Interesting California Political and Policy Tidbits for the Evening

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There are a few tasty morsels from the day that can’t wait for morning.

First of all, Governor Schwarzenegger is going to endorse a yes vote on Prop 93 on term limits. The LA Times broke the story earlier this afternoon and the Sacramento Bee has confirmed it, giving the added detail that the Gov will have an opinion piece in the Times tomorrow. (If only he wrote here, I could have broken that story.)

Secondly, the only person those of us in the politicosphere thought had a chance to be competitive with Jackie Speier for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat being vacated by Tom Lantos at the end of his term—State Senator Leland Yee—has announced he is not running. Just before 5 p.m., Yee released this statement:

“I am humbled by the outpouring of support from the people of San Francisco and San Mateo County who have encouraged me to run for Congress. However, at this time, my family and I have decided it is best to continue the work started in the State Senate. I am committed to addressing the critical issues currently before the State Legislature, including providing universal healthcare and protecting services for our working families. In the years to come, I look forward to working with the next member of Congress in serving the residents of the Peninsula.”

Nomination in this overwhelimingly Democratic district is tantamount to winning the seat, and we were planning on running Speier’s speech announcing that she was running tomorrow with pictures from the event. (We still will.) She’ll make a damn good Member of Congress and I had the opportunity of talking with her this morning on a press call. One other politico predicted she will be in a good position to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

We’ll also have an article tomorrow on legislation being carried by Senator Yee on juveniles and incarceration and new study unveiled earlier today.

The Legislative Analyst, Elizabeth Hill, had some interesting things to say about the Governor’s budget and the 10% across the board cut approach which is the antithesis of setting priorities and a report she issued this afternoon. If you want a heads-up on this news, check out the Times, read the 24 page report she issued or watch her webcast.

By the way, tomorrow’s Senate Health Committee hearing on AB 1X 1—the Nunez-Schwarzenegger-Perata health bill has been postponed to January 23 because Hill’s office had not finalized their report and assessment of the financial underpinnings of the proposal. If the Capitol Weekly article from this afternoon is at all accurate, this may actually be a close vote in committee with the outcome unknown, one of the final hurdles before final legislative passage and the welcoming Governor’s desk.

See you tomorrow!