Not only did Assemblywoman Nicole Parra lose her office over her refusal to join fellow Democrats in a budget vote on Sunday, but the Hanford Democrat has lost what remained of her 2008 legislative package.
Parra's remaining legislation -- two bills and one resolution -- will no longer move forward, at least not with her name. She was informed of the move "as a warning" in advance of her non-vote Sunday, Parra said.
"I'm done for the whole year," said Parra, who first found out about the bill freeze last Thursday.
"One of my bills was moved off (the) consent (calendar) and I didn't know why," Parra recalled. "I was going to present on the floor, when (Assembly floor leader Alberto) Torrico came over and said, 'Your bills are being held.'"
Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, said Parra's bills remain eligible to be considered.
"The fate of those bills is entirely up to her," said Maviglio.
Parra had told Bass in late July that she "simply cannot support a budget" unless it coincides with a "solution to the Central Valley's water supply."
Bass put a freeze on Parra's bills, presumably, in hopes of dissuading her from that stance.
But on Sunday, Parra bucked the party line and was the only Democrat present not to vote for a leadership-backed budget proposal. The spending plan - which is now 51 days overdue - died on a 45-30 vote, with 54 votes needed for passage.
The following morning, Parra was informed that her staff had to pack up and move - not just to a smaller office, but across the street and out of the Capitol entirely.
"Is it worth it? Yes," Parra said at the time.
Parra, a moderate Democrat, has needled Bass and the rest of the caucus since earlier this year, when she began publicly flirting with the possibility of endorsing Republican Danny Gilmore to succeed her in the Assembly. Gilmore is running against Fran Florez, the mother of Parra's arch rival, Democratic Sen. Dean Florez of Shafter.
Assembly allies of Bass, who has declined public comment, supported the speaker's office punishment.
"She went in holding the speaker hostage on voting on this budget," said Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, on Monday. Berg added that Assembly Democrats have "spent millions of dollars ensuring that Nicole comes back three times in a row to our caucus."
The punishment has quickly gained Parra notoriety in her Central Valley district, with one county supervisor calling her "a rock star" on local talk radio.
None of Parra's three remaining pieces of legislation are major overhauls of public policy.
"I didn't have that big of a package," Parra said. "It is my last year."
One (ACR 114) is a resolution calling for a study of home-to-school transportation in rural districts. The other two cover a nursing scholarship program and the extension of a minor agricultural program.
On Tuesday, Parra removed her name as author of AB 856 (the agriculture bill) and replaced it with fellow Democratic Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, in hopes of moving the bill forward.
Parra said fellow Central Valley Democrat, Assemblyman Juan Arambula, D-Fresno, has agreed to reintroduce her other bill, AB 994, in 2009.
Arambula is likely sympathetic - or at least familiar with - Parra's plight as an outcast Democrat.
Back in 2006, Arambula failed to toe the party line on an infrastructure bond package. Then-Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, stripped Arambula's committee chairmanship (it was later returned) and crammed Arambula and his staff into "the doghouse," the Assembly's tiniest office space.
Photo credits: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press, Aug. 18, 2008 and Autumn Cruz, Sacramento Bee, Aug. 18, 2008
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