Dan Walters' Capitol Q&A

Question: Concerning your comment about budgets: "government continues to function normally even without a budget." Wrong, I'm afraid. Many employees and contractors for the state do not get paid until the budget is passed, even though employees must still work and contractors continue to pile up expenses. Whether one likes the idea or not, the state government is obligated to pay its bills as part of its "normal function". During a budget impasse this does not happen, and its not the state that suffers.
-- P. Helsom, San Francisco

Answer: What I wrote is this: "Shameless hyperbole notwithstanding, there's very little, if any, real disruption in the vital work of government because the budget is a few weeks late, as much as Schwarzenegger and others would have us believe otherwise." I believe that to be accurate. You are correct, of course, that government should pay its bills, but I stand by the statement that there's little disruption in the vital work being performed.
--Dan Walters

Question: When is the governor going to get involved in this 2007/08 budget? Doesn't the governor have the power to sign some sort of working budget, before this congress takes its month-long vacation? I remember in the past, that California has had long delays in getting a budget passed, but I do not remember a governor sitting still while 15 senators hold out for personal reasons. This should be on the national news!
-- Bob, French Gulch

Answer: He is involved in trying to persuade Republicans to vote for the budget in the Senate. The Senate won't recess until it resolves budget stalemate one way or the other. This year's impasse is not an awful lot different from those of the past and, with rare exceptions, government continues to function normally even without a budget.
--Dan Walters

Question: I am in a rural county that relies on Williamson Act funding and currently have land under the act. What is the future fate of Williamson Act? I have read that the Assembly approved its funding, while the governor cut it from the May revise. Even if it is funded this year, what is the future look like for ongoing Williamson Act funding?
-- Stephen Corl, Lemoore

Answer: The version of the budget that passed the Assembly restored the $39 million in payments to counties to make up their losses of property taxes for farmland placed in Williamson Act conservation contracts, but that budget is still pending in the Senate. It's unknown whether Gov. Schwarzenegger would blue-pencil it out of the budget if it reached his desk.
-- Dan Walters

Question: Is the state legislature pushing forward any bills that are going to provide cities money to hire more peace officers and/or firefighters via state subsidy money? I'm thinking in particular about towns, in this case Sanger, with high crime rates and high proportionate to the (for example) Sanger population of verified gang members and associates and federal, state and county parolees/probationers in residence, that is, residing in Sanger. The current police chief and fire chief and city council members are attempting to push a local public safety measure on the ballot for Sanger voters.
-- Reyes Monreal, Sanger

Answer: The pending budget contains $119 million for grants to local law enforcement groups under the COPS program and another $18.5 million for grants to rural and small county law enforcement agencies.
--Dan Walters

Question: Do you think that non-partisan drawing of district boundaries would make the Legislature less disfunctional? What would the likely effects of that be? Could you please summarize legislative as well as initiative efforts to make this happen?
-- Patrick Corcoran, Sacramento

Answer: It would make Legislature marginally more effective, I think, by making it more responsive to public and less insular but the problems of governance in California are deeper than that. Gov. Schwarzenegger wants redistricting reform on February ballot and is leveraging his support of term limit revision, which legislators want badly, to prod them to act on redistricting. Chances are no better than 50-50 however.
--Dan Walters

Question: Every summer the wildfires in California consume more and more timber, other natural resources and more homes. All who seriously study this problem agree that we've mismanaged our forest lands for more than a dentury and that we need more prescribed burns and mechanical thinning of our forests. Yet, air quality laws, tight forest management budgets and conflicting regulations stand in the way. What, if anything, is Sacramento doing to address this growing problem?
-- David S. Smith, Auburn

Answer: Talking about it occasionally, but no action.
--Dan Walters

Question: During this yearly state budget impasse, what would happen if our elected politicians didn't receive their tax-free per diem monies? What would they do?
-- Samuel Stephens, Citrus Heights

Answer: They are not receiving expense payments until a budget is enacted, but will receive them retroactively upon enactment. Eliminating them altogether during budget impasse would take a change of law, which the Legislature is not likely to make. It would have to be done by initiative, most likely.
--Dan Walters

Question: I was very concerned a couple of weeks ago when I read that the governor was floating the idea of the peripheral canal - again, but I haven't read anything since, not from either side. Is this going to be the trial baloon that didn't float, I hope?
-- Quinton Kruse, Santa Rosa

