more than $125 million
for his various political committees, according to an Associated Press
review of fundraising records.
November
15, 2007
Transit
Lawmakers told to fix budget now
SACRAMENTO -- Saying spending is poised to grow more than 50% faster than
revenues, the state's chief budget analyst called on lawmakers Wednesday to
immediately begin cutting government programs or raising taxes to address a
budget shortfall that has ballooned to $10 billion.
November
14, 2007
Transit
projects hitting speed bumps
SACRAMENTO - A record $19.9
billion transportation bond pitched to voters last fall as a
way to "fast track" projects is hitting slowdowns in
some areas.
November
9, 2007
State
sues EPA on emissions
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and
state Attorney General Jerry Brown on Thursday morning
announced that California is suing the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency to force the agency to decide whether
California can enforce a 2002 state law that would slash
tailpipe emissions of greenhouse gases from new cars starting
next year.
DAN WALTERS
Governor's desertion haunts him
Schwarzenegger's own bean
counters, the Legislature's budget office, a few curmudgeonly
legislators and some in the media repeatedly warned
Schwarzenegger that failing to balance the budget during the
first three years of his governorship, when the economy and
revenues were soaring, would result in a fiscal cataclysm when
the economy cooled.
November
7, 2007
Governor
teeters on edge of deficit abyss
He talked about the state
living within its means, but nothing changed. Now a crisis
threatens.
November
6, 2007
Schwarzenegger
orders plan for 10% budget cuts
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger on Monday ordered all state departments to
draft plans for deep spending cuts after receiving word that
California's budget is plunging further into the red --
largely because of the troubled housing market.
November 2, 2007
Nuñez
used a charity to funnel donations
SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez used a small charity as a conduit to funnel
almost $300,000 from companies and organizations with business
in the Capitol to events that helped him politically.
October
13, 2007
Water
bond, health care unlikely to make February ballot
But Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez,
D-Los Angeles, insisted that negotiations will continue at
least for the next few weeks in hopes of hammering out a
compromise on both issues that might go on the ballot either
in June or November 2008.
Dems
reject new offer in dam debate
Gov. Schwarzenegger offered a
proposal aimed to get water bonds on the ballot in February.
Nuñez
defends his lavish travel expenses
SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nuñez offered some explanation Friday for a few
campaign fund expenditures in Europe, but refused to elaborate
on how tens of thousands of dollars of other purchases were
related to governmental or political business.
UNION-TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL
Fabian's
folly
Speaker facing a hugely
deserved backlash.
October
10, 2007
State
budget: Revenues fall -- projected deficit soars
Just weeks after lawmakers
enacted a state budget amid partisan turmoil, finance
officials say revenues are slipping below projections, making
it likely that next year's problem will be worse than
expected.
October
9, 2007
LOS ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL
Fess
up, Fabian
The big spender should tell
Californians why he spent so much money on luxurious goods and
meals, even if it was campaign cash.
Dueling,
multibillion-dollar water bonds may hit ballot
With lawmakers unable to reach
a compromise on a water bond, voters might be faced with two
separate measures in November 2008 -- a Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger-backed plan that emphasizes dams and a
Democratic plan that does not.
DAN
WALTERS
Politicians living large under fire
When Senate President Pro Tem
Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez launched their
drive to change legislative term limits and thus extend their
reigns in the Capitol, they made themselves and their conduct
legitimate subjects for media scrutiny. So far they aren't
faring very well.
October
8, 2007
Governor
keeps them guessing on environmental issues
Environmentalists and industry
officials alike are holding their breath, waiting for Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger to act on a stack of environmental bills
in the next few days that would do everything from require
green building standards on new homes and commercial buildings
to banning a controversial type of chemicals in children's
toys.
GEORGE
SKELTON
California's fragile water system is too important to risk on
slapdash fixes
SACRAMENTO - It is hard
to decide which outcome to root for in the current Capitol
water war: gridlock or grand compromise.
Battle
brews over plans for 3 reservoirs
SACRAMENTO - Still a long shot
in the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Schwarzenegger's
proposal, wrapped in a broader, $9 billion bond measure,
appears to be the first credible attempt to commit the state
to new reservoirs in some time.
