In case you've missed it:

At least one public library said existing policy prohibits it from displaying the policy magazine that GOP guv-hopeful Meg Whitman is sending to libraries across the state.

But the general counsel for state libraries says there is no state law preventing libraries from accepting and offering the campaign book to the public.

Steve Poizner's memoir about teaching at a San Jose high school isn't released until tomorrow, but it already jumped to the No. 6 spot on Amazon.com's sales rankings at one point today.

Want all the latest news and information on the gubernatorial race? Don't forget to check out The Bee's Gov2010 page.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Undocumented students at California public colleges have become a hot topic in the GOP gubernatorial primary. Susan Ferriss looks at the numbers and the costs of undocumented students enrolled in the system.

Laurel Rosenhall reports that the controversy surrounding Sarah Palin's speaking gig at CSU Stanislaus has led to calls for more transparency regarding the nonprofit foundations that foot the bill for speaking fees and other events on campuses.

The State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz writes on why some state workers were relieved about this week's court ruling that furloughs will continue.

The Bee editorial board blasts candidates, especially several running for attorney general, for stretching the truth with their ballot designations.

In a second piece, The Bee editorial board lauds famed high school math teacher Jaime Escalante, who died earlier this week.

California State Library general counsel Paul Smith has jumped into the debate about whether libraries can display GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's 48-page policy booklet, which her campaign has said it is sending to some 1,400 libraries statewide. In a press release, Whitman even asked libraries to display the booklet in its periodicals section.

Smith's verdict: Libraries can indeed display Whitman's booklet and other campaign materials.

State government code section 8314 only prohibits using public resources for campaign activity that constitutes a contribution, which section 82015 defines as a "payment," Smith said. Displaying campaign material given to a library at no cost does not constitute such a payment, he said.

"It appears to me that providing space for campaign literature would not constitute a campaign activity as defined by this section," Smith said.

The state library has no jurisdiction over individual libraries but administers federally funded library programs and state monies to build libraries.

Rival candidate Steve Poizner's campaign suggested to the Los Angeles Times that state law prohibits libraries from displaying the campaign booklet.

A day before Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's book "Mount Pleasant" hits bookstores, it's already climbed up the Amazon bestseller list, reaching number two yesterday and currently sitting at number six.

That puts the book, which focuses on Poizner's time volunteering at a San Jose high school, in the company of such bestsellers as Fox News host Sean Hannity's "Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama's Radical Agenda" and several of late Swedish writer Stieg Larsson's "The Girl Who..." books.

Asked to explain the Poizner book's unexpectedly high ranking, campaign spokesman Jarrod Agen responded in an e-mail: "It's good news for Mount Pleasant High School, since the proceeds will go to the school." As The Bee reported, the book has upset some at the school.

Not to doubt Poizner's publishing feat, it does seem the campaign has sent out quite a few complimentary copies, including to teachers at Mount Pleasant and to The Bee's Capitol Bureau, which received at least four copies.

According to California Watch, the book had ranked 256,726 on Amazon's list on Thursday.

And an article by Marion Maneker of Slate's The Big Money Web site finds that such Amazon rankings are vulnerable to manipulation. Amazon had not yet responded to a phone message seeking comment about the bestsellers list this morning.

"At the very top -- rankings No. 1 to No. 10 -- a book could be selling 3,000 to 10,000 copies a week through the Internet retailer," Maneker writes. "So all it takes is, say, 500 to 1,000 copies manhandled through the system on a single day to get your book into the top ranks."

Then again, "Mount Pleasant" could signal a literary superstar in the making.

GOP guv-hopeful Meg Whitman is offering up copies of her policy manuscript.

That would be the 48-page, picture-packed glossy policy book, we mean, plan or better yet magazine (to use the campaign's latest terminology) that lays out Whitman's priorities for running the state.

She's touting her plan in her latest TV spot (the second statewide media buy the campaign has launched this week) and announced yesterday that she has mailed two copies of the plan to each of the 1,400 or so public libraries across the state.

"I encourage the libraries to display my magazine in their periodicals section so voters can gain a clear understanding of how I will govern, if elected in November," Whitman said in a statement.

But Sactosphere readers perusing the stacks at the local public library won't find a copy of Whitman's plan.

The Sacramento Public Library won't be posting the publication, says Public Information Coordinator Don Burns, who said this is the first time in his 18 years on the job that he's heard of a candidate asking to put their campaign materials on display at the library.

The decision isn't personal, it's policy, said Burns, who pointed to page 134 of the Sacramento Public Libraries Public Services Manual.

The regulation, on the books since 1993, reads: "Partisan politics with mention of a specific candidate and religious notices of any kind are prohibited."

As for other libraries across the state, a representative for the California Library Association said she didn't know of any laws prohibiting political speech from being put on display and that it would likely be up to individual branches to craft their own policy on the matter.

HEARING: The Select Committee on Prisons and Rehabilitation Reform meets in Poway at 11 a.m. to examine the parole system in light of two high-profile crime cases. Lawmakers will hear about how proposed updates could have prevented the cases involving the 17-year-old Chelsea King, whose kidnap and murder was allegedly committed by a registered sex offender, and Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was allegedly kidnapped and held hostage by a parolee for 18 years.

BIRTHDAY: Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, turns 58 today.

In case you missed it:

Furloughs will continue for now for workers affected by three furlough lawsuits.

Meg Whitman has offered up her campaign policy pamphlet to public libraries.

Was Carly Fiorina's message to supporters celebrating Passover strictly kosher?

All's quiet at the Capitol, with the Legislature and the governor on the road for spring recess.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Whether a member of Congress supports earmarks makes a large difference in which California communities get federal cash for local projects and which don't. Rob Hotakainen looks at how the political battle over earmarks affects the spread of wealth for projects across the state.

Jon Ortiz has the latest on furloughs.

Bee columnist Dan Morain writes that with the National Organization for Marriage attacking candidate Tom Campbell for straying from Republican orthodoxy on gay marriage, the U.S. Senate race is testing the GOP's "big tent."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's campaign isn't stopping at blanketing the TV and radio airwaves, buying up Internet ads and sending full-color mailers to households across the state to win votes.

Now, the campaign is sending copies of her policy book "Building a New California" to some 1,400 libraries and advising them to place them next to Time, Newsweek and other magazines.

"I encourage the libraries to display my magazine in their periodicals section so voters can gain a clear understanding of how I will govern, if elected in November," Whitman said in a news release sent out today.

Whitman unveiled her policy book March 16 at a campaign event in Leisure World in Seal Beach and has just put out a TV ad publicizing it. Proposals in the book include setting a state spending cap tied to inflation, population growth and other measures and instituting merit pay for state employees.

Photo: Jack Chang

A group seeking to add redrawing congressional lines to the duties of the Citizens Redistricting Commission is alleging that a counter effort seeking to scrap the commission in its entirety is concealing its real backers.

The Voters First Act for Congress campaign and its benefactor Charles T. Munger, Jr. have filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission claiming that the Yes on FAIR committee has not properly disclosed the role of Democratic Rep. Howard Berman and his brother Michael, a redistricting consultant, in their campaign.

The complaint alleges that the committee violated the Political Reform Act by listing UCLA law professor Daniel Lowenstein as the chief proponent of the campaign in its filings. They point to media reports, such as this column by Bee colleague Dan Walters, in which Lowenstein acknowledges the Berman brothers' are directly involved in the campaign.

The group filing the complaint also allege that failing to disclose Howard Berman's participation in the campaign amounts to a violation of federal law that sets a $5,000 contribution cap for individual and PAC giving to a committee controlled be a member of Congress. More than a dozen members of Congress have already transfered sums exceeding that amount to the campaign.

The Citizens Redistricting Commission was created by the 2008 voter-approved Proposition 11, a measure that was fiercely opposed by Berman and other members of Congress.

Click here to read the complaint.

Considering the central role Israel has played in the GOP Senate battle, it wasn't a surprise to see Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina sending a heartfelt Passover greeting to supporters last night.

The eight-day Jewish holiday, which began at sundown Monday, commemorates the story of Moses leading the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. Because the Israelites had to flee before their bread dough could rise and be baked, eating foods containing leavened grains, as in most breads and baked goods, is prohibited by those observing the holiday.

So we were surprised to see the following choice of words appear in Fiorina's well wishes:

"This week, as we break bread and spend time with our families and friends, I hope we also take a moment to say a word of thanks for our freedom and for those who have given their lives in freedom's name," the e-card reads.

So did the candidate mean to say breaking matzo?

"We meant all bread, leavened and unleavened, and matzo is just unleavened bread so that's what we meant by that," said campaign spokeswoman Amy Thoma.

See the full e-card after the jump.

With the Legislature on spring recess and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger out of state, mostly all is quiet at the Capitol.

Unless, of course, the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band decides to drop by again.

In Sacramento, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has scheduled a press conference Tuesday with green technology executives to celebrate new laws intended to help their industry and create jobs.

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego, will hold a community forum at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego to discuss his Chelsea's Law proposal, named after Chelsea King, the 17-year-old allegedly kidnapped and murdered by a registered sex offender last month. Kelly and Brent King, Chelsea's parents, will host the event with their Chelsea's Light Foundation.

Two of the three major GOP candidates for U.S. Senate, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and former Congressman Tom Campbell, will face off in a 7 p.m. debate hosted by Brandman University in Irvine. Brandman plans to stream the debate online. Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina will not participate in the event.

In case you missed it:

The U.S. Senate campaign of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore had already severed its ties to the "voyeuristic" GOP firm.

Many pupils are off school this week and will miss Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day, but that doesn't mean they should recognize it.

The California Chamber of Commerce isn't waiting for initiatives to qualify for the ballot before opposing them.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Jon Ortiz has the latest on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's journey through the courts over furloughs.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore's campaign said Monday that it already had cut ties with a GOP campaign consultant found to have billed the Republican National Committee for expenses at a provocative West Hollywood nightclub.

The RNC in February reimbursed $1,946 to Erik Brown, president of Dynamic Marketing, Inc., for costs at the nightclub Voyeur. Brown is expected to return that money.

After CNN and other outlets noted that DeVore was among DMI's past clients, DeVore spokesman Joshua Treviño said in a statement this afternoon that DeVore had severed ties with DMI before the controversy erupted. The campaign used DMI for printing services but has since found a better deal elsewhere, Treviño said.

"The history of the campaign's engagement with DMI is brief and straightforward: we had them print some campaign letterhead, trifold signs, and stickers. That engagement ended some weeks ago when we contracted with a different printer, and will not resume," Treviño said in a statement.

CNN also named GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner as a past client. Poizner's last expenditure with DMI occurred last June, when he spent $2,055 on "campaign literature and mailings," according to his Secretary of State filing.

California's first official "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" Tuesday will not be recognized at many Sacramento-area schools because students are home on spring break.

Sacramento City, Folsom, San Juan and Twin Rivers - northern Sacramento County -- schools are closed this week, as are dozens of Elk Grove schools that are not on year-round schedules, according to a sampling of district offices.

Legislation to honor March 30 of each year as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" encouraged schools to observe it by conducting exercises to recognize the contributions and honor the sacrifices of U.S. veterans from the war.

Tuesday marks the 37th anniversary of the United States' withdrawal of its combat troops from Vietnam.

Assembly Bill 717, to create the annual day of special significance, was proposed by Republican Assemblyman Paul Cook of Yucca Valley and Democratic Assemblyman Ted Lieu of Torrance.

"I'm not glamorizing war but I think it's imperative for us to remember a group of individuals that has largely been forgotten," Cook said shortly after the bill's passage last September.

Sen. Robert Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, released a prepared statement Monday urging Californians of all ages to show gratitude to Vietnam veterans in whatever way they can.

"It is important for us, and to them, that we demonstrate our appreciation for their service with a smile, a salute, or even a warm embrace," Dutton said of Tuesday's special day in their honor.

"To all our veterans -- thank you, and God bless," he said.

Proposed ballot initiatives to allow California's state budget to be passed by a simple majority of the Legislature and to allow the state Senate and Assembly once again to draw their own district boundaries have drawn opposition from the California Chamber of Commerce.

Both initiatives have been cleared to gather voter signatures but have not yet qualified for the ballot.

The "Passing the Budget on Time Act" would reduce the current two-thirds vote requirement for passage of a budget and would require lawmakers to forfeit pay if they failed to pass a budget on time.

Chamber President Allan Zaremberg said the measure would give the majority party too much power and would eliminate the option of referendum for fees or fee increases that are part of a budget appropriation.

The Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act" would eliminate the voter-approved commission approved by voters in 2008 to draw state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts.

"We simply cannot afford to return to a system where the politicians select their voters," Zaremberg said in a prepared statement. "It is not surprising that politicians are working behind the scenes to try to overturn meaningful political reform."

The deadline for gathering 694,354 voter signatures is May 10 for the budget-related initiative and July 5 for the redistricting measure.

The clock is ticking for all initiative campaigns vying to make it on the November ballot, but time's up for two buzz-worthy measures today.

One hitting the deadline today would peel back the Legislature's work calendar to part-time status and cut lawmakers' pay in half.

You'd think that would be a home-run with the 78 percent of voters who gave the Legislature a thumb down in the recent Field Poll.

But there haven't been any signs that the measure is going to qualify.

And, as the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported last week, it looks like the committee was burning their cash reserves on supporting former GOP Assemblyman Russ Bogh's bid to fill the vacant 37th Senate District seat, not making the 694,354 valid voter signature cut.

Another measure likely facing the music?

A push by an Redding substitute school teacher to require that public schools mandate that pupils have the chance to sing Christmas carols during the holiday season.

Proponents needed to gather 433,971 signatures to make it on the November ballot.

We haven't heard back from the merry band of signature gatherers, but based on their earlier comments, we're going to guess they won't have a lot to sing about today.

The Secretary of State Debra Bowen released Friday a preliminary list of the candidates who have filed to run in the June 8 primary.

While the gubernatorial race may seem like the Meg, Steve and Jerry show (or the all-Meg-all-the-time show if you're spending some quality time tuning into your TV), 23 candidates have filed to run to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as the state's next governor.

BIRTHDAY: Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, turns 69 today.

In case you missed it:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has given one of his top ballot issues a $500,000 boost.

Several Bush 43 alums are making the rounds in the Golden State in the coming days.

Find out why a Democratic consultant has landed a spot on a labor group's blacklist.

SEIU California endorsed Jerry Brown's gubernatorial bid.

Cartoonist Rex Babin poses an idea of what life could be like if the initiative to legalize marijuana is approved.

Capitol Alert has joined Facebook. Click here to become a fan and get all the latest updates from the blog.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Carly Fiorina said today she wants to scrap AB 32. Rob Hotakainen has the story.

The Bee editorial board sides with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on his veto of a measure that would have exempted some state workers from furloughs.

And the editorial board backs creating an auction system for distributing carbon permits under AB 32, writing, "Giving away emissions allowances is what hobbled Europe's initial cap-and-trade program. California shouldn't repeat that mistake."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger transferred $500,000 Friday from his ballot measure committee into the Yes on 14 campaign.

The measure would create a system where all candidates of all party affiliations run in one primary and the top two vote-getters advance to a general election. It has long had strong backing from Schwarzenegger, who says it is one of his top priorities on the ballot this year.

Though the campaign posted a negative balance of nearly $90,000 in the recent campaign filings, Schwarzenegger's contribution and a $250,000-plus check from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings give the campaign a big cash boost. Yes on 14 officials say they've been investing in gearing up the campaign and have secured even more cash contributions for the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, as we reported earlier this month, Prop 14 opponents, who say the measure limits voter choice, have yet to organize or show substantial financial commitment to their campaign.

The Secretary of State released today a preliminary list of candidates who have qualified for the June 8 primary.

Work developing electronic signature technology for initiative petitions has landed one Democratic consultant a spot on the California Federation of Labor's boycott list.

In a letter sent to affiliated unions, CLF Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski blasted Democratic consultant Jude Barry and his firm Catapult Strategies for "supporting the efforts of an anti-union committee" seeking to qualify an initiative that would require that unions get members' consent before using dues for political expenditures.

"It is outrageous that a 'democratic' consultant would support such anti-union efforts," Pulaski wrote.

