A political committee that Service Employees International Union California created to support moderate Republican candidates for the Legislature reported its first expenditure of the 2012 election Wednesday, dropping more than $15,000 on mail pieces opposing Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's bid for re-election.

Donnelly, a conservative first-term assemblyman known for his vocal opposition to illegal immigration, is facing Republican Bill Jahn, the mayor of Big Bear, and Democrat John Coffey on the June 5 ballot in the 33rd Assembly District.

The mailers were reported in a campaign filing posted on the secretary of state's website.The committee also reported spending about $20,000 on a survey in the safe Republican district.

SEIU California launched the Golden California Committee last year as part of an effort to elect more moderate Republicans to the Legislature. Leaders said the new district lines and top-two primary system allow more opportunities to influence the outcome in conservative districts.

The union says 87,000 of its 700,000 members are registered Republicans.

RELATED POSTS:
SEIU California launches Republican PAC to back moderates

Against Gov. Jerry Brown's wishes, the California Public Employees' Retirement System board voted today to phase in a higher cost to the state over two years rather than bill the state immediately in full.

In a letter to the board, Brown called that "not a prudent decision."

The disagreement was over the pace at which PERS is lowering its assumptions about future investment returns from 7.75 percent to 7.5 percent, called the discount rate. Such changes are intended to compensate for lower market returns. When the rate of return assumption goes down, governments must contribute more.

The PERS board agreed to phase in the change over two years at a onetime $137 million savings ($78 million general fund), but Brown had wanted the board to drop the discount rate immediately. In a letter he sent to the board today, Brown reasoned that despite the onetime savings, the delay would actually cost the state general fund $145.9 million over 20 years in higher interest costs.

A political advocacy group funded largely by wealthy Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr. has poured $83,000 this week into an independent push to re-elect Republican Assemblywoman Beth Gaines.

Gaines, of Rocklin, is running against attorney and fellow Republican Andy Pugno in the 6th Assembly District, a newly drawn district based in Placer County but extending into Sacramento and El Dorado counties. Democrat Reginald Bronner of Lincoln rounds out the field.

A radio advertisement and campaign literature supporting Gaines was funded by Spirit of Democracy, whose coffers consist of $727,000 from Munger and $150,000 from the California Dental Association, records show.

Of the money spent to benefit Gaines, $54,000 was for radio airtime and production costs, $15,000 for campaign consultants, and $14,170 for printing and mailing campaign literature.

Spirit of Democracy was created for the purpose of supporting and opposing candidates for state office. The group also is backing Republican Leslie Daigle against incumbent GOP Assemblyman Allan Mansoor of Costa Mesa in the 74th Assembly District race.

Munger is a major GOP donor and was a key financial backer of redistricting reform. He has pushed to moderate the Republican Party by downplaying divisive issues such as abortion, gun rights and same-sex marriage.

By supporting Gaines, Munger is taking aim at Pugno, the author of and chief counsel for Proposition 8, the initiative passed by voters in 2008 to limit marriage to a man and woman.

Munger's sister, civil rights attorney and Democrat Molly Munger, is pushing a measure for the November ballot that would generate about $10 billion annually by raising income taxes on a sliding scale for all but the poorest California workers for 12 years.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today repeated a pledge to look for budget solutions that would allow lawmakers to preserve some services targeted with steep cuts under Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget plan.

"I said on Monday, I'm not looking for a public fight here," the Sacramento Democrat said this morning. "We're looking to work collaboratively and yet not be afraid to have our differences or air our differences with the other stakeholders, the other parties, but come to a resolution where we can in fact buy out some of the worst cuts."

The revised budget proposal released by the Democratic governor Monday calls for roughly $8 billion in cuts to close a projected deficit that has grown to $15.7 billion since his January budget was unveiled. Those cuts include reductions to health and welfare programs and Cal Grants for low-income students.

Steinberg said he doesn't like many aspects of the proposal, including using money won in the mortgage settlement with major banks and reducing funding for the courts, but added that cuts with the most severe effect on the state's neediest constituencies will be the first to come off the chopping block.

"To me a cut that, you know, will result in the difference between life and death and a cut that will increase homelessness by definition, it's our obligation it seems that we do everything we can to avoid those cuts," he said.