October
7, 2007
OPINION
San
Diego's backroom 'reform'
San Diego is considering
rewriting its charter to make permanent a "strong
mayor" system that only last year began its five-year
trial run. You might ask, why so fast? Why not let the
experiment play out longer before taking the significant step
of changing San Diego's charter?
SAC
BEE ANALYSIS:
Electoral
plan's backlash
A Republican-backed initiative
to divvy up California's 55 electoral votes has fallen on hard
times. Efforts to gather 433,971 signatures by Nov. 29 are on
hold, and political consultants say the measure is unlikely to
qualify for the June ballot.
October
6, 2007
Donations
to Nunez go to big buys
SACRAMENTO -- Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez came under fire Friday after a report showed that
the lawmaker, who has long fashioned himself as a champion of
the poor, had used thousands of dollars in campaign
contributions to make lavish purchases.
Act
now to clean ports
Plans for dealing with the L.A.
and Long Beach facilities' pollution are on the table; it's
time to implement.
October
1, 2007
DAN WALTERS
Could
we see Arnie vs. Barbie?
As it happens, Schwarzenegger's
and Boxer's current terms expire simultaneously three years
hence, raising the intriguing scenario that the one-time
action movie star -- barred from seeking the presidency
because of his Austrian birth -- would seek to extend his
political career by challenging Boxer in 2010.
LOS
ANGELES TIMES EDITORIAL
California's water works
Gov. Schwarzenegger deserves
credit for taking on one of the state's most intractable
problems, but his solution isn't complete.
September
30, 2007
DANIEL WEINTRAUB
Treasurer
has incisive ideas about state coffers
In one thin volume scheduled to
be released Monday, Lockyer quantifies the state's current
dilemma, offers a 20-year forecast for where things are
headed, and then provides a provocative list of potential
solutions.
September
28, 2007
Assembly
Democrats talk water
With two competing water plans
already on the table, Assembly Democrats weighed in Thursday
with their own package of bills to fix the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta and increase water supplies.
September
23, 2007
DAN WALTERS
Budget
is already crumbling
Predictably, the budget already
is developing deep cracks as revenues flatten, as expenditures
arise, and as its more incredible assumptions collide with
reality. And that means that the official projections of
multibillion-dollar deficits for the remainder of this decade
not only are likely to come true but grow worse.
UNION-TRIBUNE
EDITORIAL
Water woes
Last week the Legislature
convened a special session called by Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger to address California's urgent water problems.
But judging from the lethargy in Sacramento, there certainly
was no sense of urgency about the state's looming water
shortages.
September
21, 2007
GOP
leaders urged to Go Green
When Jill Buck touts her international Go Green
Initiative today in San Diego, she won't be preaching to a
choir of liberals. Buck, a former Republican Assembly
candidate from Pleasonton, is speaking at the Republican
National Committee's Western Leadership Conference, a
gathering of GOP leaders from 16 western states.
September
19, 2007
Schwarzenegger
urges $9 billion in water bonds
Governor seeks funds for dam projects in the Bay Area and the
Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. Democratic leaders back
recycling and conservation.
September
18, 2007
State's
climate suit tossed
California officials suffered a setback in their
global-warming dispute with major automakers Monday, losing a
lawsuit that sought millions of dollars from the manufacturers
for their vehicles' carbon dioxide emissions.
September
15, 2007
Democrats
will fight GOP electoral vote plan
SACRAMENTO - The California Democratic Party said
Thursday that it will send volunteers to supermarket and
shopping center parking lots - or anyplace else people are
pestered for signatures - to disrupt a petition-gathering
effort to put a measure on the ballot that changes the way
California's electoral votes are distributed.
Condor
dispute takes off
A push to reduce the poisoning of California condors by banning the
lead bullets that lodge in their prey faced a cloudy future
Friday, a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired a state
Fish and Game commissioner targeted by Republican lawmakers.
September 14, 2007
Fish
and Game official, criticized for stance on bullets, resigns
SACRAMENTO -- A member of the state Fish and Game Commission who sought
to ban lead hunting bullets in condor territory resigned Thursday at the request
of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration, after Republican lawmakers
demanded his removal.