Answer: Actually, the possible revival of the canal has received quite a bit of coverage, in my column and in newspaper stories, including one in The Bee today. It's very much alive.
--Dan Walters

Question: You have been observing California politics for a long time. Can you remember when a Republican governor had such a tough time getting Republican budget votes from the Senate and Assembly? Is voting "no" on the budget (my way or no way) now so much ingrained in the Republican legislative psyche that it doesn't matter any more who the governor is?
-- Irving Hendrick, Riverside

Answer: Schwarzenegger has positioned himself as a "post-partisan" and put himself to the left of virtually all Republican legislators, who tend to be conservative. He has, moreover, done little or nothing for the state Republican Party in terms of fundraising even though the party went into debt to campaign for his re-election. Finally, he froze Republicans out of last year's negotiations on the budget, global warming and other issues. So GOP legislators don't feel much affinity with him, nor he with them. He hasn't even tried to pin down GOP votes for the budget because there's nothing cooked enough to vote on yet.
--Dan Walters

Question: As the state with the largest population -- and with the greatest financial burden because of illegal immigrants -- do you envision any movement by our legislators to address the ongoing negative fiscal impact we face after the failure of Congressional Immigration Reform Act?
-- John Britto, Stockton

Answer: Given the liberal bent of the Legislature, anything perceived as anti-immigrant is a virtual impossibility to enact. In fact, it's likely that if a health insurance plan is enacted, it will include illegal immigrants.
--Dan Walters

Question: What is your assessment of the current impasse concerning the sunset of the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education? How do you see it resolved? By when?
-- Arturo Jimenez, Pomona

Answer: It's all very uncertain. The Perata bill was completely rewritten last week and has much opposition. It may be possible only to pass a bill freezing the status quo.
--Dan Walters

Question: On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is honest engine and 10 is corrupted beyond decay, where does Sen. Perata stand?
-- PM, Sacramento

Answer: Obviously there have been investigations into Sen. Perata's actions as both county supervisor and state legislator, so there's some smoke, but no flames have been spotted or at least seen publicly. At the same time, as Senate leader he's been engaged and effective on a variety of issues in which he appears to have a genuine interest. So on the scale, somewhere in between 1 and 10,
--Dan Walters

Question: Looking for an update on the passing of the budget. I have a student in the family awaiting a decision on a Cal Grant which will not be determined until budget is in place.
-- Carole Norman, Sacramento

Answer: It will be another week or two, probably. The Legislature's summer recess is supposed to begin at end of next week.
--Dan Walters

Question: I believe that the supporters of AB1634 are sincere in their efforts to reduce the number of cats and dogs who are euthanized in our shelters. Unfortunately, this bill as it is currently written will not achieve this goal. It won't stop the puppy mills, it will only penalize the many reputable breeders who are already taking steps to reduce the number of unwanted pets. While, well intended, this is a misguided piece of legislation. Do you have any idea of whether this bill has a chance of passing?
-- Gen McGarvey, Davis

Answer: This measure, carried by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, has become one of the 2007 legislative session's most controversial measures with highly emotional involvement by pet owners, breeders and others. Game show host Bob Barker was in the Capitol Monday to push for its approval by the Senate Local Government Committee this week. The bill barely made it out of the Assembly and its enactment by the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has to be rated at less than a 50-50 proposition.
-Dan Walters

Question: Because there is no state budget and no money to pay outside lawyers for an appeal in the Lindberg Case (see Sorry tale of millions squandered - June 24, 2007), will State Superintendent O'Connell appeal, and if so, how will he pay for it?
-- Phil Zacariou, Sacramento

Answer: Unless the budget impasse continues for many weeks, virtually all of state government will continue to operate on a holding pattern basis, just doing what it has been doing.
--Dan Walters

Question: I would like to know if Keith Richman is receiving a pension
for being a legistator? How many years did he serve? How much is his pension?
-- Dorothy Wogh, Napa

Answer: In 1990, voters abolished pensions for legislators elected after that date as they impose term limits. Richman was elected after that date so he receives no pension from the state.
--Dan Walters

Question: I agree with Robert Pierce of Oroville. I believe we would not be any worse if we went back to part-time legislature. It seems that is what we have now, but paying full time for virtually nothing. Is there any other way to get this up for a vote?
-- Edna Bain, Rancho Cordova

Answer: The only way would be by initiative petition to place the question on the ballot.
--Dan Walters