Steinberg again floated the idea of using the state's planned $1.05 billion reserve to plug some of the cuts. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned lawmakers against that approach Tuesday, writing that the reserve "is low but important considering that the potential Facebook initial public offering-related income tax revenue is especially difficult to forecast."

"I respect the rating agencies, but the rating agencies don't represent a hungry kid who can't do well in school because his family has suffered a big cut in his CalWORKs grant," Steinberg said, referring to the state's welfare-to-work program.

He declined to specify other routes that majority Democrats may take to balance the budget without making all of the cuts proposed by Brown.

Here's a video of Steinberg's previous comments on Monday on how he views the cuts and how he hopes to plug the deficit:

University of California students disrupted a meeting of the UC regents in Sacramento this morning, protesting tuition increases in a sustained chant that forced regents to break early for a closed session meeting.

The regents were about to discuss the impact of Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision on the university system when about 18 students dressed in orange prison garb and complaining they were "sentenced to debt" began marching in a circle in the audience.

Regents were expected to return to open session before noon to discuss the budget. The protest died down about 30 minutes after it began.

"The UC regents are closer to Wall Street than they are to the people of California," UC Berkeley student Charlie Eaton said.

The UC system last year raised tuition by about 18 percent over the previous year, and administrators are considering further increases. Brown's May budget revision, released Monday, did not include an additional $125 million for the college system that administrators said they need to avert a potential 6 percent tuition hike.

The crowd included students from UC Davis, where last year's pepper-spraying incident still resonates.

Students in the audience hissed when Nathan Brostrom, a UC vice president, said administrators have "full, unequivocal confidence" in UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.

A member of the audience yelled, "Is that a joke?"

The regents are meeting in Sacramento for the first time since 1993, as administrators lobby lawmakers at the Capitol for additional funding.

The Federal Election Commission has formally advised Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein that she can ask for replacement contributions from past donors so long as their prior checks were never deposited in a campaign account.

The ruling does not give Feinstein what she really wanted, which was to seek replacement donations totaling some $4.5 million -- the amount campaign officials estimate was embezzled by former treasurer Kinde Durkee. Durkee is now awaiting sentencing, after pleading guilty to charges of mail fraud.

In an advisory opinion issued Tuesday, the FEC reasoned that if "the initial funds were never received by the committee, they would not count towards the attempted contributors' contribution limit."

The five voting FEC members, though they could not reach an official consensus on the broader question, did note that "the Commission has never applied the same reasoning to contributions that were actually deposited in the intended recipient committee's account as it has to circumstances where a committee lost a contribution check."

VIDEO: Dan Walters says Democrats and Republicans are both unhappy with Gov. Jerry Brown's budget.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says in today's video report that even though California legislators have a month to pass a budget, the real action won't start until June 6.

Neither house has a floor session scheduled today, and many budget panels have yet to gear up.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee keeps working through dozens of fiscal measures, including Assembly Bill 1501, one of Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's "middle-class scholarship" measures, and Assembly Bill 1616, Assemblyman Mike Gatto's proposal to lift restrictions on homemade prepared food. That hearing starts at 9 a.m. in the Capitol's room 4202.

The Senate Rules Committee considers the governor's appointments starting at 1:30 p.m. in Room 113, with Askia Abdulmajeed of the Juvenile Parole Board and three commissioners on the Board of Parole Hearings -- Dan Figueroa, Jack Garner and Peter LaBahn -- required to appear.

Democratic Sen. Michael Rubio is holding a presser at 1 p.m. in the Capitol's Room 2040 to talk up his Senate Constitutional Amendment 22, which would bar the University of California from enrolling more than 10 percent of out-of-state students in the first-year class on each campus as well as across the system.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has welcomed a new member. Robin Swanson, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, added to her and her husband Michael's family Tuesday with the birth of son Logan Michael Kanotz.

"Appropriately, Robin's labor began on Mother's Day," Pérez said in a statement announcing Logan's arrival. "Typically, she had some of her hardest labor during the May Revise. The LAO has not yet commented on how long recovery will take."

Click here for the Senate's daily agenda, and click here for the Assembly's.

SOLAR: Solar industry officials and workers will be on the Capitol's north steps at 10 a.m. to urge legislators not to approve any new fees on solar energy users.

