Sacramento: December 2007 Archives

California faces an estimated $14 billion budget deficit, but the state's independent fiscal watchdog has an answer - trim some of the tax loopholes that total $50 billion. Steve Geissinger in the Daily News.

Simple idea. Difficult to make happen.

That's because each of the hundreds of tax breaks are important to some interest group, political analysts said, and a few of those loopholes are perceived almost as a constitutional right.

In what may be the largest early release of inmates in United States
history, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration is proposing to
open the prison gates next year to some 22,000 low-risk offenders. Sacramento Bee.

According to details of a budget proposal made available to The Bee,
the administration will ask the Legislature to authorize the release
of certain non-serious, non-violent, non-sex offenders who have less
than 20 months to go on their terms.

The proposal would cut the prison population by 22,159 inmates and
save the cash-strapped state $256 million in the fiscal year that
begins July 1 and more than $780 million through June 30, 2010.
Besides reducing the inmate population, the proposal also calls for a
reduction in more than 4,000 prison jobs, most of which would involve
correctional officers.

Fabian Núñez felt betrayed.

It was 1993 and the immigrant rights activist was fuming: A lawmaker for East Los Angeles, a Mexican-American Democrat, wanted to stop California from issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. Núñez wrote and called Assemblyman Louis Caldera demanding an explanation, but the legislator only confirmed his decision to co-author the measure. Edwin Garcia in the Mercury News.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Núñez recalled.

After hanging up, Núñez did something he never expected: He crossed the trench from political observer to political insider, eventually running for Assembly on a pro-immigrant platform, in Caldera's old district.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he will declare a "fiscal emergency" in January to give him and the Legislature more power to deal with the state's growing deficit. Associated Press in the Daily News.

Schwarzenegger made the announcement Friday after meeting with lawmakers and interest groups this week to tell them California's budget deficit is far worse than economists predicted just a few weeks ago.

The shortfall is no longer expected to be $10billion, but more than $14billion - a 40percent jump that would put it in orbit with some of the state's worst fiscal crises, those who have met with him said.

The state's political watchdog agency voted Thursday to close a loophole in state law that allows candidates and elected officials to spend campaign money without justifying expenses as political or job-related. San Francisco Chronicle.

Candidates and officeholders now can spend money donated by supporters and special interests on almost anything as long as the expense has a "political, governmental or legislative purpose."

Because the law does not require much detail about that spending, voters and taxpayers viewing campaign disclosure forms have no way to tell if listed expenses, such as a costly meal at a five-star restaurant or a weekend stay at a resort hotel, are appropriate.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has the scars from his failed 2005 ballot measure to prove how searing a campaign can be when trying to change the way political boundaries are drawn. Steve Harmon in the Daily News.

Schwarzenegger stepped into the fray again last week, proposing to create a 14-member citizens commission that would redraw district boundaries for the Assembly, Senate and Board of Equalization.

Political observers wonder whether Schwarzenegger has devised a strategy that can withstand a pummeling from Democrats, who don't want to give up their lock on the Legislature, and Republicans, who may well be disappointed that the plan doesn't go far enough.

If the latest measure makes it to the November 2008 ballot, Democrats and their labor allies would likely mount a strong challenge against it. Experts said the party would employ the tried and true message that the measure would amount to a GOP power grab that would disenfranchise communities of color.

Youths in Los Angeles schools are less physically fit than their peers statewide, although they have improved a bit over last year, according to California fitness data released Thursday. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Less than 21percent of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District met all the criteria considered to comprise a healthy lifestyle, while the statewide average was 27-31percent.

But while kids in the LAUSD and across California improved by several points over last year's results, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said most children still have far to go before they can be considered in shape.

California's legislative salaries, already the nation's highest, will rise to $116,208 today for all but a handful of lawmakers who have declined the hike while the state fights a massive budget shortfall. Sacramento Bee,

Thirteen legislators – four Senate and nine Assembly members – have asked the state controller to kill their $3,110-a-year raise.

The other 106 lawmakers and 11 of 12 constitutional officers are taking the money, although they officially have until Dec. 17 to turn it down.

Frustrated by opposition in the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to take his health-care plan to "the people" next year in the form of a sweeping ballot measure. Mike Zapler in the Daily News.

But if recent ballot initiative history is any guide, it's almost certain to fail. Any health-care referendum is bound to draw deep-pocket opposition and be exceedingly complex - two problems that, time and again, have spelled defeat at the ballot box.

A review of the 107 initiatives that have appeared on the California ballot since 1998 underscores how daunting a campaign on health-care reform would be.