Press-Enterprise: Governor Throwing Temper Tantrum

[Stephen Frank]

This is how our government is run in Sacramento: "Gubernatorial bullying will not suddenly convince the Legislature to be responsible. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's frustration with legislators unwilling to address pressing public issues is justified. But throwing a political tantrum is far more likely to anger legislators than prompt cooperation on the governor's priorities.

The governor threatened to veto all the bills on his desk this week, and said he would not sign any bills until the Legislature tackled crucial issues such as the state's water needs, the prison crisis and renewable energy.

To back up his threat, Schwarzenegger on Tuesday vetoed AB 264, by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley -- because the bill did not address any of the issues the governor considers priorities. The bill would have set aside a day each year to honor Vietnam veterans, and had unanimous support in the Legislature."

Now you know why we need adults in the Capitol. Government by threat, deal and tantrum is why most Californians have no respect for our State government.

Expect a voters revolt in 2010 in California. It is long over due.

More...

[ilbegone]

It's only right that Schwarzenegger vetos everything that is not vital.

Granted, Viet Nam Veteran's day is much different than "bring a cross dresser to work week".

But Schwartzenegger has the option to respectfully invite Cook to resubmit the bill for passage after THE THINGS THREATENING STATE SURVIVAL HAVE BEEN ADDRESSED

Some people just can't grasp that concept, particularly the state legislature.

[ilbegone]

Here's another one, SB 572 Harvey Milk Day

The legislature fiddles while while the state is burning.

A 9-12 opinion piece in the Press Enterprise from a readr in Hemet, Ca:

The California Legislature has given final approval to Senate Bill 572, which requires the governor to proclaim May 22 of each year as Harvey Milk Day ("Harvey Milk bill stirs debate," Sept. 5). It would also designate Harvey Milk Day as a day of special significance in public schools and educational institutions, and encourage those entities to conduct suitable commemorative exercises.

Unfortunately, there is no definition or limit to the "exercises" the bill would recommend. There is a big difference between a movie and school "exercises." People voluntarily go to a movie, perhaps even to see "Milk" starring Sean Penn. Yet under SB 572, children cannot be excused and it would seem to be mandatory for them to participate in the annual "commemorative exercises," for there is no provision for parental opt-out in the bill.

Therefore, I urge Gov. Schwarzenegger to exercise his constitutional power to veto SB 572. I also urge readers to call on the governor to lead the Legislature in solving the budget problems and eliminating wasteful spending. This is preferred to passing bills that have little to no import for the state but only serve vested interests and political correctness.

How about if we introduce Ron Jeremy Day to celebrate the man's well documented heterosexuality? As far as taste in classroom discussion, this about approximates Harvey Milk day. It could be the first Monday after Groundhog Day. Easy to remember: groundhog - hedgehog.

Let's draw up a lesson plan around that one.

Meanwhile, the state goes to hell.

[ilbegone]

While our legislature is creating holidays they can't deal with the important stuff:

SACRAMENTO

California lawmakers ended a legislative year dominated by an unprecedented fiscal crisis without an agreement on their top policy priority an ambitious upgrade of the state's water delivery and storage system.

But Democrats and Republicans believed there was enough momentum to try again and vowed to continue meeting in an yet-announced special session. Each side said they are determined to fix a problem that has bedeviled lawmakers and governors for decades.

California lawmakers on Friday spent the last day of the regular legislative session passing a flurry of bills, including legislation that would reduce the state prison population by 16,000 inmates. Lawmakers also approved the nation's most ambitious renewable-energy standards and were poised to restore about $16 million to domestic violence shelters.

They fell short of their goal to upgrade the state's decades-old water system, which was expected to be the most contentious issue. The Democratic leaders of the Assembly and Senate said they would ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to call a special session so the water negotiations could continue.

"Everyone agrees that we are close and that we have made a decade's worth of progress in just a few weeks, but there is still some more work to do," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said in a statement.

Jeff Macedo, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor had no immediate response.

The Democrats offered a package that would include $12 billion in bonds, half of which they said would go toward reservoirs, underground water storage and restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the heart of California's water-delivery system.

According to a draft of the water bills, the bonds would be divided over two elections one next year and one in 2014. About $3 billion would be dedicated to increasing water storage, but the money would be awarded by a commission based on a competition between potential projects.

Republicans said the bills' language would make it difficult to fund new dams, a priority for the minority party. Sen. Dave Cogdill of Modesto, one of the Republicans' lead negotiators, called the Democratic package unacceptable.

