[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Life in the post-election, post-bonds, post-AB 32, post-partisan world

By Susan Smartt
Executive Director of the California League of Conservation Voters

As we reported in last year’s Scorecard, the 2006 legislative session was one of the most productive in recent years for the environment, capped by the enactment of the milestone AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. It was also an election year, and 2006 closed with hopeful signs of change:

• Almost half of the Assembly – 37 out of 80 members – were newly-elected freshmen (in 2004 there were 18). In fact, a majority of the Assembly Democratic caucus – 25 out of 48 – were elected to their first term.

• The voters approved an unprecedented $43 billion in infrastructure bonds, for everything from transportation to housing to flood control.

• Governor Schwarzenegger triangulated his way to easy re-election, cheerfully declaring that his election and the 2006 legislative session ushered in an era of post-partisan cooperation.

• For environmentalists, AB 32 promised to change just about everything. If the state was serious about reducing its global warming gas emissions, then the process itself would lead to many other environmental improvements we had long supported.

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Here are a few numbers and quotes about the direct impacts of the missing budget, which is now 48 days late. (stats from Myers)

34,585 that is the number of invoices CalTrans estimates are pass due, totaling $8.1 million they owe to a bunch of small and large businesses.
$17 million the amount the CHP owes
unknown the total amount of late fees that the state is racking up, not exactly fiscally prudent. (CalTrans alone has $278,000 in penalties)
$2.5 billion the total amount of infrastructure bonds that the state cannot sell without a budget. The delay means that projects will be pushed back, for without the money, they cannot build.
#3 by Monday that will be the ranking of this impasse on the all time list of late budgets in California.

P.S. Dan Walter's makes no sense today. He starts out talking about the fact that one of the big holdups in the budget is the Republican Senators insistence on banning Attorney General Jerry Brown from blocking local governments over global warming. Then the rest of the column is about the long standing battle between business interests and liberal groups. It seems like he really wanted to write conflict story and tried, but failed to connect it to the budget. Maybe the editors chopped out something...

by Chrispy67 [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

NOTE: Originally posted at Daily Kos - and posted here in response to request from dday.

The May 2007 Public Policy Institute of California survey titled  "Californians and Their Government" contains depressing data about the average voter's civic knowledge.

The press release accompanying the report states:

California voters admit to knowing little or nothing about some of the most critical policy issues they may be facing in next year's elections... This lack of knowledge concerning pivotal proposals, such as billions of dollars for new infrastructure bonds and changing term limits, could provide the margin of success for these proposals. Moreover, what voters don't know may be lulling them into a false sense of fiscal security at a time when the state's finances are still on shaky ground.

According to the survey, Californians have a limited understanding of how the state raises revenue and disperses funds. And, a large segment of the population view bonds as "free money" unaware of the costs being passed on to future generations.

I see those numbers and wonder, "Is this good government?"