A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
September 12, 2007
1. Top Items
Governor calls special session - Associated Press
Water on governor's special session plan; State's supply, health care 'too important' to avoid, Schwarzenegger says -
Health care, water issues probably headed to
Special sessions ordered; Governor wants health care, water storage plans passed; as first step. Working groups of lawmakers will seek consensus - Sacramento Bee
Water, health on 'to do' list; STATE LEGISLATURE: Lawmakers must go into special sessions to work out solutions over coming weeks - Riverside Press
Governor calls special session
Associated Press – 9/11/07
The move means lawmakers will stay in town to keep working toward a compromise on those issues. Otherwise, they would have left town this week.
Health care is especially tough. The governor has been unable to persuade Democrats to go along with his plan to cover millions of uninsured Californians.
Republicans also rejected it.
Any possible deal may be headed to the ballot for voters to decide.
Lawmakers still plan to take a short break for the Jewish holidays before getting back to work.
Meanwhile, the union representing state prison guards used its political clout Tuesday to seek last-minute legislation giving employees a nearly 10 percent raise over two years.
The move was an end-run around contract negotiations between the governor's administration and the union, which won lucrative pay and benefit increases under former Gov. Gray Davis.
The most recent contract has been stalled in negotiations for more than a year.
The legislative maneuver drew a sharp denunciation from Schwarzenegger. In a statement, he referred to the overdue state budget, which was held up by Senate Republicans who criticized Democrats and Schwarzenegger for overspending.
A giveaway of taxpayer money to the prison guards would make no sense after such a protracted budget stalemate that was in large part over state spending issues, the governor said. In addition, the state faces a projected budget deficit of $5 billion next year.
"I did not veto $700 million from the budget to give it all to (the guards union) in a backroom deal," Schwarzenegger said in the statement.
"This bill makes an end run around negotiations and mediation, reverses an arbitration decision that saved the state hundreds of millions of dollars, kills any hope for management reform, and reinstates, in full, the contract signed by Gov. Gray Davis. This is the same contract that Republicans and Democrats derided as the biggest sweetheart deal in
The move came on what was expected to be the last day of the regular legislative session, although lawmakers will stay later because Schwarzenegger called a special session.
The prison guard bill, which had not been voted on by Tuesday evening, would give the union's 30,000 members raises of 3.5 percent this year and 6.1 percent next year. It also would potentially tie future raises to the higher salaries paid to California Highway Patrol officers.
The administration said the contract provisions contained in the bill could cost taxpayers $882 million over three years. The Senate budget committee figured the cost at $1.1 billion over three years, with a first-year cost of $636 million.
Prison guards typically earn more than $70,000 in base salary, but most make far more with overtime.
Thirty-four prison employees earned more than $100,000 in overtime alone last year, and hundreds more earned than $100,000 in combined salary and overtime, said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Mike Jimenez, president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, said the details contained in the bill would amount to a $300 million annual cost to the state.
He also denied the union was seeking to tie its salaries to the highway patrol.
The move came after the union walked away from mediation last month and on the same day the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by the Schwarzenegger administration that is related to a far-reaching prison-reform effort.
A recently created three-judge panel is considering whether
Water on governor's special session plan; State's supply, health care 'too important' to avoid, Schwarzenegger says
By E. J. Schultz, staff writer
The inclusion of water projects on the agenda delighted Valley leaders who are fighting for state money for a new dam near
The special session began almost immediately after the governor called it and will likely last weeks.
"Efforts to reform our broken health-care system and to avert a water crisis are too important to walk away from simply because of a date on the legislative calendar," the governor said at a Capitol news conference.
Finding consensus on water has eluded the state's leaders for decades. This year, the governor put the issue at the top of his list.
But he was unable to strike a deal with legislators during the nine-month regular session. Schwarzenegger blamed the 52-day budget impasse, saying leaders "ran out of time" to take on big issues.
The session does not officially end until Friday, though both houses were trying to wrap up their work Tuesday night.
Redistricting reform was left off the special session agenda, probably killing any chances that a measure will go on the February ballot.
The need to boost the state's water supplies has taken on new urgency in the wake of the recent court ruling to reduce delta water pumping. State officials say the decision -- designed to protect an endangered fish -- could lead in average years to a 35% cut in deliveries to
In the special session, lawmakers must find common ground on competing proposals. Schwarzenegger's $5.95 billion plan puts an emphasis on new dams, while Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata's $5 billion proposal frees local water agencies to spend money how they see fit -- for dams, ground-water storage or water recycling.
Both plans also would spend money to repair the deteriorating Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the source of much of the state's water. Leaders hope to put a bond on the Feb. 5 ballot, meaning a deal would have to be struck by late September.