GREEN FAIR: SAGE, which works to improve recycling and sustainability efforts in state agencies, is hosting a "green fair" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Capitol's west steps.

BARBECUE: The California Beer and Beverage Distributors are hosting a barbecue lunch for legislators and staff as part of the group's annual legislative day starting at 11:30 a.m. on the south steps. Bring ID.

As Standard & Poor's urged lawmakers Tuesday to pursue "credible" budget solutions to bridge the state's $16 billion deficit, the ratings agency did not approve of Senate leader Darrell Steinberg's idea to forego a reserve this year.

In the report, S&P suggested it could lower the state's ratings outlook or even impose a downgrade if lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown don't pursue real solutions that bolster the state's cash situation this summer. The state still has a "positive" outlook but an A- credit rating, which rates lowest in the nation.

Brown built a $1.05 billion reserve into his $91.4 billion general fund budget for 2012-13. Steinberg said yesterday that one idea was to use that money instead on public programs.

"Look at the size of the reserve," Steinberg said. "You build up a reserve during good times and during the most difficult times, you don't want the resources sitting necessarily in the bank, you want to use it on mitigating the impact on people in the economy."

"It's raining," observed Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, a reference to the reserve nickname of "rainy-day fund."

But S&P said today, "In our view, this reserve level is low but important considering that the potential Facebook initial public offering-related income tax revenue is especially difficult to forecast."

On the eve of a series of public hearings on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial but little-regulated method of oil extraction in California, an industry group said today that its members will voluntarily post information about their "fracking" operations on a disclosure website, Frac Focus, likely by the end of June.

The disclosure comes as Gov. Jerry Brown's administration, pressured by lawmakers, prepares to draft the state's first regulations for fracking, in which water and chemicals are injected thousands of feet underground to break up rock formations. Unlike some other states, California does not have special regulations for that method of oil production, and regulators say they do not know how prevalent it is.

The Western States Petroleum Association said today that hydraulic fracturing was used in 628 of California's tens of thousands of wells last year by association member companies, mostly in Kern County. Those companies represent about 80 percent of oil production in the state.

Association president Catherine Reheis-Boyd said companies will disclose what chemicals they use in fracturing jobs, but not in exactly what combination.

Environmentalists warn fracking can damage wells and pollute groundwater. Industry representatives say the technology, used at least since the 1950s, is routine, with no evidence of any hazard in California.

The state Department of Conservation is hosting a series of workshops on the technology this summer, starting Wednesday in Bakersfield. In addition to developing regulations for fracking, it is reviewing how the state regulates cyclic steam injection drilling, in which steam is used in shallow rock formations to help extract oil.

That method of oil recovery was linked to the death of a Chevron oil worker in Kern County last year.

The latest plan for building a California bullet train system got a very conditional blessing Tuesday from a "peer review committee" of transportation experts.

Will Kempton, the veteran transportation official who heads the committee, told a Senate hearing that the latest revision is "measurably improved" from previous versions.

"It's more reasonable and realistic than previous proposals," said Kempton, who runs the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Senators are weighing whether to give the California High-Speed Rail Authority permission to begin construction on a $6 billion initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley.

Kempton stopped short of recommending approval, but he did say that before money is committed, the Legislature should make sure that there's a competent management structure in place, that the risks are fully weighed, especially whether more money will be forthcoming from the federal government, and that the authority update ridership and operating cost projections.

The rail authority and Gov. Jerry Brown have floated the idea that if the feds don't appropriate more high-speed rail money, the state could complete the $68 billion project with proceeds of the new "cap-and-trade" fees on carbon emissions. The legality of using those funds has been questioned.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who in the past year has likened Republican resistance to tax increases to a pope's resistance to abortion or to a broader audience's fear of "some kind of a sexually transmitted disease," tried a new line this morning.

The one involved conditioned dogs.

"It's difficult for Republicans because they have a theological imperative that says every time that somebody says, 'Tax,' they say, 'No,' " the Democratic governor told a crime victims group in Sacramento.

" 'Tax?' 'No.' That's built-in stimulus response," Brown said. "I don't know how many of you remember, studied about Pavlov."

For those who didn't remember or know about the Russian scientist, Brown briefly explained to the chuckling crowd that Pavlov studied dogs' tendency to salivate in anticipation of food.