The letter adds Barry and his firm to the group's "Do Not Patronize" list, meaning members are urged to boycott Barry's services and encourage all their colleagues to do the same.

But Barry, who has worked for CLF-backed candidates such as Rep. John Garamendi in the past, says his Democratic consulting firm isn't helping get that initiative on the ballot.

"It's unfortunate and inaccurate," he said. "I have not now, nor have I ever, worked for that campaign."

Barry is also a founding partner of Verafirma, a company pioneering the use of electronic signatures to qualify initiative petitions.

That company is leasing its technology for test-runs to four initiative campaigns, including the Paycheck Protection Act.

CLF director of communications Steve Smith said the group decided to put Barry individually on the list because "he's the one who's bringing the technology to the campaign."

"If Mr. Barry wants to make a fast buck from a campaign that is so clearly focused on trying to harm workers, that's his right, that's his choice, he can do that," he said.

But Barry said all Verafirma is doing is leasing the technology to the campaign and that he is not profitting from and was not involved in the contract. He said the company's goal of reviving the role of grassroots campaigns in the initiative process through spreading the use of the technology, as well as contractual obligations, prevented him from cutting ties with the campaign, even though he does not support the cause.

"Art Pulaski called me and asked for Verafirma to break the contract with the campaign," Barry said. " I wasn't familiar with it. But when I checked into the issue, it was clear that to do so without cause would be discriminatory and wrong."

The list, which Smith described as a "resource" for members looking for "who we feel shares or doesn't share the values of workers," includes a handful of state political consultants, as well as hotels and large corporations deemed by the group as anti-union.

This post was updated with a response from Barry adding that he did not profit from the contract.

California, which has lost 1.4 million jobs in the last two years, continued the trend in February, shedding another 20,400 jobs, the Employment Development Department announced today.

It meant that California's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 12.5 percent, more than two percentage points higher than it was a year earlier. It also meant that the state lost 586,400 jobs during the previous 12 months.

The number of officially unemployed rose 5,000 during the month to 2,274,000, EDD said, with the highest jobless rate, 27.6 percent, recorded in Colusa County and the lowest, 7.8 percent, in Mono County. Just five of California's 58 counties had unemployement rates below 10 percent.

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here.

Legislators have bid farewell to the Capitol for a week of spring recess.

There will be the occasional off-site hearing, such as today's Long Beach gathering of the Select Committee on Career Technical Education and Workforce Development, but expect little action on the legislative front until lawmakers return to work April 5.

What better way to kick off the break than a round of golf?

Democratic Sen. Ron Calderon is hosting a "Spring Fling" fundraiser at a Carmichael golf course. Greens fees for a group of four will set back donors $3,000.

In other fundraising news, a big name in Republican politics is headlining a Santa Barbara reception for GOP Sen. Tony Strickland this weekend.

That would be Karl Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush.

Guests itching to shake the hand of the strategist credited with crafting Bush's campaigns and policies will have to chip in $7,800 to support Strickland, who is running for controller. Tickets range from $500 and up, though all guests will walk away with a copy of Rove's book.

Rove isn't the only Bush 43 insider making the West Coast rounds in the coming days.

Vice President Dick Cheney will be in Los Angeles tonight where he is being honored with the Statesmanship Award from The Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank.

And former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who's been weighing in on some contested California primary races with endorsements of Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina, will address a group that supports under-privileged women with breast cancer in San Francisco on Monday.

In case you missed it:

California led other states in increasing taxes last year.

It also took the biggest hit on its pension fund investments.

AG hopeful John Eastman is fighting to keep his South Dakota legal job as his ballot designation.

Former Slate blogger Mickey Kaus says his bid against incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is "going according to plan!"

Which California city is a hot target for cyber-crime?

A federal appeals court today has upheld Proposition 9.

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner is again targeting illegal immigration in his new TV ad.

Find out how thrifty Californians are compared to residents of other states.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged the Air Resources Board to take an approach backed by the business community in implementing some aspects of AB 32.

The three major gubernatorial candidates are unified in opposition to the marijuana initiative headed for the November ballot.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Kevin Yamamura checks the facts on an ad by a national group opposing gay rights that compares GOP Senate candidate Tom Campbell to Democrat Barbara Boxer.

Jim Sanders reports that a serious injury during a high school baseball game has prompted a lawmaker to propose a three-year moratorium on the use of non-wooden bats in high school leagues.

Dale Kasler has more on Schwarzenegger and AB 32.

New York's political "spree of mischief" is a reminder of the importance of term limits, writes columnist Dan Walters.

The Bee editorial board writes that the "wearisome" spin cycle of misinformation about Delta issues is "doing little to help fish, fowl or farmers."

Attorney general candidate John Eastman has filed suit in Sacramento Superior Court for the right to identify himself as an "assistant attorney general" in the June primary ballot.

Jeff Flint, Eastman's political consultant, said the suit was filed Tuesday after the campaign received preliminary notification from Secretary of State Debra Bowen that the designation had been rejected.

Eastman had requested the ballot designation "assistant attorney general" because he had received that title last month for legal work on behalf of South Dakota in a case involving federal mandates on prisons.

Eastman, a constitutional law expert who resigned Jan. 31 as dean of Chapman University School of Law, has been spending a substantial amount of his time on and earning a substantial amount of his income from the South Dakota case, Flint said.

Bowen's aides confirmed Thursday that the ballot designation sought by Eastman had been rejected, but they declined to discuss reasons why. Accepted ballot designations will be released Friday.

But Flint said that "assistant attorney general" had been deemed misleading.

"Basically, they felt that it could mislead a voter to believe Mr. Eastman was an assistant attorney general in the California Attorney General's Office," said Flint, who contends it is a legitimate title for work performed by Eastman.

Eastman's suit, seeking a court order allowing the ballot designation, is scheduled to be heard Friday by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Timothy M. Frawley.

Flint declined Thursday to discuss how Eastman will be identified on the June 8 ballot if the judge declines to intervene.

A three-judge federal appellate panel today overturned Sacramento federal Judge Lawrence Karlton and reinstated the tough parole revocation procedures adopted by California voters two years ago in Proposition 9.

The measure, sponsored by state Sen. George Runner and a coalition of tough-on-crime groups, had been challenged by criminal defense groups, saying it "purports to eliminate nearly all due process rights of parolees and directly conflicts with the protections put in place by the injunction and established constitutional law."

Karlton declared that Proposition 9 conflicted with a permanent injunction agreed to by the state as part of a 15-year-old class action lawsuit on behalf of parolees and issued an injunction against the measure's application of the tougher procedures.

Attorney General Jerry Brown, now a Democratic candidate for governor, appealed Karlton's ruling with support from Proposition 9's backers, particularly the Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

Today, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision by Judges Michael Hawkins and Milan Smith Jr., with partial dissent from Judge John Noonan, said Karlton erred. Their decision was filed just two days short of one year since Karlton's decree.

"Because the district court made no express determination that any aspect of the California parole revocation procedures, as modified by Proposition 9, violated constitutional rights, or that the injunction was necessary to remedy a constitutional violation, we vacate and remand the March 2009 order for the district court to make that determination and reconcile the injunction with California law as expressed in Proposition 9," the decision, authored by Hawkins, said.

"Today's decision makes it clear that a judge's order to grant more rights to parolees than constitutionally required does not trump a state constitutional amendment adopted by the people," said the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation's legal director, Kent Scheidegger.

The full appellate ruling can be found here.

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner is ramping up his advertising campaign with another spot targeting illegal immigration.

In a 30-second spot set to hit the airwaves this weekend, Poizner slams rival Meg Whitman for a past statement on the issue, comparing her remarks to the policy advocated by President Barack Obama.

The Whitman campaign said Whitman opposes amnesty and accused Poizner of shifting his own position, citing comments he made in 2004 and 2008.

"Not only is Meg 100% against amnesty, but Steve Poizner is attacking the very policies that he praised in 2008. It's dishonest, and it's just the latest reason Californians can't trust Steve Poizner," spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said.

The new ad comes as a new poll from Public Policy Institute of Californiaby the shows Whitman holding a 50-point lead over Poizner.

That poll also indicated that a hard-line stance on illegal immigration, while popular for the conservative base, could ultimately be bad news for Poizner. Seventy percent of respondents, including 49 percent of Republicans and 68 percent of Independent voters, said they support allowing undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the United States for two years to keep their jobs and apply for citizenship in the future.

In other GOP gubernatorial race news, Whitman secured today the endorsement of Republican Sen. Mimi Walters, an earlier backer of Poizner's bid.

Walters, who is running for state treasurer, praised Whitman's "experience and toughness" and demonstrated commitment "to help elect more Republicans up and down the ticket."

California may have extraordinarily high housing costs, vis-à-vis those in other states, but when it comes to non-housing consumer spending, Californians are relatively thrifty, a new national study by Bundle, a website devoted to economic data, shows.

The average American household spends $37,782 a year on non-housing expenses, with Connecticut ranking first among the states at $57,332, Bundle says. In fact, Connecticut residents spend as much on dining out as West Virginia families spend on everything.

California ranks fourth in consumer spending at $42,962, behind the District of Columbia and Hawaii.

Austin, the capital of Texas, is the No. 1 spending city, with its families shelling out an average of $67,076 a year on non-housing expenses, perhaps lured by the city's proliferation of restaurants and live music venues. The highest-spending California city is San Jose, whose $59,022 is third highest in the nation. Irvine is ninth at $51,286 and San Francisco 19th at $45,291.

The full Bundle report can be found here.

The year's oddest political campaign may be political blogger Mickey Kaus' quixotic challenge to U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's Democratic renomination.

Kaus left his presumably well-paid slot on the Washington Post-owned Slate website to file against Boxer this month. A resident of Southern California and son of former state Supreme Court Justice Otto Kaus, the newly minted candidate says he wants to challenge the Democratic Party's liberal orthodoxy.

How's it going? Kaus is still blogging, although not via Slate, and this is what he has to say:

"Working to set up my campaign web site, which will include ways to contribute and volunteer. ... Waiting for a response from the state Democratic convention, where I've asked for an appropriate speaking spot... Being ignored by the L.A. Times. ... It's all going according to plan!"

More can be found here.

Officeholder hopefuls may have thought they crossed their "t's" and dotted the "i's" when filling out their candidacy papers, but slash marks and spelling errors have sparked one of several new battles over ballot designations.

Matt Rexroad, a GOP consultant for GOP Board of Equalization District 2 candidate Sen. George Runner, has written a letter to Secretary of State Debra Bowen challenging opponent Alan Nakanishi's ballot designation, "Jobs/Economy Specialist," a reference to his fairly new consulting gig with BOE Member Michelle Steel.

The complaint points out that "specialist" is not used in the manner laid out in the ballot designation rules. It also takes issue with Nakanishi's use of the slash mark, which is supposed to designate the separation between multiple professions.

"'Jobs' would not be a profession under the reading of the code section that allows the slash to separate multiple professions, vocations or occupations," Rexroad writes in the letter.

The Runner campaign also challenged rival Barbara Alby's job description of "Acting Equalization Boardmember." Alby was promoted to that job after his boss, current BOE District 2 Member Bill Leonard, was appointed to a job in the Schwarzenegger administration.

The Runner camp claimed she made a spelling faux pas to avoid breaking the three-word limit on ballot designations. That is, she is actually an "Acting Equalization Board Member," not "Boardmember."

"We think it ought to at least be in the dictionary," Runner said.

But the Secretary of State disgreed, citing past examples in which "boardmember," though not in most dictionaries, could be applied as one word in the job titles.

And the two rivals targeted by the Runner challenges have joined forces to shoot back at the GOP senator's ballot designation of "Taxpayer Advocate/Senator," saying it "represents a political philosophy rather than a true occupation,"

"All of the Republican candidates in this race are taxpayer advocates, philosophically, but that doesn't mean it's their principal occupation," said Alby spokesman Stan Devereux.

But Runner's actual job title with Americans for Prosperity is Taxpayer Advocate. Like his rivals, Runner's professed primary profession is a recent hire. The organization brought him on for that position last fall, after the BOE race had begun to heat up.

All ballot battles will likely be settled by April 1, when the Secretary of State releases the certified list of candidates for the June primary.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has penned a letter asking the Air Resources Board to embrace an approach backed by business interests in implementing some aspects of the landmark emission reduction measure he signed into law.

While Schwarzenegger praised the state's steps to curb climate change as "tremendous," he also urged a "more carefully phased approach" on part of the plan recommended to implement AB 32, including a system to auction off credits for companies releasing carbon into the air.

In the letter, he backs issuing a bulk of the credits to businesses free of cost, an idea supported by the business community and opposed by environmental groups.

"It is critically important that California's program be designed in a way that gives business and industries in this state sufficient time to reduce their emissions in a cost-effective manner without unnecessary short-term costs," he wrote in the letter, which was addressed to ARB Chair Mary Nichols.

The measure, which Schwarzenegger signed into law in 2006, has been under attack from Republicans and some business groups who say enforcing the regulations would have a devastating impact on businesses across the state.

Click here to read the letter.

Voters heading to the polls in November will decide whether marijuana should be legally regulated and sold in California.

The ballot measure, which would allow for the sale and regulation of marijuana to residents 21 and older, was certified for the ballot yesterday by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who said proponents had turned in enough valid signatures to make the cut.

Californians will also be picking a new governor, but it doesn't look like the measure will get any love from the major gubernatorial candidates in what is expected to be a heated campaign -- the three leading guv hopefuls oppose legalizing marijuana for recreational use.

California's state and local public employee pension funds suffered $27.3 billion in investment losses during 2008, the Census Bureau says, and that was more than two-thirds of all such losses in the nation.

San Franciscans are among the most vulnerable Americans to various forms of cybercrime, according to a new study by Symantec, a Mountain View-based maker of computer security programs.

San Francisco ranks fourth in the survey of larger communities, with Seattle rated as the riskiest city, followed by Boston and Washington, DC. "The rankings," Symantec said, "were determined through a combination of Symantec Security Response's data on cyberattacks and potential malware infections, as well as third-party data about online behavior, such as accessing wifi hotspots and online shopping."

Among California cities, San Diego was No. 14, Sacramento No. 16, Oakland No. 18, San Jose No. 20, Los Angeles No. 30, Long Beach No. 45 and Fresno No. 47. Recession-wracked Detroit, by the way, is the least riskiest cybercrime city.

The full list can be found here.

California wasn't alone when it boosted state taxes last year to cope with its budget deficit; nearly half of the 50 states also increased taxes, according to a new survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

However, California's increase in income, sales and auto taxes was the largest in state history, pegged at the time at $12-plus billion and accounted for nearly half of the $28.6 billion in new taxes levied by 24 states.

Voters reacted sharply to the increase, which was adopted in early 2009 after weeks of political infighting, and rejected a series of ballot measures that would, among other things, have extended the taxes. Without the extension, the added levies will begin phasing out at the end of this year, worsening the chronic gap between income and outgo.

The NCSL report, which may be purchased here, found that in the 24 states that did boost their taxes by more than 1 percent, the average was 3.7 percent of the previous year's tax collections. California's boost was more than 10 percent.

Increased personal income taxes accounted for nearly half of the additional revenues, followed by sales and corporate income taxes. Motor vehicle taxes accounted for $1.9 billion of the total "with much of the net increase coming from vehicle tax changes in California."

The Public Policy Institute of California poll released last night shows the highest support for same-sex marriage since the organization began polling on this issue in 2002.

Half of Californians surveyed said they support same-sex marriage, which 52 percent of Californians voted to ban when they approved Proposition 8.

The poll, which you can find here, also posted a similar split on the GOP gubernatorial primary as last week's Field Poll, with Meg Whitman leading rival Steve Poizner by 50 points.

Poizner, after speaking yesterday at a California Law Enforcement Alliance event, said he was confident his campaign will catch up now that he is gearing up his advertising efforts.

"My job now is to get the word out," he said. "By the end of the primary, all people who will go out to vote in the Republican primary will know all about me."

He slammed his opponent's spending as a "blatant attempt to buy the office" and told reporters he's willing to put all his cash "and more so" into his advertising blitz in the final stretch of the campaign, though he wouldn't say how much of his personal wealth he planned to pour into his campaign coffers before the June 8 primary.