"The proposals that the majority were putting up for a vote would have not added a single drop of new water in our state," he said in a statement. "Republicans agree our fragile delta needs to be fixed, but we have been clear that environmental protection should not come at the price of economic destruction."

GOP lawmakers said the legislation contained a loophole that would prevent additional dams from being built. They worry that a commission would favor underground storage.

Republicans also oppose splitting the bonds over two election cycles, saying voters should have a chance to vote on a single package intended to solve the state's water problems for years to come. They also criticized a Democratic proposal to create a new bureaucracy that would oversee how farmers could use the water they receive from the delta.

In a statement after the water proposal fizzled, Steinberg and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said they remained confident the Legislature could still pass a comprehensive water package.

"Any time you have Westlands Water District and the Natural Resources Defense Council united, you know you are close and that's what we had here. That's how far we had come," said Bass, D-Los Angeles, referring to one of California's major agricultural irrigation districts and a leading environmental group.

Republican lawmakers and Schwarzenegger have been adamant that any water legislation include dedicated funding for new dams and create a process by which the state will consider building a canal to route fresh water around the environmentally sensitive delta.

It wasn't clear whether the Democratic plan being circulated Friday met the governor's criteria or whether he would agree to the calls for a special session. He already has called special sessions on education and tax reform.

Another of Schwarzenegger's priorities is a bill requiring California utilities to generate 33 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020. He and some Republican lawmakers have criticized Democrats' attempts to restrict the amount of alternative power that utilities can receive from outside the state, saying it will lead to higher energy costs for California consumers.

Democrats are seeking to protect unionized jobs in California, but utilities say they need the flexibility to seek wind, solar and geothermal sources from throughout the West.

"Today is the day we start freeing ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels," said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, D-Burbank, shortly before the Assembly approved the measure.

Many Republican lawmakers warned that the legislation would become an economic disaster for California, leading to higher utility bills and driving more businesses out of state.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, said California's electricity costs already are higher than the national average and would climb by 30 percent as utilities try to meet the renewable energy standard.

"This is one of the most spectacularly bad pieces of legislation I have seen in my five years in the state Assembly," he said.

It was not clear whether the governor would support the package if it included caps on the amount of out-of-state power utilities could import.

Lawmakers also finished business left over from negotiations earlier this summer to close a $26 billion budget deficit. Part of that deal called for cutting $1.2 billion from the corrections system's budget, but the Senate and Assembly disagreed over how to do that.

On Friday, the Senate approved the Assembly's version of a prison bill that will reduce the prison population by 16,000 inmates in the current fiscal year. It does so by changing parole supervision to focus on only the most violent offenders, expanding early release credits for inmates enrolled in rehabilitation programs and reducing some property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

Rachel Cameron, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor will sign the prison bill even though he supported a plan that would have released or diverted from prison some 27,000 inmates.

[ilbegone]

Here's another emergency the legislature doesn't seem to be dealing with deal with, Prison overcrowding:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Friday turned down California's request to delay a federal court order related to state prison overcrowding.
The justices refused to extend a deadline beyond Sept. 18 for telling a special three-judge panel how California will reduce its inmate population by 40,000, roughly a quarter, over two years.
The judges called for the reduction so the state can improve medical and mental health care for inmates in its 33 adult prisons. The federal courts have found the care so poor that it violates inmates' constitutional rights.
While rejecting the state's plea for a delay, the court noted that the three-judge panel has agreed not to put a final order into effect until after the justices have had a chance to review its decree.
The special three-judge panel had rejected California's request for a delay earlier this month, sending the matter to the high court.
In addition to its failed request for a delay, the Schwarzenegger administration is appealing to the Supreme Court the panel's inmate-release order. It has been joined by Republican legislators and associations representing prosecutors, sheriffs, police chiefs and chief probation officers.
The administration argues that the federal courts are overreaching in their effort to direct the state's affairs and are violating a federal law that restricts judges' actions in inmates rights cases.
Nevertheless, the state will comply with the Supreme Court's order and prepare a plan to submit to the three-judge panel by Sept. 18, said Rachel Cameron, a spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
When asked whether a plan to reduce California's prison population was ready, Cameron said, "We are still looking at our options, but we will have something by the 18th."
Schwarzenegger had promoted a plan in the Legislature that would have reduced the inmate population by 37,000 over two years, but it was watered down in a bill sent to his desk Friday. That legislation will reduce the inmate population by 16,000 in the current fiscal year through diversions and early releases.

