Archives - July '07

Agua agrees to abide by campaign laws

Last Updated 1:08 pm PDT Monday, July 9, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians agreed on Friday to abide by California's campaign finance disclosure laws, settling a years-long legal tussle with Fair Political Practices Commission....(more)

Question of Assembly's early return persists

Last Updated 2:00 pm PDT Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By Capitol Alert Staff
The Assembly has been vacationing since two-thirds of the house approved the budget in the early hours of July 20. But with the budget now stuck in Senate, the question of whether the lower house should return persists...(more)

Swanson for Clinton

Last Updated 3:52 pm PDT Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
Assemblyman Sandré Swanson announced on Tuesday that he was endorsing Sen. Hillary Clinton for president. Swanson, a freshman member of the state Assembly, was a long-time staff member for Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee. Swanson was a featured speaker at the opening of Clinton's San Francisco campaign office on Monday....(more)

Health foundation launches $6 million media campaign

Last Updated 11:24 am PDT Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
The California Endowment, a nonpartisan statewide health foundation, announced Tuesday that the foundation is making a $6 million television ad buy, urging California's leaders to reform the state's health care system....(more)

Dems to PUC: Require telecom materials in multiple languages

Last Updated 10:16 am PDT Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Democrats on the powerful Senate Rules Committee, which is charged with confirming gubernatorial appointments, have sent a letter to members of the California Public Utilities Commission calling on the PUC to require telecommunication companies to provide contract terms and conditions "in whatever language those services are marketed."...(more)

Schwarzenegger does the Early Show

Last Updated 9:25 am PDT Monday, July 16, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made yet another appearance on national TV this morning, in a taping of the Early Show on CBS with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist....(more)

Charter school named after guv

Last Updated 2:31 pm PDT Monday, July 30, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher Capitol Alert
Move over Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, someone else in the Capitol has a California public school named after them....(more)

Schwarzenegger site hacked by 'Satanic Souls'

Last Updated 4:24 pm PDT Monday, July 23, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
Californians hoping to send Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger an e-mail through his Web site, http://govmail.ca.gov, were in for a rude awakening today, as the site was hacked by a group calling itself "Satanic Souls."...(more)

Say what?

Last Updated 6:29 pm PDT Tuesday, July 3, 2007

By Judy Lin -- Capitol Alert
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked at a press conference today about the loss of the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, an arm of the Department of Consumer Affairs that regulated 1,500 for-profit schools. The bureau shut down Saturday, leaving no state oversight of an industry serving an estimated 400,000 students....(more)

Local man loves John Edwards - writes him a song

Last Updated 10:24 am PDT Monday, July 30, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Jim Rounsavell thinks Democrat John Edwards would make for a fine president. And so the Sacramento-area resident did what he does for the candidates he supports: He wrote a musical campaign ballad....(more)

CalPERS posts big year

Last Updated 10:51 am PDT Monday, July 23, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) announced on Monday that the state's investments earned an estimated 19.1 percent return for the fiscal year ending June 30 - more than double the assumed rate of return....(more)

No apology to Denham, says O'Connell

Last Updated 12:01 pm PDT Friday, July 27, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Tempers continue to flare as California ends its fourth week of the fiscal year without a budget.

Today, Jack O'Connell, in a letter responding to Sen. Jeff Denham's report that O'Connell called to apologize for the tone of a press conference earlier this week, denied he ever apologized to Denham....(more)

Assembly recess constitutional?

Last Updated 10:04 am PDT Saturday, July 21, 2007

By Judy Lin - Capitol Alert
After a long night with no progress to speak of on the budget, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate agree: The Assembly negotiated a flawed tax credit package when they struck their deal. Now Republican senators are demanding changes in the overall plan, which would require the Assembly to reconvene....(more)

Speaker to call oversight hearing on AB 32, ARB departures

Last Updated 3:09 pm PDT Monday, July 2, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez has scheduled an oversight hearing on the implementation of California's global warming law, following the firing of the Air Resources Board chairman and resignation of its executive director....(more)

As Senate awaits budget action, Schwarzenegger signs bills

Last Updated 6:14 pm PDT Friday, July 20, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
As the Senate is in lockdown mode for the budget, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced signing three dozen pieces of legislation....(more)

Perata to governor: Help!