The Chicago Tribune caught up recently with California Gov. Jerry Brown's sister, Kathleen Brown, the former state treasurer and Goldman Sachs executive who moved to Chicago after her brother won election in 2010.

Inevitably they talked about Sutter, the Pembroke Welsh corgi Kathleen Brown left behind.

"He humanizes my brother, makes him more approachable," she told the paper.

Kathleen Brown said Sutter, who lives with the governor and is referred to by the administration as California's "first dog," was "a celebrity waiting to be discovered."

PHOTO CREDIT: Sutter Brown, 2011.

An anonymous site attacking Republican congressional candidate Sam Aanestad has sparked legal action, allegations of campaign violations and calls for staff firings in the 1st Congressional District contest.

Voters who came across the site Sam4Congress.com in the past month would find unflattering pictures, criticisms and a banner reading "Sam Aanestad NOT for Congress," instead of the typical endorsements and biographical information they might expect to find at a URL carrying the candidate's name.

"Unlike the real deal -- the real Sam Aanestad has had a long history of bad votes and out of touch elitism," the site said on Monday. It has since been taken down.

The website originally carried the disclaimer "Free Thinkers for D'Acquisito," apparently a reference to another Republican candidate running for the open seat, according to a screenshot that the Aanestad campaign provided. But candidate Michael Dacquisto says he had no part in the site, and records released by the company hosting the site show that the domain name was registered in the name of Mark Spannagel, the chief of staff of yet another Republican candidate, state Sen. Doug LaMalfa.

The Aanestad campaign obtained the domain records as part of a lawsuit it filed to find out who was behind the site. Today, the campaign issued a press release accusing LaMalfa's campaign of violating a litany of federal campaign and disclosure laws, including failure to disclosure campaign communication or independent expenditures and fraud "in disclaiming its own campaign communication to that of another candidate."

Gov. Jerry Brown this morning defended his proposal to use $410 million in proceeds from the national mortgage settlement to help solve California's budget deficit, offsetting other costs.

The Democratic governor said he would consider any "vital programs" that may be affected, but he suggested much of the money from the settlement with large banks would otherwise have been used for lawyers.

"Any program that will help homeowners I will take a good look at," Brown told reporters one day after releasing his May budget revision. "We have time to work on the budget, but we're looking for money where we can find it."

In a written statement Monday, Attorney General Kamala Harris said the bank settlement was designed to help struggling homeowners and that money "should be used to help Californians stay in their homes."

Brown said before speaking to a crime victims group in Sacramento that budgeting is "all a balance."

"Whether it's courts or children or teachers or vulnerable people, it's not pretty," he said.

Brown is seeking a mix of spending cuts, borrowing and tax increases to close a $15.7 billion budget deficit.

Gov. Jerry Brown has weathered criticism for making an aggressive bet on revenues in last year's budget act, but the state's top fiscal analyst approves of his latest forecast, which is more conservative.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said today that its own forecasts "now are fairly similar to the administration's in both 2011-12 and 2012-13, with just a few hundred million dollars of bottom-line differences each year." LAO forecaster Jason Sisney would not specify whether his estimate is higher or lower than the governor's, only that they are "fairly close, and in the revenue forecasting world, fairly close means a great deal."

That is a significant change after the LAO had disagreed since November with Brown's revenue estimates, saying the governor had been too optimistic in thinking the state would remain flush with capital gains revenue after a hot spring 2011. Several economists and fiscal experts said in today's Bee that last year's optimistic assumption was driven much more by politics than economic data.

Interestingly enough, the scaling back of capital gains forecasts comes on the eve of the highly anticipated Facebook initial public offering slated for Friday morning that will generate billions for California tax coffers. The Analyst's Office said transactions related to the IPO would be responsible for one-fifth of California's economic growth over the next 13 months.

The LAO estimates that California will receive $2.1 billion through June 2013 from the Facebook IPO alone as employees and insiders cash in their stock options. That figure also assumes that voters will pass Brown's tax hike on wealthy earners and sales. The LAO increased its projection after Facebook increased its per share estimate this week.

The LAO assumes the Facebook IPO will start at $38 and that shares will trade at $45 in six months, when a new round of insiders are slated to cash in.