For her part, Whitman defended her high-cost campaign -- she spent $27.2 million in the first three and a half months of the year -- as the amount needed to get her message out to California voters.

Under the dome, both houses have a final session scheduled for today before lawmakers head out of town for spring recess.

BIRTHDAY: Republican Sen. George Runner turns 58 today. Democratic Sen. Gil Cedillo turns 56.

Support for same-sex marriage appears to be increasing in California and has hit 50 percent for the first time in polling by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The new survey indicates that gay marriage advocates who want to repeal California's Proposition 8 might have a fighting chance of prevailing, if they can qualify their measure for the November ballot.

Proposition 8, passed in 2008, places a prohibition on same-sex marriage in the state constitution and is being litigated in federal court. While one faction of gay marriage supporters is backing the repeal initiative, another group has contended that the climate for repeal must change more before trying to undo Proposition 8.

The PPIC poll found that support for gay marriage has reached 50 percent for the first time since the San Francisco-based think tank began polling on the issue in 2000. A sharp partisan division remains, with 64 percent of Democrats supporting same-sex marriage rights, while 67 percent of Republicans are opposed. However, 55 percent of independents are in favor.

The PPIC poll covered a wide range of political and social topics, and its findings largely mirrored those of a recent series of polls by the Field Research Corp. Among them:

• Businesswoman Meg Whitman has a very wide lead over Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, 61 percent to 11 percent, in their contest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and she's slightly ahead of the sole Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jerry Brown, 44 percent to 39 percent.

• Like the Field Poll, PPIC found that the economy, by a wide margin, is the political policy issue uppermost in the minds of voters.

• Another Republican business executive, Carly Fiorina, and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell are virtually tied for the U.S. Senate nomination, with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore far behind both. With the leaders in the mid-20 percent range, nearly half of Republicans say they are undecided. Either Campbell or Fiorina is virtually tied with Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

• By a 2-1 margin, California voters are inclined to vote for Proposition 14, which would create a new kind of primary election for political offices in which all candidates, regardless of party, would appear on the same ballot and the top two primary vote-getters would face each other in the November general election.

• Nearly 70 percent of Californians support immigration reform, including creating a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally.

• While 77 percent believe that the state budget crisis is a big problem, they divide evenly on whether the deficit should be mostly by spending cuts (39 percent) or a combination of cuts and new taxes (38 percent), but just 6 percent say it should be taxes alone.

• Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating among voters has plummeted to 25 percent, virtually identical to the Field Poll number, while the Legislature's performance wins approval of just 9 percent, the first time that figure has dropped into the single digits. Field had it at 13 percent.

• President Barack Obama's standing in California also has slipped, with approval now at 52 percent among voters, down 13 percentage points from a year ago. Congressional approval has also declined to 14 percent, half of what it was in January. But, oddly, 44 percent of voters like the job their own congressional members are doing.

Complete poll results on these and other issues may be found here.

In case you missed it:

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is heading back tonight to the Sacramento digs he inhabited during his first two-term go-around as governor to hit up donors for cash.

California's intense argument over legalizing marijuana is headed to the November ballot.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell says he would not pursue "earmark" spending requests for California if he wins office.

Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who has raised eyebrows with occasional outbursts at the Capitol, is taking a partial leave from the Legislature to attend to an undisclosed medical condition.

The newest national academic test results finds California's fourth- and eighth-graders stuck near the bottom in reading ability, according to the National Assessment of Education Progress.

California voters told the latest Field Poll that prisons and parks were the top two areas they'd send to the chopping block.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Tens of thousands of state workers have worked their last furlough day -- assuming an Alameda Superior Court judge's ruling survives yet another challenge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jon Ortiz has the story.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen confirmed Wednesday afternoon that voters will decide in November whether to legalize and tax marijuana use for Californians 21 and over. Peter Hecht reports.

Torey Van Oot reports that the three candidates running for governor sparred Wednesday over the state's costly and overcrowded prisons system.

The Capitol Bureau totes up spending in the governor's race.

Kevin Yamamura has more on U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell.

Ortiz writes in The State Worker column that it's the bureaucratic migrating season in Sacramento, and the latest bird to take flight is Randell Iwasaki of Caltrans.

The Bee's editorial board says local Assemblyman Roger Niello was one of the few legislators willing to buck Assembly Bill 183, which it calls "a $200 million tax giveaway for the real estate industry."

Peter Schrag writes in an op-ed that a new Public Policy Institute of California poll shows GOP candidates are on the wrong side of California voters on two major issues.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen

Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins, who has raised eyebrows with occasional outbursts at the Capitol, is taking a partial leave from the Legislature to attend to an undisclosed medical condition.

"Senator Wiggins will be here to cast the important votes as the session proceeds," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday. "But other than that, she needs some time to deal with some medical issues. So that's what she is doing."

Steinberg declined to elaborate on her medical condition.

The Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously Wednesday to remove the Santa Rosa legislator from the Senate Local Government, Senate Veterans Affairs and Joint Legislative Audit committees, and to remove her as chairwoman -- but not as a member -- of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Steinberg said the decision to remove Wiggins from Senate standing committees was a mutual one.

Today's action will leave Wiggins with no standing committee assignments, although she remains on five select committees, which meet rarely. Though Wiggins will not routinely attend Senate floor sessions, or cast votes on most bills, she will retain the office and qualify for full pay while working at home.

David Miller, Wiggins' spokesman, said that constituents will continue to be served from her five district offices. Wiggins' wide-ranging district stretches from Solano to Humboldt counties.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown is heading back to the Sacramento digs he inhabited during his first two-term go-around as governor tonight to hit donors for cash for his current gubernatorial bid.

The 71-year-old state attorney general touted his previous two terms as governor as key experience to qualify him for another shot at the job as he gave remarks today at a legislative conference sponsored by the California Law Enforcement Alliance.

"Never has anyone been a governor and then (after) all these years, come back to offer to do it again," Brown said, calling the 36 years that have passed since he was first elected in 1974 "an extraordinary opportunity to reflect on the unintended consequences and the consequences that were in fact intended."

But when asked by reporters after his remarks whether the $10,000-a-plate get-together at his old apartment close to the Capitol would be a flash from the past, Brown dismissed the idea that the fundraiser would beget nostalgia for years past.

"No," he said. "We're into the future here."

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell said Wednesday he would not pursue "earmark" spending requests for California if he wins office.

Campbell, who has served two separate times in Congress, said special "earmark" appropriations for specific projects outside the normal budget process are "awful." The practice, he said, allows powerful members of Congress to "put some project in that wouldn't otherwise pass the test."

Most members of Congress pursue some level of earmark spending, including those who oppose the process. But Campbell said he would not pursue such requests on principle, even if other members and senators pursued projects for their constituents.

"I think to be fiscally conservative, to be responsible, is to advocate a system that does not put anybody at advantage over another, unfairly," Campbell said in a meeting with The Bee's Capitol Bureau. "I'm a pragmatist, and participating in something that's wrong for the country is way over the line about being a pragmatist. There's a lot that you can do for the state of California short of putting an earmark in in the context of an appropriation bill."

Campbell said he would pursue the same path as Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, who has adhered to his pledge not to seek earmark spending for his district since winning office in 2008. That policy has frustrated elected officials in his own district, many of whom are Republican.

Another Senate GOP candidate, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, last week said he would not pursue earmarks. "I believe that earmarks have become so toxic that what's happened is that people who otherwise are fiscally prudent will justify voting for an appropriations bill that is 15, 20, 25 percent more than the year before because they got a library in their district, because they got a bridge, something. And it's a rationalization."

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has said she thinks the earmark system should be abolished. But it is not clear whether she would refrain from pursuing earmarks for California while the system remains in place.

Update (9 p.m.): Fiorina press secretary Amy Thoma issued the following statement this afternoon:

"Carly Fiorina is a strong fiscal conservative who will fight to ban congressional earmarks. Carly believes this is one of the important steps that must be taken to stop overspending and make the federal government accountable and transparent. Earmarks are a product of the insider games played by special interests and career politicians in Washington - and they are exactly the kind thing voters are tired of."

PHOTO CREDIT: Republican Tom Campbell announces his run for U.S. Senate on Jan. 15 in Sacramento. Hector Amezcua/hamezcua@sacbee.com

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner trails, be 50 points down in recent polls,

But today he

Like the Prop 17 battle we mentioned in the AM Alert, the Prop 16 campaign is shaping up to be a David vs. Goliath funding scenario for opponents.

The newest national academic test results once again find California's fourth- and eighth-graders stuck near the bottom in reading ability, outperforming only Washington, D.C., according to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP).

While the reading achievement was the most dramatic outcome, California's kids also performed poorly in other measures of learning, drawing a scathing reaction from The Education Trust-West, an Oakland-based organization that analyzes public school data in California.

"Our state leaders insist that we have some of the highest standards in the nation," said Arun Ramanathan, the group's executive director. "What good are high standards if we fail to ensure that our students can master them?"

Proposition 17 is up for a public airing at a joint hearing of the Assembly Insurance Committee and the Senate Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee.

That would be the Mercury Insurance-funded ballot measure that would allow insurers to take a motorist's coverage history into greater consideration when determining rates.

Supporters say the move would allow companies to offer premium discounts to drivers who maintain continuous coverage but want to switch policies, increasing competition and lowering prices for all.

Opponents, led by Consumer Watchdog founder Harvey Rosenfield, point out that the change would also allow companies to raise rates for drivers who experienced a lapse in coverage.

The campaign so far has been dominated by clashes over what exactly the measure would do, including challenges over language in both sides' ballot arguments and the measure title and summary. (A judge ultimately rejected most challenges, but ruled that a clause saying rates could go up could remain in the ballot language.)

In the latest crossfire, consumer advocates plan to hold a pre-hearing press conference with a man in a chicken suit to call attention to the fact that Mercury President George Joseph isn't expected to show up in person to back the ballot measure his company is bankrolling.

Hey, a giant chicken is no Demon Sheep, but it's sure to attract some attention under the dome.

(Assembly Insurance Committee chief consultant Mark Rakich said Mercury Insurance Vice President Robert Houlihan is expected to testify on behalf of the company. "We asked the proponents to speak and left it to their discretion whom they would send," he told Capitol Alert.)

The Field Poll released today gave voters the budget scalpel, asking them to rank which programs should be subject to spending cuts in this year's budget battle.

The top two areas voters called to send to the chopping block?

Prisons (56 percent) and state parks (52 percent).

On the other end of the spectrum, nearly eight in 10 voters oppose cuts to public schools (70 percent want to protect higher education specifically). And 77 percent oppose cutting programs that aid the elderly and disabled, while 71 percent are against cutting health care programs for low-income Californians.

Click here for the poll and statistical tabulations prepared exclusively for Capitol Alert.

In case you missed it:

GOP guv-hopeful Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has paid back California Highway Patrol for some of the cost of providing his security detail.

Legislative Republicans are calling on Attorney General Jerry Brown to join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care legislation.

Both of Brown's would-be GOP challengers are also on board, but he doesn't sound too interested in joining the group of mostly Republican attorneys general filing the suit.

Find out what California city has the highest number of energy-efficient buildings.

Home sales in the state have dropped, but prices have spiked.

Meg Whitman's plan for fixing the broken legislative process? Create "teams" of lawmakers to work on issues.

The latest Field Poll puts jobs and the economy at the top of the list of issues voters will consider when casting their vote for governor.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Amy Chance has more on the "teams" proposal and other policy issues touted by Meg Whitman.

The Field Poll asked California voters to rank what areas deserve funding and which should hit the chopping block this budget season. Dan Smith breaks down the answers.

Columnist Dan Walters calls the Legislature's proposed government reforms "a political non-starter" and a "mish-mash" on merits.

The Bee's editorial board examines two bills currently before the Legislature that are intended to address the practice of pension-spiking.

Columnist Dan Morain writes that, judging by her campaign spending, Meg Whitman lives a very different life than most of us.

In another ballot measure battle that's shaping up to be a David vs. Goliath funding scenario for opponents, the campaign against Proposition 16 are asking radio stations statewide to stop airing Pacific Gas & Elecric's ads backing the measure, which would require two-thirds of voters approve expansions of electricity services that use public or bond funds.

In a letter, the opponents claim PG&E

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's campaign has paid the California Highway Patrol $24,000 for providing the candidate with a security detail, according to campaign finance records filed by Poizner yesterday. That amount is about a tenth of the annual cost of providing Poizner with the detail.

Rival Meg Whitman's campaign has criticized Poizner for not paying for the security detail, saying the cash-strapped state shouldn't have to foot the bill for Poizner, who's a multimillionaire and the state insurance commissioner. Whitman has made the security detail the focus of one of her TV attack ads against Poizner.

The commissioner has responded that he, like other statewide office holders, needs the detail at all times. State records show the CHP spent $214,335.61 in the last fiscal year for Poizner's security detail. See The Bee story about such security details.

Poizner's campaign gave $24,000 on March 9 to the Department of Insurance, which then used the money to pay for the CHP detail, the campaign records show.

Both GOP gubernatorial candidates have joined California Republicans supporting a legal smackdown of the sweeping health care overhaul signed into law today.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner launched the first strike yesterday, calling on Attorney General (and would-be rival) Jerry Brown to join the group of mostly Republican state attorneys general suing the federal government to repeal the bill.

"California is going to have an even harder time balancing the budget because of the new mandates placed upon us by the federal health care bill," Poizner said in a statement. "(More than 12) states have announced plans to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare and given California's economic crisis, we cannot afford to let the federal government stick our state with billions more in unfunded mandates."

Whitman, too, opposes the legislation and supports the court challenges (as do all three Republicans running for U.S. Senate).

The ink has barely dried on the sweeping health care legislation signed into law today, but California Republican lawmakers have joined a chorus of critics calling for swift action to knock down the bill's big changes to the country's health care system.

"I think that many Californians share the same view that ... this is the greatest expansion of government in a generation and it is also the greatest intrusion into personal liberty and states rights that we have seen in many generations," Senate GOP leader Dennis Hollingsworth said at a press conference.

Arguing that Congress has violated the "Commerce Clause" of the Constitution by mandating that citizens obtain health coverage, the lawmakers urged Attorney General Jerry Brown to join more than a dozen attorneys general nationwide who have said they will sue the federal government challenging the constitutionality of the bill.

"The bill assumes that congressional power over the states, their citizens, and their consumers' everyday economic decision is vast and limitless -- a position that is constitutionally untenable, completely unprecedented and contradictory to fundamental principles of federalism and limited government," GOP Sen. Tom Harman wrote in a letter to Brown.

Los Angeles has the nation's most energy-efficient buildings among large cities for the second straight year and consequently the most floor space earning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Energy Star" award, it was announced today.

San Francisco placed third on the 25-city EPA list while Sacramento was 16th and San Diego 17th. In addition to releasing the city-by-city rankings, available here, the EPA also announced a compilation of specific buildings meeting its Energy Star criteria, which can be found here.

The state's own Environmental Protection Agency building in Sacramento is one of those cited.

The once-soaring California housing market, whose collapse triggered the state's severe recession, appears to be undergoing another change.

The California Association of Realtors revealed today that home sales dropped 11.7 percent in February from a year earlier, but the median price jumped 14.1 percent. Meanwhile, the inventory of unsold homes on the market has also declined sharply, especially those of lower-price houses.

These trends may indicate that the burst of low-priced homes that were in foreclosure or otherwise distressed may be running its course and the market is returning to a more normal pattern.

The Republican Governors' Associationis joining the band of First Amendment backers asking Democratic guv-hopeful Jerry Brown to release the collection of records from his previous two terms at the job.

Anyone seeking access to Brown's papers, which are housed at the University of Southern California, needs to get written permission from Brown himself (a rule he signed into law as governor more than three decades ago). Under those current laws, the papers will be subject to full, unrestricted public access in 2033 -- 50 years after Brown left the governor's office -- or upon his death.

So the RGA has launched a petition -- www.WhatsBrownDone.com -- asking Brown to waive restrictions on viewing those 2,000 or so boxes of documents from his gubernatorial terms (their site, however, inaccurately identifies the year the written permission rule is lifted as 2038).