Last Updated 12:43 pm PDT Thursday, July 26, 2007

By Judy Lin -- Capitol Alert
Senate Democratic leader Don Perata Thursday pressed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to get involved in budget talks to keep the situation under control....(more)

PPIC poll shows air pollution, global warming top environmental concerns

Last Updated 10:00 pm PDT Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Capitol Alert Staff
A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California shows air pollution remains the top environmental concern of California voters, although global warming worries are increasing....(more)

Education Coalition accuses lawmakers of budget secrecy

Last Updated 9:26 am PDT Wednesday, July 11, 2007

By Judy Lin -- Capitol Alert
Education advocates on Tuesday accused lawmakers of withholding draft language for proposed budget trailer bills....(more)

Governor 'concerned' about budget impasse

Last Updated 1:33 pm PDT Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Capitol Alert Staff
Four weeks into an overdue budget, and when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was in Tahoe on Wednesday, here's what he had to say about it:...(more)

Evans donates two vintages to help budget cause

Last Updated 6:24 pm PDT Thursday, July 19, 2007

By Judy Lin -- Capitol Alert
It seems Assemblywoman Noreen Evans is doing her part to finish the budget. The Democrat who represents Napa Valley donated two bottles of wine to the Assembly speaker's office today after reading in The Bee that the mood lightened after leaders shared a bottle of 2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia and a 2003 red wine from Quintessa Estate....(more)

Ironic quote of the day

Last Updated 11:43 am PDT Tuesday, July 10, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
"Late budgets are one of the things that get a lot of coverage," said Kevin Spillane, a GOP consultant based in Sacramento. "It's simple for voters to understand and one of the few ways they can see if officials are doing their jobs."

This is from the San Francisco Chronicle. The budget is 10 days late. The story appeared on page C-2....(more)

Sher, enviros weighs in on CEQA debate

Last Updated 10:38 am PDT Wednesday, July 25, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Former state Sen. Byron Sher, an environmental leader who termed out in 2004, has written a letter to his former Senate colleagues (or at least the few that are still there) urging Senate Democrats not to give in to GOP budget demands to overhaul the state's environmental quality law, which was signed into law in 1970 by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan....(more)

Term limits measure ready -- or not?

Last Updated 9:22 am PDT Thursday, July 19, 2007

By Dan Smith - Capitol Alert
Business backers of a measure to change legislative term limits sent a memo to supporters Wednesday saying enough signatures to place the matter before voters Feb. 5 had been collected, but delivery to election officials would be delayed while lawmakers who would benefit struggled to hash out an already-overdue state budget....(more)

Denham rips 'partisan press conferences aimed at pressuring votes'

Last Updated 5:51 pm PDT Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
Responding to the Education Coalition campaigning in the Modesto portion of his district Tuesday, Sen. Jeff Denham, one of only two Republicans endorsed by the California Teachers Association in 2006, said he would not bend to "partisan press conferences."...(more)

Garamendi's son won't challenge Wolk for Senate

Last Updated 9:45 am PDT Tuesday, July 17, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
John Garamendi Jr., the son of California's lieutenant governor who flirted with a bid for state Senate earlier this year, has said he will not be a candidate in 2008....(more)

Governor Meets Republicans, Budget Talks Continue

Last Updated 4:20 pm PDT Tuesday, July 31, 2007

By Judy Lin -- Capitol Alert
With the budget 32 days late, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met privately with Senate Republicans for about an hour Tuesday in his office.

Republicans immediately went into caucus. As he left the governor's office, Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman said he planned to meet with Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata later in the day. He scheduled a press conference for 5 p.m....(more)

Angelides goes after Núñez in e-mail blast

Last Updated 1:23 pm PDT Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
A year after Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez cut deal after deal with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - undercutting Democrat Phil Angelides' bid for governor, all while ostensibly serving as his campaign co-chairman - Angelides took his turn to toss Núñez under the proverbial bus....(more)

Speaker floats leasing lottery to pay for universal health care

Last Updated 12:32 pm PDT Monday, July 16, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
As the state slips into its third week of the fiscal year without a budget, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said legislative options to bring in new revenues to California have narrowed, more or less, to money from gambling....(more)

CMA names new general counsel

Last Updated 10:12 am PDT Tuesday, July 24, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
The California Medical Association named a new general counsel on Tuesday, Deborah Winegard, the former general counsel for the Medical Association of Georgia.

Winegard replaces Catherine Hanson, a 21-year CMA veteran, who is now a vice president of the American Medical Association....(more)

The rulings creating the three-judge panel

Last Updated 2:20 pm PDT Monday, July 23, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher -- Capitol Alert
U.S. District Court Judges Thelton Henderson and Lawrence Karlton empowered a three-judge panel on Monday to consider ordering the early release of prisoners to ease California's prison overcrowding crisis.

Read the ruling by Judge Karlton here.

Read the ruling by Judge Henderson here....(more)

Presidential politicking comes to the Golden State

Last Updated 10:45 am PDT Monday, July 23, 2007

By Shane Goldmacher - Capitol Alert
The presidential campaign comes to California in several ways today. First, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign will open a Northern California office in San Francisco's SOMA district....(more)