September 7, 2007
Governor
blasts state GOP
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered
an indictment Friday of his own California Republican Party during an address at
its annual fall convention in Indian Wells,
suggesting that the state GOP has a defeatist mentality and calling on the party
to pursue independent voters in order to regain power.
September 5, 2007
EDITORIAL
The
time to change the way California gets a budget
is now
California has the worst system for approving
a state budget in the United States.
Term-limits
measure squeezes onto ballot
An initiative to alter legislative term
limits narrowly secured a spot on the February ballot Tuesday
after petitions from three small counties made up for a
lackluster signature count in Los Angeles County.
September
4, 2007
OPINION
No
simple budget fix
STATE SEN. TOM TORLAKSON, D-Antioch, like
many fellow Californians, is frustrated by the Legislature's
failure once again to pass the state budget anywhere near the
July 1 deadline. That is why he is seeking a constitutional
amendment to eliminate the requirement of a two-thirds vote of
the Legislature to pass a budget and instead require a simple
majority, as is the case in 47 other states.
September 3,
2007
GEORGE SKELTON
GOP
trying to rig the presidential election
The GOP would do this by ending the
winner-take-all system of parceling out electoral college votes in
Democratic-leaning California.
September 2,
2007
DANIEL WEINTRAUB
Succcess
fails to keep 'yacht tax' afloat
Heeding complaints from the industry, the
Legislature this summer let the new law expire after three years on the books.
DAN
WALTERS
Can
state truly tame its sprawl?
The issue that stalled approval of a state
budget for so many weeks -- whether local governments and private firms can be
sued for failing to take global warming into account in development plans -- is
merely the most recent manifestation of a larger conflict over how California
should accommodate tens of millions of new residents over the next half century.
September 1,
2007
Salary
hikes for key staffers
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief of
staff is getting a 22.7 percent pay raise and the rest of his senior staff will
be receiving 10.6 percent increases, the Governor's Office announced Friday.
August 31, 2007
Nunez proposes panel to redraw voting districts
SACRAMENTO -- One of California's most powerful politicians is proposing a
radical new way of drawing the state's voting districts -- one that would strip
lawmakers like him of the power to create "safe" seats.
August 29, 2007
UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
"Get it done now"
Redistricting fix a first step to many reforms
August 28, 2007
DAN WALTERS:
"Issues hang as session nears close"
Their budget stalemate finally behind them, at least until next year, state
legislators turned Monday to the rest of their agenda with precious little time
before the clock runs out on this year's session -- so little time that it may
be extended.
August 26, 2007
Budget brawl boosts lure of majority vote
After suffering through 52 days without a budget, state Democratic leaders are
itching to change California's unusual two-thirds vote requirement to a simple
majority for passing its annual spending plan.
August 25, 2007
Trimmed budget signed
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday signed a state budget that bolsters public
safety and education as "a reflection of the values of California" and
used his line-item authority to issue his largest set of vetoes since taking
office four years ago.
August 21, 2007
Priority changes on green policies
WASHINGTON - Reflecting a shift in priorities under the Democratic majority,
Congress is moving to spend as much as $6.7 billion next fiscal year to combat
global warming, an increase of nearly one-third from the current year.
August 20, 2007
Four weeks, a flood of bills
Verbal donnybrooks from California's budget impasse have set a tense stage for a
four-week frenzy in which legislators will decide the fate of more than 800
bills on issues ranging from health care to low-flush toilets.
August 16, 2007
Budget standoff: Day 47
August 13, 2007
EDITORIAL: ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Jerry Brown's crystal ball
The attorney general wants compliance with regulations before they're written.
Lawmakers seek changes in campaign finance reporting
SACRAMENTO California lawmakers are proposing a trio of bills they say
would update the state's campaign finance laws and better recognize free
speech rights, but several open-government groups are fighting the measures,
fearing they would allow special interests to overwhelm elections.
DAN WALTERS
Villaraigosa stumbles; others rise
A few months ago, the smart money was that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa would be the likely Democratic candidate for governor in 2010 and
probably would become the first Latino governor in more than a century.
August 11, 2007
Jerry Brown back in heat of battle
Governor frustrated by no budget deal
SACRAMENTO - Jerry Brown, forever the political enigma, is once again in the
spotlight - this time at the center of a strange battle over global warming and
the state's stalled budget.