"We want a more complete answer to the question, 'What has Jerry Brown done to you?' How can he possibly run for governor while hiding the records from his previous two terms from the voters?" RGA spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.

The RGA has, of course, its own answer to the question of what Brown did in office. That answer (in a nutshell: raise taxes) is splashed all over the site and in an accompanying YouTube spot.

As California Watch reported earlier this week, at least six people have been approved to view the records, but even that access is complicated by some archival clean-up efforts reportedly being undertaken at USC.

When asked whether anyone from the RGA has requested access to the records, Murtaugh said "that's not the point."

"We don't understand why that should be a hurdle existing in the first place," he said.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, criticizing the Legislature as a "bill factory," said today that she would create legislative teams to focus on her top priorities as governor and veto most other legislation.

Whitman has said she will focus almost exclusively on three areas as governor: creating jobs, cutting government spending and improving the state's K-12 education system.

"Let's come together in teams," Whitman told an audience at the California Taxpayers' Association's annual meeting in Sacramento. "Who wants to be on the jobs team? Who wants to be on the government efficiency team?"

The former eBay CEO later told reporters that lawmakers could "self-select" to be on the teams, and that those who didn't want to participate wouldn't have to.

"We can have a group that has staff support to look into things," she said. "We'd have to have a chair of the jobs team, a chair of the education team. I think it would focus the mind of the Legislature on what it is that we have to accomplish."

Whitman said she wouldn't veto all other legislation, but she wants to prevent the Legislature from tackling too many new things.

"Let's stop doing new things and fix the problems we have in front of us," she said. "Obviously we would make an exception for public safety if there was an earthquake or something."

Below: Whitman discusses her legislative priorities.

Whitman discusses the Legislature's approval rating:

Whitman talks about legislative teams

What issues will Californians take into consideration when casting their vote for the next governor?

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, according to the latest Field Poll.

OK, not just jobs, but a whopping 69 percent voters said a candidate's stance on jobs and the economy was one of the most important issues influencing which guv hopeful will snag their support.

That figure marks a sharp uptick from 2006, when 39 percent of voters rated jobs and economy as a top issue. But it's not too surprising considering the state's unemployment rate hit 12.5 percent in January.

In a close second was the roughly $20 billion budget deficit, which 68 percent of voters rated among their most important issues. A majority of voters also identified education (60 percent) and health care (51 percent) as top issues. .

Other policy stances on a plurality of voters' minds include taxes (47 percent) illegal immigration (37 percent) and water (36 percent).

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman obliterated campaign finance records by spending a whopping $27.2 million in the first 2 1/2 months of this year, according to campaign records filed tonight with the Secretary of State's office.

By comparison, her Republican rival Steve Poizner had spent $3.1 million in that period while Democratic candidate Jerry Brown spent $144,101.97 - less than 1 percent of Whitman's total spending, campaign records from the two campaigns show.

The biggest ticket item of the Whitman campaign, by far, was the more than $21.5 million she spent on producing and airing radio and TV advertising.

The anti-Meg Whitman independent expenditure committee Level the Playing Field raised $228,681 between January 1 and March 17, well short of the $1 million that it said it had commitments for at its debut last month, according to a campaign finance report filed with the Secretary of State's office this afternoon.

In case you missed it:

JACKS TEASE GOES HERE.

Budget cuts have caused more school districts to land a spot on the state's list of financially distressed districts.

The California Taxpayers Association says the state has wasted $19 billion in state dollars since 2000.

California Medical Association's pick for the hotly contested AD5 race gets a glamour shot in the group's most recent mailer.

Former GOP guv-hopeful Bill Simon is lending his conservative bona fides to U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell.

See a map of how California's congressional delegation voted on the health care reform legislation.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature seem to have hit rock-bottom in job performance ratings from voters.

Steve Poizner is courting conservative voters with an ad targets benefits for undocumented immigrants.

Barry Nestande, chief of staff to former GOP Sen. John Benoit and brother to Assemblyman Brian Nestande, died of an apparent heart attack Friday at age 49. Services are scheduled for later this week.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Lawmakers sent Schwarzenegger today measures to establish a new home buyer tax credit and a tax break for purchasing "green" manufacturing equipment. Kevin Yamamura has the story.

Dan Smith breaks down the issues are on in minds of California voters deciding which gubernatorial candidate to support.

Laurel Rosenhall has a story on the scores of students who flooded the Capitol to protest budget cuts to higher education.

Columnist Dan Walters cautions the newest batch of demonstrators that the current political climate is likely to lead to even more cuts.

The California Medical Association is hitting mailboxes across the state to encourage Californians to participate in its 2010 survey on health care.

But the piece, which will be sent to more than 30,000 Californians on both sides of the aisle, also places front and center a familiar face for California campaign junkies: Dr. Richard Pan.

"Thank you for sharing your health care priorities!" reads the text over an 8.5-by-11 inch portrait of a smiling Pan, clad in his doctor's coat, leaning against a reception desk.

Pan is one of several Democrats seeking to replace termed-out GOP Assemblyman Roger Niello in the Sacramento area's 5th Assembly District, one of this cycle's most targeted legislative races. The UC Davis pediatrician also happens to be the candidate of choice for CMA, which represents 35,000 physicians.

The flip side of the mailer, which does not cite Pan's candidacy, features a smaller picture of Pan alongside photos of three other doctors.

CMA spokesman Andrew LaMar said Pan's prominent presence on the mailer reflects his role as a "really important physicians' leader within CMA and within the community" and had nothing to do with that fact he's running for the Assembly. Pan was also the chairman of the group's Council on Legislation when the outreach effort for the survey started last year, LaMar said.

"He's somebody who knows the key issues very well," he said. "He's one of our core leaders."

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon today threw his support behind Tom Campbell's bid for U.S. Senate.

Cutbacks in state school finance have generated a sharp uptick in the number of California school districts in financial distress, state schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said today.

"Massive state budget cuts are crippling our public school system's ability to operate," O'Connell said as he released a list of 126 school districts that the state is watching closely, up 17 percent from a year earlier. "Public education in California received $17 billion less in state funding than anticipated over the last two budget years."

Members of California's congressional delegation followed the party line in casting votes last night to approve sweeping changes to the nation's health care system, with all Democrats voting for the bill and Republicans voting against it.

The bill, H.R. 3590, was approved with a vote of 219-212 at about 8 p.m. PST. Once the Senate agrees to a series of amendments approved by the House, the bill will go head to President Barack Obama's desk to be signed into law.

Bee colleague Bobby Calvan has more on the Sacramento-area reaction to the bill's passage in this story.

The map posted blow, made by Bee colleague Phillip Reese, shows the vote breakdown by district, with green areas representing "aye" votes and orange areas marking "no" votes. The roll call for California's congressional delegation is posted after the jump.

House Vote 165 - H.R.3590: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ...

Green="Yes vote" ... Orange ="No vote"

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner is going on air with a new television spot highlighting his "hard line" stance on illegal immigration.

The 30-second spot, titled "Liberal Failure," is set to begin airing Tuesday. It is his second television buy of the primary.

In the ad, which features a car flying off a cliff as a symbol of California's downward trajectory, Poizner reprises his pledge to cut benefits for undocumented immigrants, saying the state's elected officials have "lacked the guts" to tackle immigration policy issues.

"As Governor, I will stop taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants. If necessary, I'll bring it to you as a ballot initiative," he says in the ad.

Poizner, who trailed Republican rival Meg Whitman by nearly 50 points in the latest Field Poll, has made his position on illegal immigration a central component of his campaign in recent weeks. The stance is likely to appeal to the most conservative segment of the electorate, voters likely to turn out for the GOP primary, but some say could alienate Latino voters in the general election.

The campaign said Poizner's platform on illegal immigration separates him from his opponent.

"Steve Poizner is willing to take bold steps in order to stop illegal immigration, while Meg Whitman wants to continue with the status quo," Communications Director Jarrod Agen said in a statement. "The differences in the Republican primary are clear - Steve is proposing bold reforms to turn off the magnets which draw illegal immigrants to California, while Meg Whitman advocates for amnesty."

Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei said Whitman has "always been 100 percent opposed to amnesty" and accused Poizner of shifting his position to appeal to the GOP base.

"Steve Poizner's shift to the right on the issue of immigration is part of a pattern where he's changed his position on the issues in an attempt to cover up his past liberal record," she said. "It's a sign voters can't trust him on the issues."

Watch the ad below:

The California Taxpayers' Association contends in a new report that state government has wasted nearly $19 billion since 2000, contributing to its chronic budget crisis.

The report is based on official audits and investigations and media reports, citing 127 "quantifiable" instances of waste "from Caltrans' $3.2 billion Bay Bridge fiasco, to a $1 billion fine for failing to track child support payments, to welfare fraud estimated at $1.5 billion per year..."

Cal-Tax, an 84-year-old, Sacramento-based and business-backed organization, says that eliminating waste would not unto itself have balanced the budget, but "each case represents one example of California's inability to control spending during budget booms and busts.

"Had state officials engaged in more responsible spending oversight, the state budget would be billions closer to balance, and the people of California would benefit from more efficient, quality services."

The report, which adds more fuel to the partisan wrangles in the Capitol over how the deficits should be closed, can be found here.

Smoking at beaches, environmental protection regulations and the budget vote requirements are all set to spark debate under the dome today.

A bill that would ban smoking at state beaches and parks could come up for a second vote during the Assembly's noon floor session.

The lower house failed to pass the measure, Senate Bill 4 by Democratic Sen. Jenny Oropeza, last week.

The Assembly Natural Resources Committee has quite a bit on tap, including several GOP-backed bills that would waive California Environmental Quality Act requirements for certain projects in hopes of jump-starting economic recovery.

That committee will also consider a bill by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, that would make the currently appointed seats on the Air Resources Board elected offices as of 2012.

Lawmakers on the Select Committee On Improving State Government will hear from reform group California Forward's head honcho, former Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, as they look at a package of proposed changes to state governance.

California has the nation's fifth worst lawsuit climate, making it a less attractive venue for job-creating investment, an annual appraisal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has found.

California was ranked 46th, ahead of only Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and No. 50 West Virginia, the chamber-sponsored Institute for Legal Reform declares, based on its survey of corporate lawyers.

"California needs more jobs, not more lawsuits," the institute's president, Lisa Rickard, said. "With one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, California's legal climate is discouraging new businesses and new jobs at a time when the state needs them most."

The report echoes positions by California business and legal reform groups in their perennial battles with Consumer Attorneys of California over the rules governing class action and personal injury suits, which are largely set in the Legislature but occasionally spill into ballot measure battles.

Not surprisingly, the California planitiffs' attorneys denounced the rankng. "We think, given the chamber's interest in limiting citizens' access to the justice system and the fact that the survey is conducted exclusively among attorneys who represent big business, this report is just another call for less oversight and accountability for the companies that fund this group," Consumer Attorneys of California said in a statement. "The American people have seen what happens when the Chamber's largest clients - like AIG, insurance and drug companies - are not held accountable."

California's low ranking included such factors as judicial rules that the organization said tend to favor plaintiffs in class-action suits and other disputes.

The full report is available here.

Barry Nestande, chief of staff to former Republican Sen. John Benoit and brother to Assemblyman Brian Nestande, died Friday. He was 49.

The familiar figure in state GOP politics was pronounced dead Friday afternoon after suffering an apparent heart attack at the gym, according to an obituary published in The Desert Sun of Palm Springs.

The Republican strategist first joined Benoit's legislative staff in 2002 and continued to work as the former senator's top aide on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. Before that he worked in insurance and finance, according to a statement released by Benoit's office.

Benoit described their relationship as "closer than most brothers" and rooted in a "shared faith in God and our country."

"From the earliest days of my first campaign for the State Assembly in 2001, until lunch yesterday, Barry Nestande was by my side," he said in the statement. "Working together as a team, we felt we could very effectively represent the interests of our constituents."

Nestande, whose father Bruce also served in the state Legislature, is survived by his wife Merrilee and sons Tyson and Brett.

UPDATE: Memorial services will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Southest Community Church in Indian Wells. In lieu of flowers, the Nestande Family is requesting support for Beverly's House, a program to support young women leaving foster care that was founded by Nestande's mother. Donations can be made to YWCA-Central Orange County, P.O. Box 689 (Orange, CA 92856) with "Beverly's House" in the memo line

In case you missed it:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg named their picks to the Delta Stewardship Council.

Check out who's been writing big checks for ballot measures this week.

Cartoonist Rex Babin sketches the health-care reconciliation battle field.

Californians hold Congress in increasingly low esteem, according to the latest Field Poll.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Two Republicans vying for attorney general appear to have gotten a boost in "experience," thanks to some crafty ballot designations. Jim Sanders has the story.

Kevin Yamamura has reactions to the picks for the Delta Stewardship Council.

Amy Chance checks the facts on the Meg Whitman campaign's recent ads attacking rival Steve Poizner.

Matt Weiser and Michael Doyle report that a high-level science panel has concluded that federal rules that limit water diversions from the Delta to protect endangered fish are "scientifically justified," but the nuanced conclusions allowed advocates to read their own priorities into the report.

The state superintendent of public instruction isn't one of the glamorous or bank-breaking political campaigns, but three groups with a stake in the race have already given substantial donations to three Democratic candidates. Susan Ferriss has the story.

The Bee editorial board writes that the governor's plan to purchase costly devices to prevent In-Home Supportive Services fraud misses the mark.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today announced their much-anticipated appointments to the Delta Stewardship Council.

The 7-member panel, established as part of the water policy package approved by the Legislature last fall, is charged with crafting and implementing a plan for the future management of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Its dual goals are to address water supply issues and ensure conservation of the estuary's fragile ecosystem.

The legislation splits the responsibility of naming six of the council's members between the governor and legislative leaders. Delta Protection Commission Chairman Don Nottoli is appointed by law as the council's chair.

Schwarzenegger picked two Republicans and two Democrats for his four appointments.

They are: rancher and former Association of California Water Agencies president Randy Fiorini, retired biotech industry executive Hank Nordhoff, lobbyist and former Democratic Assemblyman Philip Isenbergand Natural Heritage Institute director of legal services Richard Roos-Collins.

Steinberg appointed former Democratic state Sen. Patrick Johnston, who currently serves as president of the California Association of Health Plans.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass has appointed West Basin Municipal Water District member Gloria Gray.

All six positions require Senate confirmation. Excerpts from the statements by Schwarzenegger and Steinberg, including appointee bios, are posted after the jump.

With the clock ticking for initiatives to qualify for the November ballot and the June primary less than three months away, big donors are dipping into their piggy banks to back their top political causes.

As we reported yesterday, a campaign to suspend AB 32 reported nearly $1 million in funding, including $500,000 from Texas-based oil company Valero. After the jump, find a roundup of some of the other major contributions reported to the Secretary of State this week.

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here.

Here's a not-so-pleasant wake-up call for California's congressional delegation:

Nearly 80 percent of California voters surveyed in the latest Field Poll issued a thumbs-down for Congress' job performance.

The sliver of voters who do approve of their representatives' work dropped from 24 percent in January to a record-low 12 percent this month.

President Barack Obama's job ratings also continued to slide.

A slight majority of the 503 voters polled -- 52 percent -- gave Obama good marks. That's down from a 56 percent job approval rating in January, which was down from 60 percent in October.

Voters are now split on the president's handling of the proposed health care system overhaul -- 45 percent to 45 percent. Those marks were higher than Congress' handling of the health care package. The poll showed that 80 percent of voters disapprove of Congress' dealings with the bills.

Rob Hotakainen has more on the results in today's Bee. Click here to see the poll and statistical tabulations prepared exclusively for Capitol Alert.

In case you missed it:

Texas-based oil giant Valero has dropped a half-million dollars into the campaign account for a proposed ballot measure that would suspend AB 32.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner considers insurance commissioner his full-time job, but that's not the occupation voters will see on the ballot this June.

His rival Meg Whitman has declined an invitation to participate in a pre-primary debate sponsored by The Bee and FOX 40.

March Madness has arrived! Cartoonist Rex Babin has filled in his own bracket for the gubernatorial contest.

Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki is leaving his post for a job with the Contra Costa Transportation Authority.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez announced his leadership and committee posts.

