by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

Thanksgiving is over and the legislature is getting back to work. That does not mean that any bills are close to passage, particularly on the two biggest issues dominating the special session: water and health care. There are no votes scheduled and quite a bit of pessimism floating around at this point. AP:

California lawmakers had been scheduled to return after the Thanksgiving break to vote on sweeping health care reform and water proposals, after weeks of promises that compromises were near on both issues.

Instead, there were no signs of any deals on Monday as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders tried to salvage something from the special legislative sessions called in September.

Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, canceled a vote on the water bond he had hoped to put before voters in February. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, postponed a vote on the health care plan he had been negotiating with Schwarzenegger.

No vote means not deals. That does not mean that everything is dead in the water, just that big breaks are not imminent.

Schwarzenegger then summoned Perata, Nunez and their Republican counterparts in the Senate and Assembly to his office for what legislative aides described as a last-ditch effort to find common ground.

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[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Senate President pro Tem Don Perata and Speaker Nunez today pushed off their scheduled voteson health care and water legislation until December 5th and 6th, leaving negotiators more time to craft the complex legislation being discussed with Governor Schwarzenegger.
 
Negotiations will continue on the health care front, with compromises being hammered out on financing, eligibility, and affordability. The plan is to continue to work until details are finalized on a policy bill to be voted on in December, with financing put on the November 2008 ballot by initiative. Republicans, with the exception of the Governor, refuse to support any financing proposals to cover the costs of universal health care.
 
On the water bond, Senate President pro Tem issued this statement late Tuesday:

"While we’ve had some productive discussions in recent days, we have yet to reach an agreement on how best to supply the clean drinking water California’s homes, farms and businesses need to grow and thrive.

But we cannot give up. The stakes are too high. There’s real potential for an agreement -- and the need to help California conserve this precious resource remains urgent. To help foster good-faith discussions, I will forgo circulating my Safe Drinking Water Act initiative for the time being.

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[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Backed by a phalanx of representatives of organizations who have worked for decades to prod state and local governments to clean up the San Francisco-Oakland Bay and those who fish and take crab in the bay, California State Senate President pro Tem Don Perata criticized Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today for under funding and failing to staff regional water control boards and California’s oil spill prevention program.

Perata stated that the state has the money but just has not spent it--and that this has led the agency responsible for conducting unannounced drills to only conduct 3% of those that it is supposed to according its own plans under state law.

He also said that many of these boards do not have a quorum and therefore cannot operate. He noted 34 vacancies in the office, and said: "If you go on their website, it says, 'December meeting pending a quorum.' Now that's a hell of a thing to tell people, that if we can get people together… There are nine spots. There are five vacancies. There's no excuse for that."

He then noted: "Absent having the board in place, it's difficult for the agency to operate, and if they're severely understaffed, they can't operate anyway."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Yesterday, the California Coalition for Civil Rights (CACCR), on behalf of over 50 organizations, sent a letter to the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission urging them to seek guidance from the Attorney General on the legality of a Schwarzenegger Administration proposal to replace judges used by the Commission to enforce California's civil rights laws.

The plans, announced in September by, drew protests from the civil rights community and a letter from 20 legislators including the Speaker of the Assembly and the President pro Tem of the Senate about the timing of the proposal which they see as contrary to law and policies set by the legislature. As we reported on Monday, the Commission, which has to approve any changes, had previously decided to seek an opinion from the Attorney General but later quietly reversed course on that decision. California State Senator Sheila Kuehl described this action in September as the dismantling of the state's civil rights enforcement body that dates back to the era of the Rumsford Fair Housing Act.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Michael Russo
Health Care Advocate and Staff Attorney
California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG)

Governor Schwarzenegger called 2007 the year of health care reform back in January, but most of the action’s been saved for the last few months. After a summer spent on budget wrangling and with little time to spare before adjournment, the legislature quickly passed a reform bill. But the bill – called AB 8 – didn’t satisfy the Governor. He called a special legislative session on health care reform, vetoed the legislature’s bill, and last month released legislative language on his plan. Then on Tuesday, Assembly Speaker Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Perata replied with their own proposal for reform.

That’s a lot of back-and-forth, but the legislatures’ proposal puts us very close to a deal.

The Speaker’s plan goes a long way towards meeting the governor in the middle, while still containing costs, expanding coverage, and helping consumers get a fair shake when buying insurance.

When he vetoed AB 8, the Governor cited two specific issues: the bill didn’t attempt to cover all Californians, and he argued that it didn’t spread out the costs of reform fairly enough, and imposed too high a burden on businesses.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Recent legislation among the reforms needed at the university

By Leland Yee, Ph.D.
Assistant President pro Tem
California State Senate

On Tuesday, the California State Auditor released a critical report of the California State University’s (CSU) executive compensation policies, further confirming what lawmakers, students, and faculty members have been publicizing for months.

Among the highlights, the audit revealed that the university failed to adequately monitor adherence to its compensation policies and that the CSU used questionable methodology to justify increasing top executives’ pay. In addition, the state audit found that high level managers received significant compensation after they were no longer providing services to the university.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) today unveiled a new Democratic health care plan. The new Democratic bill includes the core principles of Assembly Bill 8, the Democratic plan vetoed by the Governor, while meeting the Governor halfway on other key elements of health care reform. In this Assembly Web Report we learn the new health care plan: establishes an individual mandate for most Californians but exempts people who cannot afford to purchase insurance; covers all children and parents up to 300% of the federal poverty line; and contains significant consumer protections and cost-containment measures.