The governor's $5.95 billion plan originally included money for two new dams: one east of
A version of the plan would dedicate $2 billion in state bond money for the three projects, with remaining costs paid by growers and others who would benefit. A dam at Temperance is estimated to cost at least $2 billion.
State Sen. Dave Cogdill of
But Democrats -- who have long resisted using state money for dams -- might not be willing to spend that much.
That's a "heck of a lot of money for water," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, when asked about the $5 billion figure at a news conference. "But I'm not afraid of having a conversation about it."
Perata, who will be the Democrats' lead negotiator on water, told reporters that "unlike health care, I think there is no alternative than to get something done on water."
He referenced the court decision by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger, who ordered less pumping to protect the delta smelt, an endangered, 3-inch-long fish considered to be an indicator of the delta's health.
If "people's water starts getting cut off, they are going to come looking for someone to blame and I suspect they are going to come right here," Perata said.
The stage was set for the health-care special session on Tuesday when Gov. Schwarzenegger said he would veto a Democratic health-care plan that would force employers to spend 7.5% of payroll on health care.
Schwarzenegger is pushing a plan that would set the employer mandate at 4%, but also require contributions from doctors, hospitals and individuals in order to cover the state's uninsured, estimated to be about 6.7 million residents.
Republicans have said they won't vote for either of the plans. A possible compromise that would require no GOP votes involves putting policy reforms in legislation and paying for the changes with a separate ballot initiative -- maybe in June or November. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/136354.html
Health care, water issues probably headed to
San Francisco Chronicle – 9/12/07
By Tom Chorneau, staff writer
Voters may be asked next year to approve funding elements of a health care overhaul and water storage expansion, under a plan outlined Tuesday by legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
With the regular legislative session set to end Friday, Schwarzenegger called lawmakers into a special session to deal with water and health care - a session that began Tuesday night.
Schwarzenegger said he is close to an agreement with Democratic leaders on health care legislation that would probably require voter approval for new fees or taxes to pay for expanding care to an estimated 6.8 million uninsured Californians.
"It's good to go and say, 'Let us come up with the policy here and then let's take it to the people and approve the funding mechanism,' " Schwarzenegger said at a Capitol press conference.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-
"We need to consult with the voters of
While the Legislature's Democratic majority and the governor agree on many proposals aimed at expanding health care insurance, they remain deadlocked on several key issues, including how to pay for it.
The governor has proposed requiring employers to contribute at least 4 percent of their payroll for worker coverage. Hospitals and doctors would also be asked to pay a provider tax. The Democratic plan calls for employers to pay 7.5 percent of their payroll for health care.
Both plans would ask workers to share in the cost and both would greatly expand state programs that provide care for the poor and disabled.
The need to put tax proposals before the voters stems from the recognition that Republican legislators are united in their opposition to any new taxes or fees. Passage of tax bills require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, which means support from some GOP lawmakers would be needed.
Any health care measure approved this year would probably go on the November 2008 ballot.
The governor and legislative leaders will also use the coming weeks to negotiate over a proposed $4 billion water bond that the governor has been pushing since last year.
The governor's plan received only modest support among lawmakers. But a ruling earlier this month by a federal judge that could cut water drawn from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta by a third has sparked new interest.
Both Núñez and Schwarzenegger said new storage systems need to be considered in light of the federal ruling aimed at protecting the delta smelt.
Voters could be asked in February to consider another multibillion-dollar bond measure to fund construction of new dams or water-supply systems. #
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/12/BANQS3REL.DTL
Special sessions ordered; Governor wants health care, water storage plans passed; as first step. Working groups of lawmakers will seek consensus
Sacramento
By Kevin Yamamura, staff writer
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday officially called special sessions on health care and water storage but acknowledged that his long-desired changes on how
The Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers remain at odds over how to pay for a health care solution for the 6.7 million uninsured Californians.
Schwarzenegger reiterated that he wants the Legislature to approve everything but the funding for a health care agreement and ask voters next year to approve various funding sources to pay for the plan. To be approved in the Legislature alone, most fees would require support from Republican legislators, who have opposed any such new charges on businesses, hospitals or doctors.
"I think that if you talk about the funding mechanism, (the ballot) is the only way, except unless someone comes up with some miracle answer," Schwarzenegger said. "But I mean so far the only way we can create the funding mechanism is by doing that part and taking it to the people."
The governor has promised to veto Assembly Bill 8 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-
He said that other funding sources, such as a hospital tax or sales tax, should be on the ballot, but not an employer fee. That way, he suggested, even if voters reject the initiative,
Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said they intend to reach agreement by Sept. 27 to approve a new multibillion-dollar bond to pay for water storage and a solution to environmental problems in the Delta, such as a canal that Schwarzenegger has backed. That time frame would allow the bond to go on the Feb. 5 ballot.