[Rim05]

Do you think they even know why they are in Sac?

[ilbegone]

They still just don't get it

Through it all, the Legislature's popularity has sunk to an all-time low, according to some polls.

Recess is here, and the DO NOTHINGS are "ASKING" Schwartzenegger to call a special session. According to the SB SUN Schwartzenegger called for a special session for passing bills to get a slice of the Federal pie for California.

Why don't they just stay and get the job done?

Dirt bags.

(09-13) 04:00 PDT Sacramento - -- The California Legislature blew past a midnight deadline early Saturday in an effort to get as much work done as possible before ending a brutal nine-month session that was mostly an exercise in triage over the state's budget crisis.
Lawmakers deliberated until 6:30 a.m. Saturday, but still were unable to resolve the most pressing issue facing them - revamping the state's water infrastructure - and they reached only a partial solution to the prison population crisis.
Since the session began in December, the most significant action taken by the 120-member Legislature that oversees the nation's largest state and the world's eighth-largest economy was eliminating more than $16 billion from the state's budget, which included approving deep cuts in services for the poor, sick and elderly.
Through it all, the Legislature's popularity has sunk to an all-time low, according to some polls.
"This has just been an incredibly painful year for all of us," said Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), before the session ended.
The budget overshadowed everything else in Sacramento this year; even the number of bills considered by lawmakers was lower than past years, largely because there was no money to pay for new programs or services.
Much work ahead
Although the session is officially over, the Legislature's work has by no means ended. Legislative leaders are asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to call a special session to continue pushing for a compromise on the water issue.
Add to that a special session that has been scheduled to change education policies in an effort to win more federal money, and another likely special session to revamp the state tax code, politicking in Sacramento could continue until the Legislature officially reconvenes again in December.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said before the Legislature went into its final stretch two weeks ago that he did not want to be part of the "culture of failure" that pervades Sacramento.
Despite an inability to come up with a plan to overhaul the state's water system and only partial solutions on cuts to state prisons, Steinberg said late Friday that the Legislature made "significant achievements," including approving one of the world's strongest renewable energy standards and restoring funds to a popular health care program for poor children, preventing 600,000 children from losing health coverage.
"There's nothing wrong with aiming high and the test in the end is getting it done, and we will. It's just going to take a little more time," Steinberg said.
Governor's threat
But Californians are tired of watching the Legislature deliberate and ultimately punt on the state's critical needs, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California.
"They passed a budget (in February) that was out of balance and they fell short on almost all of their policy priorities," Schnur said. "Overall, it's not the type of year that's going to boost their public approval ratings much."
With time having run out to pass bills, the Legislature still faces a possible showdown with Schwarzenegger. The governor has 30 days to sign or veto the approved bills, but has said he won't sign other legislation until lawmakers address the water issue.
"There is no reason the Legislature cannot send the governor a bipartisan solution to (one of the) biggest issues facing the state," said Rachel Cameron, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger.
Bass said she's simply fed up with Schwarzenegger's brinkmanship.
"You know what? I'm tired of being threatened by the governor, OK?" Bass said when asked about the potential vetoes. "We have been working tirelessly on these issues and he knows that."
It is disingenuous of the governor to use his veto "if we're not able to accomplish what he couldn't accomplish either," she added.
Bills that passed
During their session, the Legislature did take action on a number of fronts, including:
-- Cutting $1 billion from the prisons budget, which will lower the inmate population by 17,000. That's still $200 million short of what the Legislature needs to cut and 23,000 fewer prisoners than have been ordered removed from the state's prisons by a panel of federal judges. The state must submit a plan this week to comply with the court order.
-- Passing a requirement that utility companies get 33 percent of their energy from renewable sources.
-- Approving a measure that will bring $2.3 billion in federal money to the state, with about $2 billion going to hospitals for Medi-Cal reimbursements and $320 million directed to children's health services.
-- Approving bills to bar health insurance companies from rescinding coverage for pre-existing conditions or any other reason after a specified period of time. They also mandated that companies cover maternity services, from neonatal to delivery in the hospital, and lactation consultation for breast-feeding mothers.

[ilbegone]

The dirty SOBs need to do their job.

[AyatollahGondola]

This current bunch is pretty foolish. there are a few sane thinkers in there, but some of those are also following the party lines still