Busy day at the state legislature

The state legislature is back in session today, and they have a lot to do. Besides the budget, today's schedule also includes an informational session about the Schwarzenegger executive order to pay some state workers the minimum wage, and a hearing on the MTA's half-cent sales tax measure increase.

I just got off the phone with Senate majority leader Gloria Romero, who says the legislature is two votes short of passing a budget. She is urging the governor to harnague two of his party members into voting.

Meanwhile, it is a bad day to go the DMV. Employees of the office throughout the state are protesting today against the proposed cuts to their salary.

It might be a meaningless protest, since the state controller's office is defying the governor and refusing to pay anything less than full wages, but I'd imagine anyone who doesn't know anything about what is going on in the state and is showing up to renew their driver's license today might be a little more interested in seeing the budget pass.

UPDATE: A staff reporter and a photographer who went to the West Covina and Montebello DMV offices today to see the protests found nobody there. Apparently, the workers decided to "protest" from 7:30 to 8, before work, when the protests wouldn't inconvenience anyone.