A Senate budget subcommittee chairman declared a "100 percent rejection" of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to In-Home-Supportive Services.

Things aren't looking so hot for incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the latest Field Poll.

A group that supports women running for and serving in political offices in California released a tally of female officials.

Democratic AG-hopeful Chris Kelly is giving his campaign another $2 million boost.

Democrats have introduced a proposed constitutional amendment with a series of government reforms, including lowering the bar for passing a budget from two-thirds to a majority vote.

In tomorrow's Bee:

The Field Poll asked California voters to rate the job performance of Congress and President Barack Obama. Rob Hotakainen has the results.

Kevin Yamamura reports that Sara Granda, the paralyzed UC Davis law school graduate who drew national attention last year when State Bar officials nearly prevented her from taking the exam, has been named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to a legal post in the Department of Health Care Services.

California Democrats in Congress who are still undecided on the health care bill are facing increased public pressure to state where they stand. Michael Doyle has the story.

The Legislative Analyst's Office is the latest to join a chorus of critics questioning the methodology behind a Sacramento State study that put a high price tag on implementing AB 32, reports Dale Kasler.

Denny Walsh reports that SMUD and other publicly owned utilities have filed a lawsuit to kick Proposition 16 off the June ballot.

Columnist Dan Walters writes that California judges have become full-blown players in the political game.

A Texas-based oil company has contributed more than half of the nearly $1 million collected in a drive to suspend California's landmark greenhouse-gas emissions law, documents filed Thursday show.

Valero Services Inc. donated $500,000 to fuel a signature-gathering drive aimed at qualifying an initiative for the November ballot to suspend Assembly Bill 32, signed into law several years ago.

Much of the remaining $466,000 also has been donated by oil companies, documents show.

AB 32 requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association contributed $100,000 to the effort, as well as three other oil companies - Tesoro Cos., Tower Energy Group and World Oil Corp., according to the documents filed with the secretary of state.

Republican Assemblymen Cameron Smyth and Paul Cook were named to chair policy committees Thursday, marking the first time in eight years that GOP Assembly members have been handed a committee gavel.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, who became leader of the house this month, unveiled his caucus leadership team and composition of 47 policy committees and subcommittees.

Smyth, R-Santa Clarita, will chair the local government committee. Cook, a Yucca Valley Republican who earned a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam, will chair the veterans affairs committee.

Then-Assembly Republicans Richard Dickerson and Lynn Daucher were the last members of their party to serve as committee chairs. Both were appointed in 2002, according to the speaker's office.

"When I was sworn-in as Speaker I said we must embrace bipartisan cooperation in order to create jobs, turn the economy around and help solve the many other challenges facing the state," Pérez said in a prepared statement.

Pérez's key lieutenants will include Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, who was chosen as speaker pro tempore; Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, majority floor leader; and Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, majority policy leader.

Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, will serve as majority whip; Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, as Democratic Caucus chairman; and Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, as Rules Committee chairwoman.

Other members of Pérez's leadership team are Isadore Hall, D-Compton, assistant speaker pro tempore; Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, assistant majority floor leader; and Lori Saldaña, San Diego, assistant whip.

Felipe Fuentes, D-Los Angeles, will chair the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee.

Click here for a full list of Assembly committee chairs and leadership appointments.

Sara Granda, the UC Davis law school graduate who is paralyzed from the neck down and drew national attention last year when State Bar officials nearly prevented her from taking the exam, has been named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to a position in the Department of Health Care Services.

Granda, 30, passed the six-day exam only after the state Supreme Court intervened and directed the State Bar to allow her to take the test in July. State Bar officials said Granda had missed their June 15 registration deadline since she did not submit credit card information online.

Granda did not have a credit card, however. Because she was a low-income disabled resident, the state Department of Rehabilitation covered her $600 registration fee and had submitted payment by check.

Civil rights lawyers took up her cause, and she sued the state. Schwarzenegger also sent a letter to the California Supreme Court, urging it to intervene in the matter.

Granda, 30, will serve as a special assistant to the chief counsel for the Department of Health Care Services. She interned at the department in 2007 and 2008.

Granda, a Democrat and Davis resident, will earn $56,134.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has declined an invitation from The Sacramento Bee editorial board and FOX 40 to participate in a debate with GOP rival Steve Poizner.

The Bee offered four possible dates in April, all of which the Whitman campaign rejected. The national FOX News Network had offered anchor Bret Baier to moderate the debate, and Poizner had agreed to attend.

Whitman and Poizner met Monday in Costa Mesa for a debate sponsored by Republican group New Majority California. The event received little television coverage statewide. Whitman has agreed to a second debate with Poizner in the Bay Area on May 2, sponsored by Comcast.

PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Whitman speaks to the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce today in San Jose. Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images

More than a third of California's adults and a nearly a sixth of its children suffer from chronic health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure or psychological distress, according to a new report from the California Healthcare Foundation.

The lengthy report, prepared by researchers at UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research, follows on another recent study indicating that California's ranks of the medically uninsured have grown sharply to more than 8 million persons. And both were issued as Congress considers President Barack Obama's historic overhaul of health coverage.

A state Senate subcommittee dominated by Democrats today rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to eliminate many social and health services, including the entire welfare and home health care assistance programs, if the state doesn't receive billions of dollars in extra federal aid.

Subcommittee chairman Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, denounced Schwarzenegger's plans after hearing hours of testimony from program recipients and program managers about the effects of such cuts.

Leno declared "100 percent rejection" of reducing the In-Home Supportive Services program, which provides care for about 400,000 aged and disabled Californians. "How much destruction does Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger want to leave in his wake?" Leno asked rhetorically.

The Legislature's Democratic leadership has put into words, in the form of a constitutional amendment, its supposed cure for the Capitol's chronic gridlock on the state budget, having adapted it from proposals by California Forward, a bipartisan political reform group.

Democrat Chris Kelly announced today that he'll chip another $2 million of his personal cash into his attorney general bid.

The contribution brings Kelly's self-funding total to $4 million. He also wrote a $2 million check to his effort before the end of the last reporting period in December.

The former Facebook chief privacy officer and attorney is one of six Democrats running in the crowded June primary for the state's top law enforcement job. Three candidates are running in the Republican primary.

Photo credit: Kelly's Facebook page.

The percentage of female candidates elected to federal, state and local offices in California continues to fall significantly short of mirroring the gender split of the general population, according to a report released yesterday by the nonprofit California Women Lead.

California Women Lead, which supports female candidates running for and serving in office, found that though women make up 51 percent of the state population, they fill slightly more than a third of California's congressional seats and 27 percent of state legislative seats.

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner says he's insurance commissioner "24 hours a day, seven days a week."

But that's not the job voters will likely see on the ballot come June 8.

Poizner, who was elected to the insurance commissioner post in 2006, has proposed listing just "businessman" as his ballot designation this year.

"It's the most appropriate designation for his career since he started two successful companies in California and ran those companies for over 20 years," said Poizner spokeswoman Bettina Inclan, who noted that Poizner often touts his work in elected office when stumping on the campaign trail.

Ballot designation rules don't require that a candidate list every job they have, but allows him or her to describe in up to three words positions that take "substantial involvement of time and effort such that the activity is one of the primary, main or leading professional, vocational or occupational endeavors of the candidate" in the last year.

So what was Poizner's principal gig in 2009?

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=4643

Hat Tip: Bob Salladay.

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here.

There's bad news for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in the latest Field Poll.

All three Republicans vying to challenge the three-term Democratic senator are within striking distance in hypothetical match-ups.

While Boxer held double-digit leads over each of the GOP Senate hopefuls in January, she's now in a statistical dead-heat with two would-be challengers.

The poll, released today, puts Boxer's support within one-point of Tom Campbell and Carly Fiorina and puts her four points ahead of Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

In case you missed it:

Are legislative-related ballot designations a kiss of death for state lawmakers running for other offices? U.S. Senate hopeful and GOP Assemblyman Chuck DeVore says his internal polling shows the answer to that question.

DeVore also threw some punches at his two rivals for the GOP Senate nomination, Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell, in an interview with the Bee Capitol Bureau.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman explained her spending-cap proposal to The Bee yesterday. Watch the video.

One idea for curbing the fraud in the In-Home Supportive Services program that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says is draining the state's budget? Purchasing $5,000 cameras that also take fingerprints to document the elderly and disabled people who are enrolled in the program.

Rivals for the Democratic lieutenant governor's nomination Janice Hahn and Gavin Newsom clashed today over Newsom's contributions.

Check out cartoonist Rex Babin's take on the recent pay raises for the new Assembly leaders' staffs.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Rob Hotakainen has the results of the latest Field Poll on the U.S. Senate race.

The State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz writes on whether the state will follow through on its threats to sue the prison guards union over their unpaid union leave tab.

Jim Sanders breaks down GOP Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore's positions on the state budget, earmarks, education and more.

The Bee editorial board applauds Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's pledge to end furloughs June 30, writing that "although furloughs were preferable to layoffs in dealing with California's financial crunch last year, they haven't produced cost savings that many anticipated."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman explained to The Bee after a campaign event yesterday in Seal Beach her newly unveiled proposal to tie state spending to a formula using population growth, inflation and a "productivity index." The proposal was one of many in a 48-page policy book she debuted at the event.

As we reported in today's Bee, a handful of legislators running for other offices are leaning on second occupations in drafting their ballot designations.

That move makes sense, consultants say, considering voters' ongoing thumbs-down appraisal of the Legislature's job performance.

But does all the swapping and second job listing make a difference?

Absolutely, says GOP Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore.

DeVore told The Bee today that his lagging public poll numbers are, in part, because respondents to those surveys are presented with only his legislative title.

"They called me a 'California state assemblyman' (in the poll questions) which, according to our internal polling, cuts my support in half," said DeVore, who has submitted "assemblyman/military reservist" as his ballot designation.

So it's no wonder lawmakers who previously embraced their titles are now touting their other bona fides on the ballot. See some examples of ballot designation shifting over the past few cycles after the jump.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore threw verbal punches at his two GOP congressional opponents Wednesday, predicting that Tom Campbell's campaign will collapse and characterizing Carly Fiorina as a political "dilettante."

DeVore, in a meeting with the Sacramento Bee's Capitol Bureau, smiled when reminded that columnist George Will had predicted that he would win the Republican primary for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat. "He's a wise man," DeVore quipped.

The Irvine Republican predicted that Campbell's campaign is doomed, despite a new Field Poll showing Campbell with a six percentage point lead over Fiorina and a 19-point lead over DeVore. Roughly 40 percent of voters are undecided.

DeVore said that Campbell's support is due partly to a "lot of soft name ID" that will deteriorate once voters learn that he opposed a ban on same-sex marriage and that he had proposed a one-year, 32-cent gas tax increase to bolster state coffers.

The Schwarzenegger administration is considering buying $5,000-a-piece high-tech cameras used in Iraq and other war zones to photograph and fingerprint Californians who get subsidized in-home care for the elderly and disabled.

Manufactured by a company called MorphoTrak, these "Mobile Biometric Identification" devices can both fingerprint and snap a photo and function as a "work station" to download data back into office systems, according to Social Services Department officials.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and eight other governors have asked the Obama administration to extend the deadline for applying for a second round of Race to the Top grants for schools to July 1.

California, which passed a series of bills aimed at winning the competitive grants , was not one of 16 states that were named finalists in the first phase for $4.35 billion in federal stimulus funds.

Applications for the second round of funding are due June 1, but Schwarzenegger and the other governors wrote in a letter sent yesterday to Education Secretary Arne Duncan that they need more time to adjust to reviews the Education Department is set to deliver explaining the inadequacies in the first funding try. They also urged Duncan to release the application critiques as soon as possible.

"Our states need more time to properly evaluate the changes needed to resubmit our applications, as well as to engage in meaningful and collaborative discussions with our legislatures, our schools, our unions, and our communities," the letter reads. "We need to make informed changes to our applications, whether in the area of evaluations, turnarounds, standards, or data collection. "

The full letter is posted after the jump.

Democrat Janice Hahn's lieutenant governor campaign has filed a complaint alleging that primary rival Gavin Newsom violated the Political Reform Act by accepting contributions from donors who maxed out to his failed gubernatorial bid.

The complaint, filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission, claims that the San Francisco mayor has"flouted state law in an unprecedented manner" by fueling his lite guv campaign with cash from donors who had already given amounts that exceed the lieutenant governor contribution cap to his gubernatorial bid, which he dropped in October. Individual donors are permitted to give up to $25,900 to gubernatorial candidates, but just $6,500 to lieutenant governor hopefuls.

"Unlike other state candidates who have raised money during the same election cycle for multiple offices and then transferred funds from one committee to another using the transfer and attribution rules, Mr. Newsom raised and spent the funds he collected at the higher gubernatorial limit -- which no doubt served to benefit his candidacy in the June 8 election," complainant Stephen J. Kaufman wrote. "Mr. Newsom is now raising additional money from the same maxed-out donors to be spent in the same election, he is using contributions totaling amounts well in excess of the $6,500 limit."

Newsom's attorney Tom Willis, an expert in campaign law, said in a statement that the complaint has no basis because a candidate "can open separate committees for different offices being voted on at the same election, and each of those committees is subject to separate contribution limits."

Here's Bee political cartoonist Rex Babin's take on the pay raises new Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and GOP leader Martin Garrick gave some staff upon assuming their new gigs:

Click here to see a collection of Babin's work.

It's looking like a Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman match-up.

And not only is Whitman pounding GOP rival Steve Poizner in the primary, she's opened up a narrow, if statistically insignificant, 46 percent to 43 percent lead on Brown in the general election, according to the latest Field Poll released this morning.

The hypothetical match-up between Brown and Whitman was asked of 748 Californians likely to vote Nov. 2. Those numbers are within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points reported by the pollsters.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, suggested Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bears blame for budget inaction after the governor rejected the most significant parts of a budget package Democrats have sent him in recent weeks.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has just released a detailed policy agenda at an appearance today at Leisure World in Seal Beach.

Among new proposals:

• Make the Legislature part-time. GOP rival Steve Poizner also advocates such a change.

• Provide a $10,000 tax credit for purchasers of new and existing homes.

• Provide tax credit for green tech job creation.

• Supports "an alternative conveyance system" for water supplies.

Running to become California's top law enforcement officer, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris said Tuesday that she supports regulating medicinal marijuana dispensaries but not allowing cannabis sale for recreational use.

Harris, meeting with The Bee's Capitol Bureau, said she does not support efforts by San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, to permit marijuana to be sold and taxed much like liquor.

One of six Democratic candidates for attorney general, Harris said that recreational sales would just create new headaches for a beleaguered system that needs to better regulate medical marijuana dispensaries and to assist nonviolent drug offenders.

"This is just going to confuse everything even more," she said of legalizing recreational marijuana use.

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation just named the four legislative leaders from last February's contentious budget deal as this year's recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

The award-winning leaders include Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, former Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill and former Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that he will veto a budget bill lawmakers sent him to swap a gasoline tax increase with elimination of the sales tax on gasoline. Read the letter, released today, that the governor sent legislative leaders after the jump.

California's severe economic recession has sharply expanded the ranks of its medically uninsured residents, a new statistical study by UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research has found.

The study, based on enrollee data from private and public medical care programs, found that the uninsured under age 65 increased from 6.4 million in 2007 to 8.2 million last year, largely because of higher unemployment and cutbacks in employer-underwritten coverage. That's nearly a quarter of the under-65 population of the state.

"These estimates help us understand the scale of the damage inflicted on California over the last two years," Shana Alex Lavarreda, a co-author of the study, said in a statement. California has one of the nation's highest uninsured rates - a factor attributed to its seasonal and diverse economy - and because of its size has more uninsured residents than any other state

The study was released as Congress wrests with President Barack Obama's effort to expand coverage for the uninsured. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attempted several years ago to win legislative approval of a similar expansion of health coverage, but his measure died in the state Senate after approval by the Assembly. It was opposed by conservatives who disliked more government expansion and liberals who wanted a single-payer, government-operated program.

The full study may be found here.

Fresh off her theater-in-the-round performance at the California Republican Party convention, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina will address the Sacramento Press Club on Tuesday for the first time.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO will discuss her priorities and explain why she thinks she's best positioned to take on Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer in the general election, her campaign says. The downtown Sacramento luncheon begins at noon.

