Today's preliminary rundown

CTNS PRELIMINARY RUNDOWN

CAPITOL TELEVISION NEWS SERVICE

SACRAMENTO, CA

OFFICE: (916) 446-7890

FAX: (916) 446-7893

Thursday, May 8, 2008

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(EDITOR'S NOTE: FOR QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, AND/OR REQUESTS, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CALL VENUS STROMBERG: 916-396-5140 OR ROB GRIFFITH: 916-600-8614).

FALL OUT FROM CALLED OFF RECALL VO/SOT

Efforting soundbites and video from legislators about how President Pro Tempore Don Perata' calling off the recall of Senator Jeff Denham (R-Merced) will affect budget negotiations. Perata late yesterday announced he was calling off the recall because in discussions with his Republican counterpart in the Senate it became apparent that the effort was an impairment to negotiating the budget for the coming fiscal year that begins on July first. Perata launched the recall last year to punish Denham for not voting for the current year's budget which had to be reopened earlier this year to keep the state from running out of cash. The budget for the coming year is expected to be between 10 and 20 billion dollars in deficit and the state is likely to run out of cash if a budget plan is not adopted by August because reserves are exhausted and borrowing would cost more due to the state's poor credit rating.

AUTO MAKERS PLAY "CHICKEN" AT GOV'S OFFICE VO/SOT

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will meet with the lobbyist organization for several auto makers regarding California's emission reduction requirements for cars sold in California. The auto executives say meeting the federal standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 will be difficult but doable, but that meeting California's standards of 40 miles per gallon by 2016 will be impossible to achieve without losing thousands of jobs and potentially bankrupting the auto manufacturers. Schwarzenegger sued the federal government after the United States Environmental Protection Agency denied the state's request for a waiver to implement its standards which are more stringent than federal standards. The meeting is private. A guy in a chicken suit from the Sierra Club will greet the auto makers as they enter the meeting this afternoon. Efforting soundbites and video. The meeting is scheduled for 2 this afternoon so this item may be fed raw and unscripted due to closeness to feed time.

REPUBLICANS MAKE EVERY DOLLAR COUNT? VO/SOT

Senate and Assembly Republicans will announce what they call a series of government reforms that they say will improve the state's budget outlook. They say their reform measures will maximize tax dollars and are a better remedy than raising taxes during difficult budgetary times. Efforting soundbites and video.

HIGHWAY PATROL MEMORIAL VO/SOT

The California Highway Patrol will conduct its annual memorial for the more than 200 officers who have died while on duty. Special tribute will be paid to officers who died on the job during 2007. They include Winterhaven Officer Robert Dickey who was killed in an auto crash while on patrol, Placerville Officer Douglas Russell who was hit by a suspect's car during a pursuit and Dublin Officer John Miller who was killed in a car crash while searching for a suspected drunk driver. Efforting soundbites and video.

--FYI ONLY NO VIDEO--

Kids Deliver Letters to Save Parks 6th graders from Topanga Elementary School in Southern California will deliver letters to the governor asking him to spare their state park from budget cuts. One of the proposals to make up the deficit in the governor's January budget proposal included closing state parks to achieve ten percent cuts in the State Parks Department.

Mascots Fight Budget Cuts The mascots from state schools and universities in Orange County (UC Irvine, CSU Fullerton, and area community colleges) will visit the Capitol with their respective chancellors and presidents to advocate for no budget cuts to higher education.

GOVERNOR'S SCHEDULE

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Southern California for a land conservation event at the Tejon Pass on the Interstate 5 "grapevine" in the morning and will meet with auto executives in a private meeting at the State Capitol this afternoon.

LEGISLATURE'S SCHEDULE

The Senate convenes at 9 A.M. The Assembly convenes at 9 A.M.

--END CTNS PRELIMINARY RUNDOWN--