Núñez said that lawmakers would ideally reach an agreement on health care within two weeks as well, but he held open the possibility that it could take longer. As for Schwarzenegger? He would only speculate that a deal could come in "weeks."
Núñez, who gaveled in the special sessions Tuesday night, plans to organize working groups of legislators to focus on water and health care. When agreements are reached, Núñez said he plans to call in policy committees and ultimately all of the Assembly.
Besides focusing lawmakers on specific issues, special sessions suspend some legislative rules and allow measures approved with a majority vote to take effect 90 days after the session closes. #
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/374052.html
Water, health on 'to do' list; STATE LEGISLATURE: Lawmakers must go into special sessions to work out solutions over coming weeks
Riverside Press
By Jim Miller, staff writer
Gov. Schwarzenegger ordered the special sessions Tuesday, as lawmakers rushed to act on hundreds of bills before the end of their regular session this week.
"Efforts to reform our broken health care system and to avert a water crisis are too important to walk away from simply because of a date in the legislators' calendar," Schwarzenegger said, blaming this summer's nearly eight-week delay passing a state budget for lawmakers' inability to act on the issues earlier.
Left out of the governor's announcement was an anticipated special session on changing how the state draws political boundaries after every census.
The special sessions officially began Tuesday. Over the coming weeks, staff, the governor's office and key lawmakers will try to craft a borrowing package to bolster the state's water supply in time to put it before voters in February.
In addition, they will try to overhaul a health care system that left an estimated 6.6 million Californians uninsured at some point in 2005.
Schwarzenegger's announcement was no surprise; he recently canceled a trip to
Before Tuesday's order, lawmakers were scheduled to adjourn this week until Jan. 7. Lawmakers can still go to their districts but they have to return to the state Capitol to vote on any special-session bills. Legislation introduced in special sessions can be considered more quickly than during a regular session, among other differences.
A Health Plan
Schwarzenegger unveiled his health care proposal in January. It required everyone to have health insurance, while making hospitals and doctors contribute to the plan's funding.
The proposal never gained traction in the Legislature. Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans oppose its call for charging doctors and hospitals. Many Democrats dislike the insurance mandate.
This week, Democrats pushed through health care legislation that Schwarzenegger has promised to veto.
Tuesday, Schwarzenegger said he wants the special session to produce a bipartisan health care plan.
Many Republicans are skeptical, though. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-
"We haven't been involved in that much of the discussion up to now," said Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, a dentist who sits on the Assembly Health Committee. "I hope that we can all sit down together. The way we've done it, though, it's been a partisan vote all the way through."
Water Cutbacks
A federal judge's ruling is expected to cut by about one-third the amount of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta water for
"That ought to add some urgency to things," state Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, R-Murrieta, said.
Infrastructure Plans
Administration officials have repeated calls for lawmakers to act on a $5.95 billion borrowing plan that includes building reservoirs and delivery systems. But Democrats and environmentalists have criticized the package.
"Californians need clean, safe and reliable water, not only five years from now, but in the next 20, 30 or 40 years," Schwarzenegger said.
There isn't much time to reach a compromise. Legislative leaders said lawmakers have only until the end of the month to pass a bond package for the Feb. 5 ballot.
Many thought redistricting also would be the subject of a special session because the issue has become entwined with efforts to change the legislative term-limits law in a way that would let current lawmakers stay in office.
A term-limits proposal, pushed by the Legislature's Democratic leaders, has qualified for the Feb. 5 ballot. It would reduce from 14 years to 12 years how long someone can spend in the Legislature, but would allow all of that to be spent in either the Assembly or Senate.
Schwarzenegger said he did not call a special session on redistricting because he believes Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, opposes altering the Legislature's decades-old control over drawing legislative and congressional seats. Any compromise will have to wait for either the June or November ballot, the governor said.
State Sen. Jim Battin, R-La Quinta, said he was disappointed with the governor's decision. Battin, vice-chairman of the Senate's elections panel, said a compromise is within reach.
Schwarzenegger's decision, he added, hurts prospects for the term-limits initiative pushed by Nunez and others. Battin has not taken a position on the measure; term limits would force him from office next year.
"I think people see both of them as kind of government reform. They're more popular together than they are individually," Battin said.
Nunez, though, said he thinks the term-limits initiative will be able to stand on its own.
Some Accomplishments
Among the bills approved this week is a measure that would give state-funded lifetime health care coverage to the survivors of federal firefighters who die in the line of duty in
The bill, by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena, initially also waived tuition for the
Late Tuesday, though, lawmakers still had not taken final action on a bill to allocate an additional 50 judges in 2008.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_legis12.3dea94a.html
####
No comments:
Post a Comment