Brown's Department of Finance was more conservative on Facebook, estimating the state would receive $1.9 billion, which includes $400 million if his tax plan passes. Finance assumed a $35 per share IPO and a $35 per share price after six months.

Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said the department had even calculated the state's tax benefit from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's initial transaction alone. California is slated to receive $195 million this month when Zuckerberg exercises his option on 60 million shares, Palmer said.

PHOTO CREDIT: In this Feb. 5, 2007 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiles in this office in Palo Alto, Calif. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File

VIDEO: Dan Walters wonders whether Gov. Jerry Brown will live up to his "no more gimmicks" promise.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

DAN WALTERS DAILY: As California absorbs the magnitude of the newly estimated budget deficit, Walters wonders whether voters will demand a gimmick-free spending plan.

Kevin Yamamura hosts a live chat today on the state budget at noon today. Follow the conversation (and schedule a reminder for yourself) here.

Sam Stanton reports that UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and Cruz Reynoso, who headed a task force probe into last year's pepper spray incident that was highly critical of her leadership, are among officials scheduled to appear before a legislative panel today:

Katehi, Reynoso and a number of other officials are among those expected to be heard from during a joint oversight hearing by the Senate Education Committee and the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

The hearing, set for 1:30 p.m. in Capitol Room 4202, follows a December hearing that was called in the wake of the Nov. 18 incident that created worldwide outcry after video of campus police pepper spraying protesters went viral on the Internet.

Tuesday's session is scheduled to include a report from Linda Bisson, chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate, and a student representative.

The hearing also is scheduled to include remarks from UC President Mark G. Yudof and other UC officials on the university system's overall responses to campus demonstrations.

The report by Reynoso, a former state Supreme Court justice, was released last month and was highly critical of the campus police and the university leadership.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING: Cuts to agricultural conservation programs and will be among the topics at a hearing today of the Assembly Select Committee on Sustainable and Organic Agriculture. The committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada of Davis, will meet at 1:30 p.m. in room 126 at the Capitol.

Those testifying include Alan Forkey, farm bill program manager for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Dr. Jeff Dlott, chairman of the Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel for the California Department of Food and Agriculture and Brise Tencer, policy director for California Certified Organic Farmers.

Find more information here. Watch the hearing live here.

BOOK-SIGNING: The California Legislative Women's Caucus and The 20 Million Minds Foundation host a book-signing reception today at 4:30 p.m. The session is just 45 minutes long, so don't be late. The author is Lisa Bloom, a TV legal analyst and lawyer. The book is "Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness and Thug Culture." The location is Ambrosia Cafe, 1030 K Street.

California motorists caught violating the state's rules on using cell phones behind the wheel could face bigger fines under legislation approved by the state Senate today.

Senate Bill 1310 would slap drivers caught texting or chatting without a hands-free device with a base fine of $30 for a first offense, up from the current fine of $20. That increase would bring the total fee faced by first-time offenders to about $199. Multiple offenses could carry a base fine of $60, which amounts to $319 in fees, and a one-point penalty on the driver's license. The additional revenues would be used to educate California drivers about the laws and the dangers of distracted driving.

The bill would also prohibit bicyclists from talking or texting on a cell phone.

The Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation petitioned the 3rd District Court of Appeals today to remove from the November ballot a proposal to abolish the death penalty in California, arguing it violates the state's "single-subject rule" for initiatives.

The foundation said abolishing the death penalty while also authorizing the distribution of $100 million to local law enforcement agencies to help solve murder and rape cases violates a requirement that ballot measures address only one subject.

"This kind of manipulation, forcing the people to vote on two different measures as an all-or-nothing choice, is exactly what the single-subject rule was put in the Constitution to prevent," the foundation's Kent Scheidegger said in a prepared statement.

Supporters of abolishing the death penalty said the litigation is baseless. Former San Quentin Warden Jeanne Woodford said in a prepared statement that the ballot measure is "about one thing and one thing only: ensuring that those who commit the most serious crimes in our state are caught and held accountable. Every aspect of the initiative is connected to that goal."

