[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

This is the Governor’s week in Sacramento—from the State of the State speech delivered yesterday to Thursday when the other shoe drops and the proposed state budget for 2008-2009 is unveiled along with, for the first time, a declaration of a fiscal emergency under Proposition 58 of 2004 and the convening of yet another special session of the legislature to deal with this year’s budget deficit.

In the space of these three days, we will be going from the abstractions and symbols of what is typically in a State of the State speech to what will hopefully be more concrete, palpable, and understandable elements of public policy. But we shall see.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Peter Schrag

PPIC, the staid San Francisco-based Public Policy Institute of California, has been trying to make more of a mark in Sacramento, and last week it succeeded, not with its customary research reports but by putting on the best entertainment of the season.

The stars, at an event called "Restoring Confidence in the Legislative Process" that packed a large hotel ballroom, were four former high-profile politicians with almost as many exes attached to their names as all three Gabor sisters combined.

Among them: ex-Gov., ex-U.S. Sen. ex-San Diego Mayor and ex-Assemblyman Pete Wilson; ex-Republican state Senate leader and ex-Assembly Republican leader Jim Brulte; ex-Assembly Speaker and ex-San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown; and ex-Assemblyman, ex-U.S. Rep. and ex-Senate President Pro Tem John Burton.

Collectively they didn't cast much light on how to restore confidence in the legislative process or whether such a restoration was even needed, but they certainly reminded the 400-plus people jammed into in the room how much fun politics can be – or at least used to be.

by rbayne [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Last month, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (R-Fresno) gave us his priority on how to solve California's water issues. 

"Without reservoirs, there's no way it'll pass out of the Legislature. It's a requirement. There's no way we'll come to the table without it."

 In other words, if you don't play the water game my way, I'll just take my squirt-gun and go home. There's a word for this attitude — childish.

Update by Brian: I've added the Assembly Report on the Water Hearings. There's a vague reference to "bright lines in the sand."

Assemblymember Lois Wolk (D-Davis), chair of the Special Committee on Water, and Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), leader of the Assembly Democratic Caucus Water Working Group, have decided to be a little more grown-up about the water crisis. They want to bring all ideas, every possible solution to the table, and they don't want any whining from the Republicans.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

This afternoon the Governor announced that he was proposing $9 billion in "comprehensive water infrastructure' spending plan and that it would be contained in two bills--authored by Assembly Republican Leader Michael Villines and Republican Senator Dave Cogdill. Before receiving the Governor's press release, the talk of the town was about a $5 to 6 billion dollar set of bonds.

Neither of these bills announced by the Governor are in print, and there is no indication of whether they are general obligation bonds or revenue bonds. There is no description of them on either the Assembly or Senate Republican sites or that of the Governor's authors.

Senator Perata has the only bill in print in the special session on water--SB 1 XX (also denominated SB2X 1) which he introduced last Friday and which we've already described in some detail in an article on Sunday.

He also has a bill, SB 1002, passed in the regular session that is on the Governor's desk and ready for his signature or veto.

Here are the releases from Perata and the Governor as they contain the latest information as to where we are in the special session on water:

Perata Statement on Governor’s Water Proposal for the Special Session

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

"The Big Four," party leaders from both houses of the Legislature, are closer than ever to breaking the budget impasse,the San Jose Mercury News reports. In fact, the leaders made so muchprogress yesterday that Speaker Fabian Nunez and his counterpart DonPerata canceled their planned "test votes" on the floor late afternoon.Nunez had heaps of praise for Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (left),telling the California Progress Report: "He's a great Republican, a good human being and a wonderful human being."

Capitol Weekly's Legislative Scorecard contains nuggets of information about this year's Assembly members and Senators.Perhaps most surprising (or not surprising, depending on yourperspective) was how often Democratic moderates like Cathleen Galgianiand Nicole Parra vote with the Republicans on "controversial" bills.The opposites ends went as expected: Lloyd "nanny state" Levine with aperfect 100 liberal score and Mimi "I vote no on everything" Walterswith a 0. Interestingly, Senator Tom McClintock scored in the middledue to his somewhat maverick libertarian views. Check out the rankings yourself.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

No budget, no vacation (see photo). That's Speaker Fabian Nunez's mantra for the coming days(or weeks) as the stalemate continues, the Sacramento Bee reports. Thelegislature was supposed to go into recess this Friday, but Assemblymembers are being asked to remain "on call" and within an hour of thecapitol. Maybe the Republicans can finally explain to us where theextra $2 billion will come from.

As the budget impasse drags on, a number of advocacy groups are concerned that the result will be a drastic cut in funding for education or services for the poor, according to the Bee. Contrary to some GOP myths, there just isn't allthat much left to slice. The Democrats, for their part, have madeconcessions and our bringing a new budget up for a vote Wednesday,which Republican Leader Mike Villines dismissed as a "non-starter."

Democrats should stand firm on their commitment to supporting contractors who reduce the diesel pollution in their equipment, the Bee editorialized today. With billions of dollars in bonds approvedlast November, we're going to be doing a lot of building and burning alot of energy. We can at least make sure it meets a minimum standard.

There's more...

Photo courtesy of National Geographic.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

You are the Republican leader of the Assembly. Your predecessor made concessions and supported deals with the Democrats instead of confrontation – to aid the Governor’s reelection. It worked, but left a lot of bad blood among the intransigent conservatives who constitute the majority of Assembly Republicans.

Republican leaders prove their worth in one of two ways. The best, like Jim Brulte, propose plans to escape minority status by defeating enough Democrats to make them the minority party.

But Republicans have not won a seat in two election cycles. In fact, they came within a whisker of losing a seat last Fall. Plan ‘B’ has been to blame redistricting for Republican woes. It’s misdirection. The line drawing plan of the courts produced a two thirds majority for the Democrats in the 1970’s and 50 seats for the Democrats in the 1990’s.

Democrats hold the majority because they field superior candidates who hold positions more in tune with the people than do the Republicans.

Which brings us to the State Budget.