August 10, 2007
DAN WALTERS:
Stalemate appears to harden
Governor frustrated by no budget deal
It's been six weeks since the 2007-08 fiscal year began and three weeks since
the Assembly passed a state budget. If anything, however, the stalemate in the
Senate appears to be hardening and could set a record.
August 5, 2007
DANIEL WEINTRAUB
Governor frustrated by no budget deal
Having pledged to make nice with state legislators from both parties,
Schwarzenegger was facing the biggest challenge yet to his new tack: 14
Republican state senators who refuse to vote for a budget that just about
everyone else in the Capitol thinks is the best lawmakers can do this year.
August 2, 2007
Budget standoff: Plan fails again in Senate
California senators failed in another attempt to approve a state budget
Wednesday despite a pledge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to use his line-item
veto to bring the spending plan into balance.
Fundraising totals preview leadership races
Wednesday was a key day in the races for Assembly speaker and Senate president
pro tem. 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.
July 31, 2007
Elections officials blast vote-hacking research
Dozens of California local elections officials on Monday defended electronic
voting and criticized as unrealistic new University of California research
showing that three computer-based systems have serious security flaws.
July 30, 2007
DAN WALTERS
Dems need to involve GOP early
The drill, more or less, is this: As the Legislature's budget subcommittees and
later the two-house Budget Conference Committee, do their item-by-item
configurations of the budget -- a process that takes months -- the majority
Democrats largely ignore the minority Republicans who sit on the committees,
even though they know that the two-thirds vote requirement will give GOP members
a virtual veto over the final product.
July 29, 2007
State's top Democrats in ugly feud
State politicians Perata, Nunez surprise and anger each other as they battle in
the Capitol
July 28, 2007
Politics, personalities hinder Calif. Budget
The impasse shows the Senate GOP's rightward shift and the limits of the
governor's influence. Strain between Perata and Nu–ez is also felt.
July 26, 2007
Budget impasse may stall projects
SACRAMENTO - The first statewide effects of the nearly month long budget impasse
may be felt today when transportation projects are expected to be put on hold,
as Republican vows to reject a spending plan without major cuts to parks,
healthcare and social services provoked a torrent of criticism.
Dispute over global warming complicates California budget talks
SACRAMENTO - Republicans are upset that Attorney General Jerry Brown, a
Democrat, has told at least a dozen cities and counties that they must offset
the increased greenhouse gas emissions that will be a byproduct of future
growth. Republicans say that will hurt cities' and counties' transportation and
housing plans, and want language in the state budget to protect local
governments from what they see as Brown's overly aggressive tactics.
July 24, 2007
Senate Republicans look for ways to cut budget, break impasse
SACRAMENTO - Senate Republicans, the lone group standing in the way of the
overdue state budget, on Monday said they would seek to cut programs that
receive relatively small amounts of government funding. But as they have for
weeks, Republicans would not detail which programs they wanted to ax.
Dan Walters: It's the day for fiscal reckoning
Is this the long-postponed day of fiscal reckoning for the Capitol's
politicians? One can only hope so.
Term limit petitions ready
A drive to alter California's legislative term limits has collected 400,000
signatures more than necessary to place the issue on the February ballot,
backers announced Monday.
July 22, 2007
Why the budget matters
Last year's timely budget inspired voters to approve billions of bond dollars.
But this year's budget could negate those gains.
July 19, 2007
Capitol Weekly ranks the legislators
Scorecards are, by definition, both political and oversimplified. This is
certainly true of the first Capitol Weekly Political Scorecard.
July 18, 2007
OPINION "California's 20th century sales tax"
California once again is weeks into a new fiscal year without an enacted budget,
as legislators and the governor struggle to close the yawning gap between
available revenue and the cost of state programs. One little-discussed cause of
that gap: California's sales tax, the second-largest source of state revenue, no
longer does the job.
Former air board nominee lands new job with EPA
A lawyer long opposed by environmentalists and who was rejected by the Senate in
2005 as the state's top air-quality regulator was appointed by Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenneger to another top state environmental job -- this time as
undersecretary of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Clearing the air
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's newly appointed air pollution chief Tuesday
disputed accounts that the governor has tried to slow progress on the state's
pioneering anti-global warming law.
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