The reaction to Gov. Jerry brown's budget plan is rolling in. Here's a sampling from prepared releases:

Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco and chair of the Senate Budget Committee:

"We've made significant progress in reducing the state's structural budget deficit in the past year, shrinking it from $20 billion to $8 billion through austerity measures alone. Unfortunately, our fiscal crisis in California is far from over, largely due to the $20 billion structural deficit left by the Schwarzenegger Administration, and we continue to face a significant budget gap. We have just two ways to fill that hole, cuts and new revenue. While budget cuts are unavoidable at this juncture, they must be done in the most sensitive way to prevent further harm to our economy and essential infrastructures. We cannot continue to expect our state to thrive while we simultaneously give away tax breaks to large corporations and scale back funding for our schools, universities, social programs and health care services that are important to children, lower and middle class families and elderly and disabled Californians. We will not have the resources we need to put California back on its feet without the revenues that the Governor is proposing in his November ballot initiative. I look forward to working together with my colleagues in the Legislature and the people of California to fully analyze this latest budget proposal and present a transparent and balanced plan to the Governor by June 15."

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar:

"Unfortunately, the Governor's increased budget deficit was predictable. Senate Republicans have consistently raised concerns that last year's majority vote budget relied on too many phony spending reductions, other irresponsible revenue assumptions, and gimmicks. As state revenues have been increasing, total spending has also increased by $20 billion since the 2007-08 state budget. Despite an 11% unemployment rate, two million Californians out of work, and California being ranked the worse state in the nation to do business 8-years in a row, the Governor and Democrats have no proposals to help grow the economy or to help our small business community. Republicans believe we must get people back to work, which in turn will responsibly increase our state tax revenues."

California Gov. Jerry Brown released today a revised plan to close the state's projected $15.7 billion budget gap.

Here is the summary of the May budget proposal:

Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision summary 2012-2013

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Gov. Jerry Brown: Cut state workers, health and welfare to solve budget

Gov. Jerry Brown: State budget deficit now $16 billion

Gov. Jerry Brown called Monday for additional spending cuts to health and welfare programs, as well as a 5 percent furlough for state workers, to help erase a budget deficit that has grown to $15.7 billion.

PHOTO GALLERY: Gov. Jerry Brown May Revise

The Democratic governor relies on a patchwork of solutions to bridge the gap in a $91.4 billion general fund spending plan, including deeper cuts, his November tax initiative and taking money from a multi-state mortgage abuse settlement with banks.

Among the most unusual ideas: asking state employees to work four days a week for a total of 38 hours instead of 40, or 9.5-hour shifts. Brown suggested in the budget that the proposal would save operational costs by shutting down offices once a week in addition to 5 percent of salary. The proposal would likely have to be bargained with labor unions since Democratic lawmakers will not impose the cuts unilaterally.

The governor also proposed giving UC $38 million less than he did earlier this year. Both proposals make it more likely that UC will raise tuition in 2012-13 after UC officials said last week they needed an additional $125 million to avoid a 6 percent hike on students.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says the Legislature has become subordinate to the initiative process in California.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's report, says that California legislators are playing second fiddle to the state's ballot initiatives.

Just how bad will it be?

Gov. Jerry Brown is releasing his revised budget in Sacramento at 10 a.m., and with his deficit estimate now at $16 billion, nobody thinks it'll be easy on the eyes. As Kevin Yamamura reported Sunday, "No sector that relies on state funding is likely to escape deeper cuts. Brown has already told state worker unions to expect at least a 5 percent compensation reduction."

Brown's morning news conference will be streamed live on the California Channel's website. The revised budget itself will posted online shortly after 10 a.m. at this link. Afterward, the governor will head to Los Angeles for a second news conference at 2 p.m. Come back to Capitol Alert later today for details and reactions from legislators and others.

The Senate's budget panels will start considering some parts of his plan on Wednesday, but some Capitol denizens won't be waiting that long to weigh in. The Women's Foundation of California has organized a rally on the Capitol's north steps at 11 a.m. to protest against cuts to social services and community colleges. Expected speakers include Los Angeles Democrats Sen. Kevin de León and Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell as well as Jack Scott, the California Community Colleges chancellor.

Both houses of the Legislature have set floor sessions today for noon. The Senate Appropriations Committee agenda lists more than 70 bills -- with pet groomers and state park closures among the issues -- as members work toward the May 25 deadline for measures to pass out of fiscal committees to the floor. Click here for the Senate's daily file, and click here for the Assembly's.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, turns 54 today, while Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, turns 50.

