Sacramento: January 2008 Archives

- A bill to convert the Santa Susana Field Laboratory site into a state park was formally introduced in the Legislature this week, but it is likely to be at least a decade before the project could begin. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Assembly Bill 1842 by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, would create a joint-powers authority with seven state and local agencies to oversee the creation of a park on the 2,850-acre property after it is cleaned up by Boeing Co. and turned over to the state.

Boeing recently reached an agreement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pay for cleaning the contaminated land to high standards and then give it to the state for use only as open space.

Even in the middle of a fiscal crisis, California can still improve its school system by boosting support for minority students and expanding preschool programs, state Superintendent for Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said Tuesday.Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

O'Connell delivered his fifth annual State of Education address to educators and administrators in Sacramento who were painfully aware that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has called for cutting $4.4 billion from schools in the next 18 months as part of an effort to close a $14.5 billion budget deficit.

"We have a serious budget shortfall, but improving our education system is the key to ensuring that California has a well-qualified work force to secure a healthy economy in the future," O'Connell said.

While more of California's elected officials are going hybrid green, the Capitol's most powerful Democrat rolls candy-apple red in a $38,600 Dodge Charger with 22-inch rims. John Simerman and Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is far from alone among state lawmakers in his taste for gas-slurping automotive luxury at mostly taxpayer expense.

More than half of the senators who use state-leased cars opt for traditional gas vehicles that get 20 combined city/highway miles or less per gallon, according to an analysis of Senate data using new federal fuel-economy ratings.

With California's new importance in the presidential primaries and two dynamic sets of major party candidates, voter registration is booming statewide. Patridcia Farrell Aidem in the Daily News.

Aided by feverish registration drives - including several in the San Fernando Valley - there are well over 500,000 new voters in California as Tuesday's registration deadline approaches for the Feb. 5 "Super Duper Tuesday" primary.

"It's a historic election," said Kate Fullmar, spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Debra Bowman.

"For the first time since 1952, there's neither a sitting president nor vice president in the running. And with the earlier primary this year and the field still wide open, California has a chance to be a player."

n the shade of rustling orange trees, Spencer Longmore watched his 2-year-old daughter giggle and coo last week at dozens of ducks and geese swimming in a tranquil pond on a warm breezy day. Brendan Lowery in the Daily News.

The 24-year-old North Hollywood resident recently discovered Los Encinos State Historic Park, an idyllic ranch tucked north of bustling Ventura Boulevard. Since then, he and his daughter, Fedora, have stopped by regularly.

"It's a place to relax," he said, noting he often reads or just sits beneath an orange tree while Fedora "can play in the grass and watch the ducks."

Grappling with a weakening economy and launching a politically bitter fight over taxes and spending cuts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a $141 billion budget for California on Thursday that dramatically slashes state programs and slaps higher fees on homeowners and drivers.Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Trying to close a $14.5 billion budget gap, the governor proposes closing dozens of state parks, releasing thousands of prisoners early and cutting 10 percent in everything from social services and transportation to schools and health care.

For the Los Angeles region, the budget means the closing of at least six state parks, a loss in funding to the Los Angeles Unified School District of more than $500 million, and cuts to county health and public transit programs.

"Some might say that it sounds easy to just cut across the board by 10 percent, but let me tell

Faced with a deepening fiscal crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed plans Tuesday for a massive budget overhaul and a reform effort relying on spending caps, rather than tax increases, to reduce California's long-term financial woes. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

In his fifth State of the State address, Schwarzenegger proposed a constitutional amendment that would smooth out state spending growth to match 10-year averages in an effort to avoid the volatility that has characterized the state budget in the last eight years.

"For several years, we took actions that balanced the budget as long as the economy was booming," Schwarzenegger said. "For several years, we kept the budget wolf from the door. But the wolf is back."

Under the governor's plan, any time revenues grew faster than the 10-year-average growth rate, the excess would be put into a rainy-day fund. When revenue growth dips below average, the rainy-day fund could be used.

The measure also gives the governor and his finance director greater authority to make cuts midway through the fiscal year - without legislative approval - if the budget picture worsens.

But the governor's proposed constitutional amendment is likely to falter in the state Legislature, where Democratic leaders have resisted past efforts to cap spending and said Tuesday they would rather close tax loopholes and boost tax rates.

Schwarzenegger tried spendi

California state and local governments are facing liabilities of $118 billion or more over the next 30 years to fund promises of generous health-care benefits for retired public employees, according to a state commission report released Monday. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

The findings result from the first comprehensive statewide effort to measure the massive looming liabilities amid growing concern that the debt could bite into government coffers unless officials start setting aside billions of dollars every year.

And the commission, created last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the growing liabilities mean governments need to begin investing now to build up a permanent fund rather than simply paying out of pocket every year.

Just a month before the presidential primary, Secretary of State Debra Bowen imposed a series of new security measures on Los Angeles County's voting system Thursday to thwart hackers and others who want to tamper with the results. Harrison Sheppard in the Daily News.

Bowen had decertified the county's Inkavote Plus system in August based on security concerns, casting doubt on the ability of the nation's most populous county to conduct the February presidential primary.

County officials said they worked closely with Bowen's office on the new measures and believe they can meet the requirements in time for the vote.

If you thought last year at the Capitol was ugly, you ain't seen nothing yet. Steve Harmon in the Daily News.

While the past year was rife with unfulfilled expectations as lawmakers failed to produce hoped-for reforms in health care, water storage and political behavior, prospects are strong for even more legislative paralysis and partisan sniping in 2008.

"It will be the year of low expectations," said Garry South, a Democratic consultant who served under former Gov. Gray Davis. "And those probably won't even be met."

Democrats are already grumbling about Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's announced plan to slice 10 percent from the budget of every state agency, and are saying it's time to start thinking about increasing taxes.

Republicans, em