In the Capitol, the Legislature will hold a joint committee hearing to review the efficacy of recent laws directed at reducing foreclosures in California. Lenders, consumer advocates, local government officials and tax experts will be among those testifying at the 1:30 p.m. hearing in Room 4203.

The special session on the state budget is over, but the Legislature is reviewing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposals in its normal subcommittee process. The Assembly is scheduled to have hearings on Tuesday examining the governor's proposals on education funding, the Department of Justice and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Schwarzenegger, meanwhile, will stop by the Green California Summit and Exposition at the Sacramento Convention Center. The summit features exhibitors of environmentally friendly products, as well as speakers such as Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills.

Look for the Republican governor to respond to dueling GOP gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, who in their effort to seek conservative votes have called for the suspension or repeal of the greenhouse-gas reduction law that Schwarzenegger signed in 2006.

Compiled by Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau

In case you missed it:

California has its share of crazy cities, at least if we're measuring shrinks, booze and general weirdness.

The National Organization for Marriage has weighed in on California's U.S. Senate race.

New Assembly speaker John A. Pérez came into office the way former speaker Karen Bass went out -- giving raises to staff members.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Jack Chang will have a full report on tonight's debate between Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman.

Jim Sanders has more on Speaker Pérez's staff raises.

Dan Walters

A national group opposed to gay marriage on Monday launched 30-second ads attacking Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell for his stance against Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved initiative to define marriage in the state constitution as between a man and a woman.

The New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage said it is spending $275,000 on ads that suggest Campbell, a moderate Republican, is not much different from "liberal Barbara Boxer." The ads are largely airing on cable television with large numbers of Republican voters, including the Sacramento region, San Diego County and Orange County, according to NOM executive director Brian Brown.

They are first television ads to air for or against any of the U.S. Senate candidates in California this year. Brown said NOM paid for the ads as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, which is not required to disclose its donors.

The NOM ad makes two points about Campbell's positions last year supporting some temporary tax hikes to help offset a $40 billion budget deficit, suggesting that his tax views are little different from Boxer's. The ad's final point is that Campbell opposed Proposition 8, like Boxer.

In early polls, Campbell has been leading the three-way GOP Senate primary over former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Both of Campbell's opponents say they oppose gay marriage.

"It was important for us to get this up because he has high name I.D. from his public service early in his career and from running for governor," Brown said. "I think he's avoided talking about his extreme liberal positions."

(By Rob Hotakainen in Washington)

Sacramento is the nation's 43rd craziest city.

That's according to DailyBeast.com, which ranked cities in an analysis based on stress, psychiatrists per capita, eccentricity and drinking levels.

Cincinnati ranked as the craziest city in the United States, followed by San Francisco.

California was well-represented on the list, with Oakland ranked No. 11, followed by San Diego (No. 22) Los Angeles (No. 27), Riverside (No. 34), Anaheim (No. 40) and San Jose (No. 42).

Sacramento ranked 10th in drinking, 32nd in psychiatrists per capita, 45th in stress and 49th in eccentricity.

Sacramento was noted for its local color: "There is a memorial plaque on the state Capitol grounds for Senator Capitol Kitty, a black cat that roamed the area for 13 years until it died in 2004."

Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah and the Mormon church, is - to no one's surprise - considered to be the nation's least crazy large city, although No. 52 Indianapolis was rated just slightly less eccentric than Salt Lake City. The complete list is available here.

The Bee's Dan Walters contributed to this post.

At last, what political junkies have been waiting for -- the Meg Whitman-Steve Poizner smackdown.

OK, we can't promise a wrestling match, but we can say there's a debate scheduled today between the two Republican candidates for governor.

Hosted by Republican group New Majority California, the event will be streamed live from Costa Mesa starting at 5:30 p.m. at www.sacbee.com/live.

Conan Nolan of KNBC-Los Angeles will moderate. The debate is expected to last about an hour. For more about the format, click here.

Back in Sacramento, there's a poetry smackdown in the Senate chambers as high school students from across California compete in the Poetry Out Loud state finals, starting at 8:30 a.m.

Maybe someone will recite Carl Sandburg's poem called "Government," which he wrote about 100 years ago. Here's part of it:

"A Government is just as secret and mysterious and sensitive
as any human sinner carrying a load of germs..."

Today's winner will carry his or her load of words to Washington, D.C., for the national semifinals and finals on April 26 and 27.

As for the more prosaic folks under the dome, legislative schedules this week are crowded with committee hearings.

Today the Assembly Utilities and Senate Energy committees review the California Public Utilities Commission as well as its Division of Ratepayer Advocates.

Both PUC President Michael Peevey and division head Dana Appling are expected to testify. Look for that hearing in the Capitol's Room 4202 starting at 3 p.m.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner told the California Republican Party's convention in Santa Clara that he's the true conservative in the race while delivering his standard campaign speech with a few variations tonight.

The insurance commissioner promised to cut sales, income, corporate and capital gains taxes and repeated his hard line on immigration, which he unveiled yesterday, saying he would deny state services to all illegal immigrants.

Both Poizner and U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, who introduced him via video, said the gubernatorial candidate would uphold the party's principles in a period of self-examination by many in the party.

"We get in trouble as a party when we elect Republicans in Sacramento and in Washiington, D.C., that abandon these conservative principles," Poizner said. "I'm going to impelement some conservative reforms that work."

McClintock started the theme on his video: "I've heard some Republicans say we need to rebrand our party. We don't need to rebrand our principles. We need to return to them. We need Steve Poizner."

McClintock also worked in a dig at Poizner rival Meg Whitman by questioning her conservative credentials and saying, "We can't afford to offer California Arnold Schwarzenegger's third term."

Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei responded to McClintock's comment: "While Meg Whitman has been clear on her position that we need to lower taxes, create jobs and cut government spending, Commissioner Poizner changed his position on just about every issue to cover up his liberal record. Meg Whitman is the clear leader California needs to turn around the economy and crate jobs unlike Commissioner Poizner who changes his positions with the political winds."

Pompei also noted that Poizner did not furlough employees at the Department of Insurance while Schwarzenegger ordered furloughs across state government to deal with the budget crisis.

"Does Tom McClintock support that?" Pompei asked.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore said he expects to be have a hard time being heard this primary amid the Republican gubernatorial primary ads that will hit the airwaves this spring. It's a complaint other candidates have made as gubernatorial rivals Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner prepare to fight an ultra-expensive primary battle.

DeVore said he would not depend on TV advertising in his race against Senate rivals Carly Fiorina and Tom Campbell.

"What's the point?" DeVore said at a news conference Saturday afternoon at the state Republicans' convention in Santa Clara. "If I'm competing against $50 million of TV advertising from Poizner and Whitman, let's assume that Carly Fiorina carves out $1.5 million, you want even notice her ads in between, what is it, fun Poizner fact #12, #32 and the inevitable counter attack."

DeVore also said he's a distant cousin of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown.

"My mom remembers seeing him at a family gathering in the Bay Area when she was 12 and he was about 15 and she told me, 'He was weird even then,'" DeVore said.

Over muffins and coffee, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's media strategist Stuart Stevens shared some of the thinking this morning behind Poizner's campaign, which has puzzled some with its hesitant pace while rival Meg Whitman blankets the state in radio and TV ads.

Stevens claims a long resume, having worked on campaigns all over the country - ranging from that of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., to former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Stevens told reporters today that the goal of the campaign would be to paint Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay, as the incumbent of the race as she spends $39 million and counting of her money on her campaign. Poizner has put in $19 million of his own money in his campaign.

From there, the next battle will be winning the change candidate mantle, Stevens said.

"It comes down to the change argument," Stevens said. "Who can bring change?"

When asked whether the Poizner campaign was worried about trailing Whitman more than 30 percentage points in some polls, Stevens said the numbers would change as the race heated up. On that score, he said Whitman running negative ads against Poizner showed that she, in fact, was the one who was worried. Poizner is also running one TV ad combining attacks on Whitman and an introduction of Poizner's stands.

"The reason you go negative is to change the dynamic of the race," Stevens said.

Stevens also appeared Zen-like about the fact that key endorsers such as former state party chairman Bob Naylor had switched their backing to Whitman and that fundraising has appeared to have dried up this year.

"I think a lot of good people have stayed with Steve Poizner and a lot of people are going to stay with Steve Poizner," he said.

After a long day of talking to Republican consultants and activists at the party's convention in Santa Clara, the campaigning followed me back to my room at the Hyatt Regency hotel.

One of the stations on the hotel television was playing on an endless loop a commercial targeting gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner for allegedly flip-flopping his positions.

In the morning, this collection of fliers awaited me by my door.

Two attack Poizner, while one goes after his rival Meg Whitman for also flip-flopping.

The fourth one, a holographic post card, riffs on the infamous "demon sheep" Web ad launched by U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina accusing rival Tom Campbell of being a fake fiscal conscervative.

From one angle, the card looks like a contribe Campbell.

From another, it's a spooky visage of said demon sheep.

The card is credited to FCino.com, an anti-Campbell site paid for by Fiorina's campaign.

The campaigning didn't get this intense at the last Republican convention held in September in Indian Wells. The primary must be less than three months away...

Mickey Kaus, a political blogger on the Slate website, filed papers Friday to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in June's Democratic primary, saying the three-term senator is too tied to liberal interest groups.

"I have no special beef with the incumbent," Kaus said in his announcement. "She is a state-of-the-art Democrat. But to be state-of-the-art" in our party is not such a good thing anymore. State of the art" means the incumbent has learned to please the party's interest groups, often at the expense of the needs of average individuals and the party's own ideals."

Kaus, who lives in Southern California and is the son of former state Supreme Court Justice Otto Kaus, has been especially critical of illegal immigration in his Slate column. He said his status with Slate remains uncertain with his decision to run against Boxer.

Polls indicate that Boxer's approval rating among California voters is less than 50 percent. Three Republicans are vying to for the GOP senatorial nomination.

In case you missed it:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman ended months of hide-and-seek with the news media by spending nearly an hour talking to reporters at the California Republican Party convention in Santa Clara.

Whitman also laid out her ideas for changing the state's public employee pension system, including raising the retirement age to 65 for most state workers.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell apologized for defending a professor who had called for the "death" of Israel and promoted "jihad."

Open primary opponents may not have enough money to mount a huge campaign against Proposition 14 this June, but Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner ordered changes to the ballot summary and fiscal impact statement that lawmakers wrote for the measure last year.

The mystery's over: The campaign to suspend AB 32, California's landmark greenhouse-gas emissions law will be led by a California taxpayer advocacy group and an out-of-state oil refinery company.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced his run for California's next lieutenant governor, declaring he'd use the office sometimes billed as "guv lite" to promote what everyone wants: jobs.

State Sen. Dean Florez said Newsom's decision to seek the post makes it unrealistic for him to continue running.

Tonight's dinner at the state Republican Party's spring convention features Meg Whitman and her mentor, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The Bee asked all three gubernatorial candidates five questions on issues facing the state. Meg Whitman has declined to provide answers. Click here for summaries of both Steve Poizner's and Jerry Brown's answers and videos of their responses.

The Assembly will cut about $7.5 million deeper into its spending next year by order of new Speaker John A. Pérez to demonstrate shared sacrifice during California's economic recession.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Jack Chang has the latest on the California Republican Party's spring convention.

Long-time Bee writer and Capitol bureau wit Steve Wiegand pens his swan song upon retirement.

In a guest op-ed, Jason Clemens and Lloyd Billingsley of the Pacific Research Institute take a look at the biggest lobbyist under the Capitol dome: government itself.

As part of her impromptu press conference today, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman laid out her ideas for changing the state's public employee pension system, which she said was unaffordable.

Among her proposals:

• Increase the retirement age for most state employees from 55 to 65.

• Increase length of vesting periods.

• Raise employee contributions from 5 to 10 percent of salaries.

• New employees come in on "a different deal."

Summing up, Whitman said, "I think the era of a defined benefit program is over relative to a defined contribution plan."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman ended months of hide-and-seek with the news media Friday by spending nearly an hour talking to reporters at the California Republican Party convention in Santa Clara.

She pledged to talk more with news reporters and has planned round tables with news media in the coming week.

Since the last Republican convention in September, Whitman has talked selectively to reporters, largely from the broadcast media. The strategy backfired on Tuesday when she shunned most of the reporters who had been invited to a public event she held in Oakland.

"It is the first of more to come," Whitman said of Friday's impromptu news conference. "We are now getting to the short strokes of the primary."

Whitman talked about a range of issues, including immigration.

She said, for example, that she was not proposing an amnesty for illegal immigrants in October when she told the San Diego Union-Tribune: "Can we get a fair program where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization?"

Whitman explained Friday: "What I did not mean by legalization was amnesty. Sometimes that's a code word for amnesty. If it was, I didn't know it." She said she supported a type of guest worker program instead. She added that she does not support allowing illegal immigrants to attend publicly funded colleges and universities.

Whitman also said she had voted for rival Steve Poizner when he ran for the state Assembly in 2004 because he was the Republican candidate. Whitman lives in the district Poizner was seeking to represent.

She said she would release up to 25 years of her tax returns if and when Democrat Jerry Brown releases his tax returns and said she would look at cutting corrections and higher education personnel to help reduce the state work force by 40,000 people.

She added that she supported a voter initiative reining in public employee pensions but said she wouldn't fund it. She's already spent $39 million of her own money on her campaign.

"This is turning out to be really expensive," she said about her campaign.

The Assembly will cut about $7.5 million deeper into its spending next year by order of new Speaker John A. Pérez to demonstrate shared sacrifice during California's economic recession.

Pérez announced during a swearing-in ceremony Friday that he is directing the Assembly's budget to be cut by 15 percent, which would total about $22.4 million in a projected budget of $149.4 million next year.

Shannon Murphy, Perez's spokeswoman, said the speaker's cut is expected to be implemented quickly, meaning it will encompass about three months of the current fiscal year as well.

No decision has been made on what the Assembly will do with the additional millions it saves. Murphy said that the Assembly Rules Committee will be asked to develop a budget-cutting plan.

Pérez, D-Los Angeles, did not elaborate at Friday's oath-of-office event in Los Angeles, which came 11 days after the Los Angeles Democrat was honored in a similar ceremony on the Assembly floor.

Rather than by imposing furloughs, layoffs or pay cuts, the 15 percent cut is expected to be implemented by cutting expenditures, such as furnishings, equipment, maintenance and perhaps travel, according to Jon Waldie, Assembly administrator.

The Assembly thus far has avoided the thrice-monthly furloughs imposed on most state workers or the once-monthly furloughs imposed on Senate aides.

Pérez's 15 percent reduction ups the ante in belt-tightening ordered by his predecessor, Karen Bass, who diverted about 10 percent of the Assembly budget in each of the past two years, and roughly the same percentage for the final six months of 2007-08.

Bass also voluntarily cut the Assembly's baseline budget by $1.7 million this fiscal year, which will result in permanent lost revenue of at least that amount each year under a funding formula in Proposition 140, passed by voters nearly two decades ago.

Open primary opponents may not have enough money to mount a huge campaign against Proposition 14 this June, but Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner today ordered changes to the ballot summary and fiscal impact statement that lawmakers wrote for the measure last year.

Sumner ordered that the summary, which is the sole source of information for many voters, contain new wording to make it clear that political parties whose candidates don't finish in the top two in the primary will not be able to participate in the general election.

"This amendment is necessary," Sumner wrote, "to inform voters of a fundamental change that would occur if Proposition 14 is adopted: The elimination of the constitutional right of a political party that has participated in a primary election for a partisan office to participate in the general election for that office."

Also, Sumner declared that Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor didn't have enough information from county elections' officials to say that the measure would cause "no significant net change in state and local government costs to administer elections."

Instead, the summary should say "The data are insufficient to identify the amount of any increase or decrease in costs to administer elections," Sumner ordered.

California School Employees Association sued the Legislature, which placed the measure on the June ballot, seeking to strike language saying the measure "gives voters increased options" and "encourages increased participation."

On that point, Sumner actually expanded the title language, replacing "PRIMARY ELECTION PROCESS REFORM. GREATER PARTICIPATION IN ELECTIONS" to "ELECTIONS. INCREASES RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS."