Gov. Jerry Brown said in a video release today that California's budget deficit has mushroomed to $16 billion, nearly twice as high as the $9.2 billion he estimated in January.

Brown blamed a slow recovery from the recession and the federal government's blockage of state spending cuts for the widening gap.

"This means that we will have to go much further, and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in a 2 minute, 41-second video released on YouTube. "But we can't fill a hole of this magnitude with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools."

The Democratic governor then went on to ask voters to approve his November ballot initiative to raise taxes on sales and wealthy earners. The proposal would raise the sales tax by a quarter-cent and hike taxes on income above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

Brown is scheduled to release his revised May budget on Monday morning at 10 a.m., an event that will set in motion serious budget discussions as lawmakers attempt to approve a spending plan before the June 15 deadline.

After tax returns were disappointing in April, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office estimated that the state is now about $3 billion behind for the year in revenues and would be a "few billion" behind through June 2013.

RENO - President Barack Obama, appearing in a swing state still reeling from the foreclosure crisis, called on House Republicans this afternoon to enact a mortgage-relief plan that has failed for months in Congress to gain traction.

"You're going to have to pressure Congress," the Democratic president said outside the Reno home of a couple who refinanced their mortgage through a program Obama is seeking to expand. "The pool of folks who can refinance right now, when their homes are underwater, is still too small."

A measure to expand a program for government-backed mortgages to those backed by private institutions is part of an election year "to-do list" Obama is pushing on Congress.

"I need all of you and everybody who's watching to push Congress on their "to-do list," Obama said. "Nag them until they actually get it done. We need to keep moving this country forward. Send them an email. Tweet them. Write them a letter if you're old-fashioned like me."

PHOTO CREDIT: President Barack Obama meets with Val and Paul Keller in their Reno home Friday. Associated Press//Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

JobsPAC, the political action committee of the California Chamber of Commerce, has recently shelled out more than $150,000 on independent efforts backing two Democrats running for the Assembly.

About $121,000 went to consultants,research, polling and mailers to support Orange County Democrat Tom Daly's run for the Assembly District 69 seat, according to the PAC's latest filings with the Secretary of State.

Daly, a moderate who OC Weekly tagged "the Joe Lieberman of Orange County politics," has a long history in public office that includes 10 years as Anaheim's mayor.

Other contenders for the Democratic-leaning seat currently held by termed-out Assemblyman Jose Solorio , D-Santa Ana, include Santa Ana City Councilwoman Michele Martinez and labor activist Julio Perez, both Democrats. Another committee backed by labor has been spending heavily for Perez.

Closer to Sacramento, the chamber supported Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman's candidacy for the Assembly District 13 seat with $33,000 spent independently on consulting, research, and mailers.

Although three Republicans are on the AD 13 June primary ballot, the primary race is focused on Eggman and labor-backed Democratic community activist Xochitl Paderes, whose campaign has received nearly $20,000 from labor organizations, state records show.

The Stockton Record recently reported that the fight between the candidates is centering on Stockton's well-known fiscal problems and how the city council on which Eggman serves decided to enter confidential talks with creditors, hoping to avoid bankruptcy. That has angered unions, which have endorsed Paderes.

The Federal Election Commission this week struggled again with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's request for a loosening of the usual fundraising limits, in the wake of the massive embezzlement by former campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee.

The upshot: Feinstein didn't get the go-ahead she sought, but neither did the six-member FEC come to a official consensus decision on the key question. There could be more discussions to come.

Feinstein asked the FEC for permission to raise more money from contributors who had already maxed out under federal campaign limits, arguing that Durkee's admitted embezzlement meant the money was never really received.

A revised draft opinion debated Thursday would have denied Feinstein's request to seek replacement contributions from individuals whose money had been deposited in a campaign account. But with one Republican commissioner recusing himself from the deliberations, the 3-2 vote adopting the draft opinion fell short of the four votes needed for approval.

The FEC's general counsel will be redrafting an opinion that would allow more money to be raised only from those individuals whose prior contributions were never actually deposited in a campaign account. This may not cover very many donors.