Governor to present State of the State address- Schwarzenegger's sixth such speech may be his most difficult yet because of the depth of the current budget crisis. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to deliver the sixth -- and perhaps most difficult -- State of the State address of his tenure at 10 a.m. in the Capitol.
UC cuts freshman enrollment for fall by 6% -The hardest-hit campuses, Irvine and San Diego, will see 12% reductions. Berkeley's class will grow 1.7% and Merced's 17%. Numbers of community college transfers will be allowed to rise. Saying they could not avoid a painful decision, University of California regents voted Wednesday to trim freshman enrollment for next fall by 2,300 students, or about 6%, as a response to reduced state funding during the worsening budget crisis.
George Skelton: State workers' holidays are perks worth cutting- California should be less generous with state worker holidays. For most working Californians, I suspect, the holiday season is only a distant memory. They're back deep into the grind. And it will be months before there's another company-paid official holiday, Memorial Day.
Contesting cuts: Protest staged at Capitol- While state leaders debated California's budget, a rally outside the Capitol on Wednesday brought out several hundred people - many who said that during an economic downturn, state budget cuts are wrong:
California could run out of cash by Feb. 1, analysts say- The state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office confirmed Wednesday that California could run short of cash as soon as Feb. 1 unless lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately cut spending and raise revenues.
FPPC targets ballot campaign accounts- Assembly Speaker Karen Bass used hers to fund voter registration efforts to elect more Democrats. Former Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata used his to bolster his legal defense fund. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his to pay for his political operation for the last two years.
The Buzz- Legislators who know a proposal isn't going anywhere often like to announce they have "thrown down the gauntlet." Today's gauntlet-throwing is by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore. He's proposing a constitutional amendment to ban lawmakers from taking action on bills without giving the public 72 hours notice. "If the public truly knew how things are run up here, they would be outraged," he said. Oh, they know.
Assembly names committee chairs, vice-chairs- Assembly Speaker Karen Bass announced committee chairs Wednesday for the two-year session that began Dec. 1.
Newsom raised $1.2 million in '08 (and a glance at the rest)- San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was the first candidate out of the gate announcing an exploratory committee for governor last July.
Poizner backs out of furloughs (and who works in electeds' offices)- As my colleague Jim Sanders wrote in today's Bee, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, the state's lone GOP statewide officeholder besides Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has declined to implement the governor's furlough order, instead promising to permanently cut his budget by 10 percent.
Dan Walters: LAO: Scoping out the state's cash flow crunch- The Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, says that schools, colleges and bondholders will have first call on the state's money if its cash flow crisis hits home in a few weeks.
Cal drops to 47th in public school spending- Education Week magazine, in its annual state-by-state survey of public education, gives California an overall "C" grade, but the California Teachers Association is jumping on the state's "F" in school spending, which has dropped to 47th in the nation on a per-pupil basis.
Schmidt, Lehane join forces for ballot business- With no end in sight to the state's flurry of ballot initiatives and the state likely to hold a special election this year, top Republican adviser Steve Schmidt and Democratic strategist Chris Lehane are among several California heavyweights forming a new firm solely designed to work on ballot-box campaigns.
Bad news precedes Schwarzenegger's annual address-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will likely find little to champion as he addresses Californians in his annual State of the State speech Thursday.
George F. Will: Prop. 8 suit likely to lengthen gays' marriage struggle- Last November, 13,402,566 California voters expressed themselves for or against Proposition 8, which said that their state's constitution should be amended to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman. The voters, confident that they had a right to decide this question by referendum, endorsed Proposition 8 by a margin of 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent.
Shared Sacrifice: Seniority trumps all for big union- Labor unions exist to advocate for the interests of their members, and in that role California's public employee unions have excelled. Building strong relationships in the Capitol, especially with Democrats, the unions have won generous health and pension benefits, overtime policies and holidays to complement salaries that, while not outrageous, are adequate in most cases and generally keep pace with inflation.
EPA nominee pledges to quickly review California's emissions standard- Lisa Jackson, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, told senators Wednesday that she will move quickly on California's request to enact its own far-reaching vehicle emissions standards.
Post-Prop. 8 feud- Pro and con acts, arguments unpersuasive- Many Californians are understandably dismayed by the passage of Proposition 8 and its requirement that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California."
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