He said that change was needed "to clarify that "greater participation" refers to the voter's range of choices, not voter turnout."

Read Sumner's decision here.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell apologized Friday for defending a professor at the University of South Florida in 2002 who had called for the "death" of Israel and promoted "jihad."

At a press conference held at the start of the California Republican Party convention in Santa Clara, Campbell said he had made an error in protesting the dismissal of Sami Al-Arian to the university's president.

"That was an error and I deeply regret it," Campbell said. "I saw only the material relevant to the question of whether he was misrepresenting himself as speaking on behalf of that university. I did not see other things he had said but I could have and should have and I regret the error."

Campbell said he had also erred in not returning donations from Al-Arian.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced his run Friday to become California's next lieutenant governor, declaring he'd use the office sometimes billed as "guv lite" to promote what everyone wants: jobs.

Newsom, 42, dropped his bid last October to become the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. He was badly trailing Attorney General Jerry Brown in fundraising and endorsements.

"I have no regrets about dropping out of the governor's race," Newsom told the Bee on Friday morning.

He said he "was looking down the barrel" of a very expensive race with few prospects of raising the kind of cash required.

Plus, he said, at the time he had a newborn baby and felt he couldn't run San Francisco while juggling such monumental fundraising needs.

The lieutenant governor job, widely viewed as a stepping stone to a higher office, isn't going to be as expensive a race.

Newsom said Friday that his baby is older now and his "enthusiastic wife" is backing his decision.

He also said a good friend -- former Assembly Speaker and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown -- urged him to run. "If there's one big reason that this got back on the radar," Newsom said, "it was Willie's encouragement."

Newsom said he feels his background as a businessman in San Francisco is a plus that's little known that he wants to promote. It could help him build an image beyond being a strong advocate for same-sex marriage and social causes popular among progressive voters.

"I'm not profligate as a progressive," Newsom said. "I come from the private sector. I created over 1,000 jobs."

Newsom will square off in the June primary against Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles city councilwoman from a south-state political family. Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, dropped his bid to run for the nomination Friday and endorsed Newsom.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, also endorsed Newsom.

Newsom said he's not daunted by what could become a north-south showdown against Hahn. He said he drew large crowds at rallies in Southern California when running for governor.

"Our values resonate down there," Newsom said. "I'm going to be down there a lot."

The mystery is over: The campaign to suspend California's landmark greenhouse-gas emissions law will be led by an out-of-state oil refinery company and a California taxpayer advocacy group, newly filed documents show.

Valero Energy Corp. and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association were listed as principal officers in organizational documents filed with the state Friday to raise funds to shelve Assembly Bill 32, passed several years ago.

A signature-gathering drive began last week to qualify for the November ballot an initiative to suspend AB 32, which requires California to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020.

Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Linda, and public relations officials hired to assist in the initiative campaign consistently have declined to confirm reports that two Texas-based oil companies, Valero and Tesoro Corp., are financing the effort.

Public records filed Friday removed some of the mystery, identifying officers of the fundraising committee as Scott Folwarkow, Valero's director of government affairs in California, and Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The records did not identify donors, however, and Coupal declined to discuss details, including Tesoro's reported involvement, pending the filing of other disclosure documents.

"I'm not at liberty to say who's going to be part of it," he said. "There are going to be a lot of businesses, big and small, that are under the yoke of AB 32 regulations. We'll have a broad coalition."

Named the California Jobs Initiative Committee, the effort led by Coupal and Folwarkow described itself in Friday's documents as a "coalition of taxpayers, employers, food producers, energy, transportation and forestry companies." Names of participating firms were not listed.

Steve Maviglio, spokesman for a coalition fighting the initiative, contends that the reason for the signature-gathering drive's secrecy has been fear of a backlash if voters knew that out-of-state oil companies were bankrolling the drive.

Opponents of AB 32 contend it could hurt California's economy and hamper unemployment by costing businesses billions to implement. Supporters counter that the measure is vital to the environment and to attracting a wave of "green technology" firms to the state.

The initiative, if passed by voters, would suspend AB 32 until California's unemployment level drops to 5.5 percent for at least a year.

State Sen. Dean Florez has decided not to run for lieutenant governor after all.

The Shafter Democrat, in a letter to supporters, said that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's decision to seek the post makes it unrealistic for him to continue running. Newsom announced his candidacy today.

Polls show that "he commands a formidable lead that would be hard to surmount," Florez wrote.

Florez thanked supporters for their help, but said, "As an African proverb says, 'When the music changes, so must the dance.' Well, the music has changed, and sadly so has the dance."

"While it hurts to undo so much hard work, I'm not embittered about this predicament," he said. "I am pragmatic enough to recognize that politics is unpredictable."

Florez said that he will continue fighting for his constituents in the Senate until he is termed out in December, and that he will use his campaign funds to help elect a Democratic governor and other party candidates.

Newsom and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who is running for attorney general, are two candidates that Florez vowed to assist.

"Make no mistake, I want to see our party succeed in the upcoming election," he said.

Today's the filing deadline for folks who want to run for state and legislative offices.

There is an exception: If you want to run for a seat now held by an incumbent -- and that incumbent is eligible to run again but doesn't file -- you get five extra days to make up your mind.

Let's see. Incumbent, eligible, but doesn't file. How about guv-wannabe Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner?

Meanwhile, there's some question about whether Sen. Dean Florez is going to run for lieutenant governor.

As our colleague E.J. Schultz notes over at the Fresno Bee news blog, the Shafter Democrat hasn't filed official papers yet, plus he "has not reported any campaign donations since early January and has not attended several recent endorsement meetings."

Will it be Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn battling it out with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for the Democratic light guv nod?

Today's also the first day of the California Republican Party's spring convention, which runs through Sunday.

Tonight's dinner features guv-wannabe Meg Whitman and her mentor, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Whitman won't be giving any news conferences at the convention this weekend, unlike rival Poizner, who'll be doing a standup shortly before Whitman and Romney give their speeches.

Saturday's luncheon at the convention will feature U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina and Damon Dunn, who's running for secretary of state.

Poizner will be featured at Saturday's dinner, along with Fiorina's rivals, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and former Rep. Tom Campbell.

GOV2010: The Bee asked all three gubernatorial candidates five questions on issues facing the state. Meg Whitman has declined to provide answers. Click here for summaries of both Steve Poizner's and Jerry Brown's answers and videos of their responses.

BILL WATCH: Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, touts his Senate Bill 220, which would require health insurance plans to cover devices, methods and services for people trying to quit using tobacco. San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar and representatives from the American Lung Association and other groups are also expected to attend the 10 a.m. news conference at San Francisco General.

In case you missed it:

GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, who gave bumpy news conferences at the last two GOP conventions, has made sure there's no repeat at this weekend's state Republican party gathering: She won't be giving one.

TV viewers will be seeing a lot more of Whitman in coming weeks as she starts running half-hour television ads on cable stations around the state.

Speaker John A. Pérez will be sworn in as leader of the lower house tomorrow -- for the second time -- in Los Angeles.

Targeting California's bitter budget fights, Democratic legislative leaders proposed a wide-ranging overhaul that would allow lawmakers to pass budgets by a simple-majority vote and would require them to forfeit pay if they are late in passing a spending plan.

Will state or county coffers pick up the $1.6 million taxpayer tab for Mike Duvall's sexual bragging?

Exports through California ports continued their recent rebound in January, according to a University of California analysis of new federal data.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Amy Chance gives Meg Whitman's and Steve Poizner's books a read.

Mike Doyle reports from Washington that California lawmakers from across the political
spectrum voiced continued frustration with the Obama administration's handling of the state's water problems.

Dan Walters writes that "there's nothing to prevent the Legislature from reforming itself internally" -- even if the reforms proposed by Democratic legislative leaders today don't wind up making it out of the Legislature.

The Bee's editorial board writes that legislators took some steps Thursday to challenge the conventional wisdom that political reform must come from the ballot box.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez will be sworn-in as leader of the lower house Friday -- for the second time.

Déjà vu all over again.

Pérez will take the oath of office in a ceremony at the Japanese-American Museum in Los Angeles, 11 days after a similar swearing-in attended by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and numerous other elected officials was held on the Assembly floor.

Jon Waldie, Assembly administrator, said that Friday's event will not be financed with public funds.

Pérez, 40, will be sworn into office by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge M.L. Villar.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Pérez's cousin, is scheduled to attend the event.

Guests are expected to include former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat; Maria Elena Durazo, a leader of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton; former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles; and U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, a former Democratic legislator and Board of Equalization member.

California TV viewers will be seeing a lot more of Meg Whitman in coming weeks as the GOP gubernatorial candidate starts running half-hour television ads on cable stations around the state, campaign strategist Mike Murphy says.

Whitman filmed one such ad last night at the OC Pavillion in Santa Ana, where supporters were invited to a private event and then told the proceedings would be filmed, Murphy said. Several audience members were invited on stage to ask questions of Whitman about education, the budget deficit and other topics.

A campaign volunteer of Whitman rival Steve Poizner entered the event and reported back what had happened in an e-mail and video sent out by the Poizner campaign.

Another political operative - Jeremy Thompson, working for the California Accountability Project funded by the Democratic Governors Association - tried to get in but was turned back by Whitman aides. He did film video of his encounter with Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei.

UPDATE: Santa Ana police were called to the OC Pavilion after someone reported that Thompson was refusing to leave the venue, said Santa Ana police Corp. Anthony Bertagna, who wouldn't say who called the police. Thompson was not arrested.

OC Pavilion general manager Philippe Antoine told The Bee his security members did not call police.

Nick Velasquez, of the acountability project, sent out an e-mail this afternoon demanding an apology from the Whitman campaign.

"We demand that Meg Whitman explain her campaigns actions, and apologize for the manhandling of a member of our team who was in possession of a ticket for the event, and was not filming or in any way being disruptive," Velasquez wrote.

When asked who called the police on Thompson, Whitman communications director Tucker Bounds responded, "The entire situation is a shenanigan being pushed by our opponent, and it's ridiculous."

Bounds added, "I am dearly sorry that our campaign is not featuring paid operatives for our opponents in our campaign advertising."

After giving bumpy news conferences at the last two Republican conventions, GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has made sure there's no repeat at this weekend's state Republican party gathering in Santa Clara. Her last conference at the convention in Indian Wells, in which Whitman tried to explain her scant voting record, is still circulating in the blogosphere.

Whitman's solution this time: not schedule any news conferences. Her Republican rival Steve Poizner, on the other hand, will be holding a conference just an hour before Whitman and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney address the convention Friday night.

U.S. Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore are scheduled to give news conferences, although their rival, the normally talkative Tom Campbell, does not have one on the convention agenda.

Whitman's campaign has had a rough week with the media after inviting reporters to an event Tuesday in Oakland but speaking only to a conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Whitman, center, shakes hands with Yubert Fang, right, and Phyllis Rokus after announcing her candidacy for governor Sept. 22, 2009, in Fullerton. (AP Photo/ Cheryl A. Guerrero)

Targeting California's bitter budget fights, Democratic legislative leaders proposed a wide-ranging overhaul Thursday that would allow lawmakers to pass budgets by a simple-majority vote and would require them to forfeit pay if they are late in passing a spending plan.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez hailed the package as a way to restore public confidence by making the budget process more efficient and ensuring that costly new programs are not approved without a way of paying for them.

"We all know that California's system of finance is broken," said Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

Added Pérez, "Californians are frustrated with the status quo. This needs to be a year of real and meaningful reform."

But Senate Republican leader Dennis Hollingsworth said the GOP could not accept any package that would allow Democrats to pass a budget without any Republican votes.

Exports through California ports continued their recent rebound in January, according to an analysis of new federal data by University of California trade analyst Jock O'Connell.

The value of exports through the state, $10.3 billion, was an 18.5 percent increase over the previous January and the third month of year-over-year increases. It was nearly identical to the nationwide increase in exports.

."Even so, we are now just getting back to the level of exporting we were at in early 2007, before the global financial and economic crisis sent international trade spiraling down," O'Connell said..

O'Connell said he anticipated continued export increases "if only because the economies of most of our major trading partners continue to expand," but added, "The most worrisome prospect involves the risk of fall-out from the financial turmoil now gripping the European Union and especially those countries in the euro zone."

Imports through California also showed a sharp increase, up 14.6 over the previous January to $23 billion.

Here's the taxpayer tab for former Assemblyman Mike Duvall's boasts of sexual conquests: $1.6 million.

A key question, now, is whether state or county coffers will eat it.

Duvall, R-Yorba Linda, resigned from the Assembly in disgrace last September after his bragging about two affairs to a colleague at a Capitol committee hearing was caught on a live microphone.

To replace Duvall, Orange County subsequently held a November special primary election and a January special general election, neither of which would have been necessary if Duvall had fulfilled his Assembly term.

Assembly Bill 1769 by Assemblyman Van Tran, R-Garden Grove, asks the state to reimburse Orange County $804,000 for the primary and $835,000 for the general election in which Republican Chris Norby, of Fullerton, won the seat.

Duvall, after resigning from the Assembly, characterized his graphic description of two affairs as story telling and said he had resigned to avoid being a distraction to legislative colleagues.

AB 1769 is scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee.

UPDATE 12:32 p.m.: Find an updated, post-announcement version of this story here.

Democratic legislative leaders will announce today an effort to place before voters a package of government reforms whose centerpiece would allow budgets to be passed by a simple majority of each legislative house.

Sometimes it pays to have a governor who was born in another country.

The Vienna Boys Choir is making a swing through the United States. That's Vienna as in Austria, from whence Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged to make his fame and fortune.

Last night the choir was set to stop in Chico. Friday evening, the boys sing at the UC Davis Mondavi Center. Today, at Schwarzenegger's request, they perform free in the state Capitol rotunda from noon to 12:45 p.m.

Their repertoire ranges these days from Mozart to Talking Heads. Schwarzenegger's campaign theme song back in 2003 was Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It." Think they can learn it by noon?

Meanwhile, Monday is the Secretary of State's deadline for changing measures on the June ballot. That means all of the many lawsuits over ballot arguments and proposition language have to be settled by then.

In case you missed it:

Ted Costa, a leader in pushing for a ballot initiative to suspend AB 32, says he now opposes the effort and is willing to write a ballot argument against it.

The California Teachers Association has spent more than $200 million on campaign contributions and lobbying efforts in the last decade, leading what the Fair Political Practices Commission calls a "billion-dollar club" of moneyed political interests.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's forthcoming book "Mount Pleasant" arrives just in time for the California Republican Party convention this weekend.

Physician Ami Bera of Elk Grove, who's trying to unseat Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River, is now officially a top-tier candidate for Democrats.

California has the nation's worst state tax administration practices, according to the corporate-backed Council on State Taxation.

California's public colleges and universities will face enrollment demand of nearly 400,000 more students by the end of this decade and will need another $1.5 billion a year to handle the growth, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.

Sen. Dave Cox, who's been wearing a patch over his right eye lately, says he likes to think he looks a bit like a certain Israeli general who once was a household name.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Pay to state civil service and California State University workers dropped $800 million, or 4 percent, from 2008 to 2009, according to a Bee analysis.

The California Highway Patrol got off easiest, and the two agencies that help the disabled -- the Department of Developmental Services and the Department of Rehabilitation -- suffered the most. Phillip Reese and Jon Ortiz have that story.

Ortiz also reports that state workers last year used nearly a third less of their paid vacation time than in 2008, a sign that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furloughs will carry a deferred cost for years to come.

And in The State Worker column, Ortiz points out that state employee unions are lining up behind Jerry Brown for governor because they see him as Not Meg Whitman.

Torey Van Oot reports that with less than three months until voters decide whether to abolish party primaries, there is no major campaign to fight Proposition 14, which the Legislature placed on the ballot as part of last year's budget package.

Amy Chance and Jack Chang analyze one of GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's ads attacking opponent Steve Poizner.

The Bee's editorial board writes: "With 'Alice in Wonderland' enjoying a revival in movie houses, it is hard not to notice a similarity between this fantasy tale and California's budget deliberations."

As for the governor's race, Peter Schrag writes: "After a week of media reintroductions, we now know that we have at least one moderate Republican running for governor, and that's Jerry Brown."

Every gubernatorial candidate, it appears, is touting a memoir complete with motivational lessons this election cycle, and Republican Steve Poizner's forthcoming book "Mount Pleasant" fits the bill. It also arrives just in time for the California Republican Party convention this weekend.

The book, published by the Portfolio imprint of the Penguin Group, describes the year Poizner spent volunteering at Mount Pleasant High School in San Jose, including the spring semester of 2003 in which he taught a U.S. history class. Poizner is the only credited author of the book.

Earlier this year, Republican rival Meg Whitman released her own book "The Power of Many," for which Whitman and former Business Week writer Joan O' C. Hamilton receive author credits, describing her personal and professional trajectory and especially her decade-long tenure as CEO of online auction firm eBay.

Democrat Jerry Brown's literary output includes "Dialogues," a 1998 compilation of interviews he conducted as the host of a show on the liberal radio network Pacifica.

Poizner's book talks about his time growing up in Houston and starting his two Silicon Valley companies and includes lengthy passages about serving as a White House fellow in the George W. Bush administration. However, it spends most of its 240 pages describing the scene at Mount Pleasant and his support of charter schools.

A leader in pushing for a ballot initiative to suspend California's landmark greenhouse-gas emissions law said Wednesday that he now opposes the effort and is willing to write a ballot argument against it.

Ted Costa, of People's Advocate, said he continues to believe in the thrust of the initiative but that the signature-gathering campaign has been "stolen" by big-money interests that have not identified themselves publicly.

"You ruin the whole organization when you go through this kind of muck," said Costa, who helped craft an early version of the initiative but was elbowed out of the drive in the jockeying to recruit backers.

Two large Texas-based oil companies, Valero and Tesoro, are the key financiers behind the signature-gathering drive, according to sources. The campaign's public relations officials consistently have declined to confirm that.

The California Teachers Association has spent more than $200 million on campaign contributions and lobbying efforts in the last decade, leading what the Fair Political Practices Commission calls a "billion-dollar club" of moneyed political interests.

The FPPC's report, entitled "Big Money Talks," delves into the 25 biggest - at least in financial terms - political players in the state, which have collectively spent $1.3 billion on political action in the last 10 years.

"This tsunami of special interest spending drowns out the voices of average voters," FPPC chairman Ross Johnson said in a statement, "and intimidates political opponents and elected officials alike."

The $211.9 million spent by the CTA is nearly twice as much as the $107.5 million committed by the second-highest spender, the California State Council of Service Employees, but after those two union groups, the remaining 13 on the Top 15 list are all either business groups, such as No. 3 Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America ($104.9 million), individual corporations or casino-owning Indian tribes, which have three of the 15 top spots.

Collectively, the top 15 spent just over $1 billion during the decade, while the next 10 spent $271 million. They are also a mixture of unions, businesses and Indian tribes.

The report provides details on each big spender's campaign contributions and lobbying expenses, and identifies their spending on ballot measures, which generally consumed far more of the total than contributions to politicians or lobbying expenses. The CTA, for example, directed $144.1 million into ballot measures, including more than $50 million to defeat a series of 2005 measures sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The full report can be found at the FPPC's website here.

By Rob Hotakainen in Washington

Physician Ami Bera of Elk Grove is officially a top-tier candidate for Democrats.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) today announced that Bera, who's trying to unseat Republican Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River, is one of 13 candidates who have earned a spot in the committee's competitive Red to Blue program.

It's recognition of a candidate's ability to raise money. Bera has been raising more money than Lungren since entering the race last year. Lungren, an eight-term incumbent, ended 2009 with $527,000 in the bank, while Bera had 40 percent more, or $740,000. According to their year-end reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Bera raised $871,000 during 2009, while Lungren raised $733,000.

"These candidates have come out of the gate strong and the Red to Blue Program will give them the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November," said Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the DCCC's chairman. "These candidates are generating excitement back home and are making the case to voters that their commitment to creating jobs and standing up for the middle class is far better than turning back the clock to the failed Bush policies of the past."

The Red to Blue program offers candidates financial, communications, grassroots, and strategic support.

Democrats have been targeting Lungren since he won his last race with less than 50 percent of the vote.

California has the nation's worst state tax administration practices, the Council on State Taxation, a corporate-backed and Washington-based tax study organization, says in a new report.

California scored a D-minus, the lowest score of any state, on an eight-criterion assessment, a notch lower than seven other "D" states. Alaska, at A-minus, scored the highest.

"It is a common truth that taxpayers will more fully and willingly comply with a tax system they perceive to be balanced, fair, and effective," the organization said. "Taxpayers operating in a system they perceive as oppressive, unfair, or otherwise biased are less likely to voluntarily comply. The clear message to state legislatures is that they must be sensitive to the compliance implications and competitiveness concerns created by poor tax administrative rules and ineffective tax appeal systems."

California was rated especially poorly on the independence of its tax dispute resolution process. A three-member board composed of politicians or their surrogates, the Franchise Tax Board, oversees personal and corporate tax collection. A five-member board of elected officials, the Board of Equalization, handles appeals from the Franchise Tax Board, directly collects sales taxes and oversees property tax administration.

The full COST report may be found here.

California's public colleges and universities will face enrollment demand of nearly 400,000 more students by the end of this decade and will need another $1.5 billion in operating revenue to handle the growth, a new report from the California Postsecondary Education Commission estimates.

"If this additional funding is not forthcoming, and if the systems implement enrollment cuts as they propose, as many as 278,000 students might lose the opportunity to attend college between 2009 and 2011 alone," says the report's cover letter.

The state's community colleges and state universities and the University of California now handle some 2.36 million undergraduate students and demand is expected to increase to 2.75 million by 2019, the report said.

It was presented to a commission meeting today in the midst of political angst in the Capitol over a deficit-riddled state budget and student protests against sharp increases in student fees. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a constitutional amendment aimed at reversing the current proportion of state spending devoted to colleges and prisons. The ratio is now about 7 percent for colleges and 10 percent for prisons.

The commission's forecast did not include costs of building classrooms and other physical facilities, which would add more billions to the cost of handling the projected student load. The full report, entitled "Ready or Not, Here They Come," is available here.

Anyone observing the state Senate of late may have noticed Sen. Dave Cox, the Fair Oaks Republican, is wearing a patch over his right eye.

Cox says the patch was prescribed to treat an eye condition, temporarily, and he likes to think he looks a bit like a certain Israeli general who once was a household name.

"I'm imitating Moshe Dayan. It adds to my image," Cox said. "Are you old enough to remember who Moshe Dayan was?"

Dayan, for those who don't remember, was the tough Israeli defense minister whose name dominated headlines during the Six Day War back in 1967 between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

As foreign minister, Dayan also helped negotiate the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

Any lessons for the legislators in this?

PHOTO CREDIT: Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, hugs Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, on Feb. 11 at the Capitol in Sacramento. Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee

Spring cleaning, anyone?

California nurses are delivering a sanitizing gift to officials from a trade group that represents lobbyists today.

The nurses plan to drop off a container of disinfectant cleaner to show their support for Proposition 15, the June ballot measure they say will "clean up" politics by instituting a pilot program for public financing of the campaign for secretary of state.

The trade group, Institute of Governmental Advocates, filed a lawsuit earlier this year to strike down the measure as unconstitutional before it made it to the ballot. The lobbyists, who would foot the bill for the "public funds" with increased fees, argued that the measure would violate First Amendment rights.

A judge dismissed the suit, saying voters should have their say first.

Representatives from the California Nurses Association will be joined by officials from Californians for Fair Elections, the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Consumer Federation of California at the 11:35 a.m. presser outside the California Healthcare Association offices.

The Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee and the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee launch a public probe of the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board today.

The 9:30 a.m. hearing will focus on current procedures and practices that critics say have made it more difficult for Division of Occupational Safety and Health to prosecute employers who break health and safety regulations and created more leeway in reaching settlements.

The Senate Rules Committee also takes up several appointments, including former Republican Assemblywoman Sharon Runner to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board.

Runner, who's married to GOP Sen. George Runner, was previously appointed to a $128,000-a-year gig on the Agriculture Labor Relations Board. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled that highly criticized nomination and appointed her to the UIAB post, which pays a similar salary, last March.

In case you missed it yesterday, colleague Steve Wiegand reported that the Citizens Compensation Commission will consider next month taking another 10 percent whack at the salaries of constitutional officers and state legislators.

And on the topic of salaries, The Bee has updated our state worker salary database to include 2009 salaries for all state of California civil service and CSU employees. Click here to search the data.

In case you missed it:

The Citizens Compensation Commission has scheduled an April meeting to consider taking another 10 percent slice out of the already-reduced compensation of constitutional officers and state legislators.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the impact that implementing AB 32 will have on job creation in the state.

BOE member Bill Leonard wasn't the only one who got a boost from his appointment as secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency.

Karen Bass cut another check for a proposed initiative to repeal Proposition 11.

A leading conservative activist has called on Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn, who announced this week that he is gay, to resign.

The certified candidates have been set for two upcoming special elections to fill vacant seats in the Legislature.

GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner has snagged the endorsement of conservative U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Schwarzenegger said Tuesday he wants California to go green with the implementation of AB 32, but he also repeated his support for a proposal anathema to some environmental groups: expanding oil drilling off the coast. Steve Wiegand has the story.

Amy Chance and Jack Chang check the facts in GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's new ad attacking rival Steve Poizner.

Dan Walters marks the one-year anniversary of the jailing of a critic of Los Angeles County's practice of giving judges nearly $50,000 a year extra over their state-paid salaries.

Columnist Dan Morain writes about recent talks on a deal that might have spelled the demise of Proposition 14, the open primary measure on the June ballot, calling it "an especially underhanded play."

Still smarting from an 18 percent slice to their paychecks last December, California's constitutional officers and legislators may take another salary-and-benefits hit next month.

The state's Citizens Compensation Commission is scheduled to meet April 22 in Burbank to consider a proposal to cut compensation for California's top elected officials by 10 percent.

"That's been proposed to us by other people, so it's on the agenda," said commission president Charles Murray.

The commission, which was created by voters in 1990, voted last year to cut legislative pay by $20,917 annually and salaries of other constitutional officers by at least $28,624. Commissioners reasoned that in light of the state's ongoing budget woes, everyone should share the pain of making do with less.

Except for five leaders, who make slightly more, lawmakers now make $95,291, while constitutional officers' pay ranges from $173,987 for the governor to $130,490 for members of the Board of Equalization. Legislators also get about $142 a day in tax-free expense money when the Legislature is in session, plus a car allowance and gas card.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger defended the state's greenhouse gas reduction law today, dismissing a Legislative Analyst's conclusion that determined the measure would cost the state jobs in the near term.

"I travel up and down the state, unlike others that only have theoretical opinions," the governor said during a brief sidewalk news conference after giving a speech at a downtown Sacramento hotel. "I see first hand ... that all kinds of (green industry) places want to expand, all we have to do is give them the incentives, the tax incentives and the job creation packages. I know that AB 32 will create jobs."

On Monday, the nonpartisan analyst released a 10-page letter that concluded the 2006 measure, which seeks to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, would have negative short-term effects and uncertain long-term effects on the jobs market.

The law is the target of a proposed initiative, primarily financed by two Texas-based oil companies. The measure would delay AB 32 from being fully implemented until the state's unemployment rate drops below 5.5 percent for four straight quarters.

Schwarzenegger, who was and is an ardent champion of the law, said it wouldn't work unless "we show consistency." The Republican governor likened it to environmental regulations promulgated by President Jimmy Carter that he said were undone by Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, because oil prices dropped and made green technology less economically desirable.

"We can't change these things every five minutes when the economy goes up and down," Schwarzenegger said. "I'm absolutely convinced that AB 32 will create more jobs than kill jobs, and this is why I insist we keep it in place."

The candidate fields have been set for the upcoming April 13 special elections to fill the seats vacated by Republican Sen. John Benoit (SD 37) and Democratic Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (AD 43).

Alert readers will recall that Benoit resigned his Senate seat to take an appointment to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, and Krekorian left the lower house after he was elected to the Los Angeles City Council.

Below is a list of the candidates and their respective ballot designations, as released yesterday by the Secretary of State. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote in April, the top vote-getter from each party advances to a run-off election that has been consolidated with the June 8 statewide primary.

SD 37 candidates:
• Justin Blake (Democratic) - School Board Member
• Arthur Bravo Guerrero (Democratic) - Educator/Businessman
• Anna Nevenic (Democratic) - Registered Nurse/Author
• Russ Bogh (Republican) - Businessman
• Bill Emmerson (Republican) - Assemblymember/Educator
• David W. Peters (Republican) - No Ballot Designation
• Matt Monica (American Independent) - School Board Member

AD 43 candidates:
• Mike Gatto (Democratic) - Educator/Attorney
• Chahe Keuroghelian (Democratic) - Small Business Owner
• Nayiri Nahabedian (Democratic) - Boardmember, Glendale Unified School District
• Sunder Ramani (Republican) - Small Business Owner

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner made more progress today scoring the support of his party's conservative wing by winning the endorsement of U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, according to a news release from the Poizner campaign.

Rohrabacher is a staunch critic of illegal immigration and a prominent skeptic of human-caused climate change. Poizner won the endorsement last week of another noteworthy California conservative, U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, and also of the conservative California Republican Assembly at its convention in Buena Park.

Both Poizner and rival Meg Whitman spoke to the CRA convention.

His GOP colleagues in the state Senate don't seem publicly bothered, but since Sen. Roy Ashburn admitted Monday that he was gay he's catching flak from one of the state's most ardent arch-conservative activists.

Randy Thommason, president of SaveCalifornia.com, is calling on the Bakersfield senator to resign, declaring in a press release that: "His lying, cheating ways have boiled over and the public's trust has been shattered."

Sen. Dave Cox, the Fair Oaks Republican, said, "Everybody has an opinion. There's no one in our caucus asking for him to resign."

Thommason also lashed out at Ashburn for breaking the law -- the senator was arrested on a DUI last week and apologized -- and for voting in the Senate last year for a tax increase as part of a way to fill a budget deficit.

Ashburn was divorced in 2003, but Thommason criticized him anyway for straying from marriage and said that "no one is truly gay."

"He vowed to be faithful to his wife, then broke his vows when he chose homosexuality over his marriage," Thommason said. "Now that he has openly identified with the 'LGBT' lifestyle, Ashburn is dramatically out of step with his constituents, has lost their trust, and is in danger of voting against their conservative family values."

Ashburn said in a radio interview Monday he has consistently voted against gay-rights measures while in the Legislature for 14 years because he believes that's what constituents wanted.

Cox said he thinks sexual orientation is a "private matter," and that it's an open question how Ashburn will choose to vote in the future on measures that have to do with sexual orientation.

"He's very good at the legislative process," Cox said of Ashburn. Until Ashburn is termed out later this year, Cox said, "he can still be an effective legislator for his district."

Former Assembly Speaker and U.S. House hopeful Karen Bass has chipped another $30,000 into an effort to eliminate the Citizens Redistricting Commission established under Proposition 11.

Bass, who cut the contribution check from her Strengthening California Through Leadership ballot issues account, previously gave $20,000 to the Financial Accountability in Redistricting Act, which would give the responsibility of redrawing state legislative and Board of Equalization district lines back to the Legislature.

The campaign also reported a $50,000 donation from an account run by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and $5,000 from Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson's campaign coffers.

More than a dozen current House Democrats have reported giving more than $140,000 to the effort last month.

Members' moves to bankroll the measure to repeal the commission come as one of the major donors for Proposition 11 pours his own cash into a measure that would expand the citizen panel's responsibilities to include redrawing congressional districts.

Also from the campaign cash file:

• The California Teachers Association funnelled another $500,000 into a measure it is sponsoring that would repeal corporate tax benefits approved in last year's budget deal. This latest contribution brings the CTA's total investment in the proposed initiative to more than $1.2 million.

• The campaign committee for a proposed initiatve to ban the Legislature from borrowing cash from local transit and government funds to balance the budget reported $195,000 from the League of California Cities.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to name Board of Equalization member Bill Leonard as secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, spokesman Aaron McLear said.

Leonard replaces Fred Aguiar, who left to become a deputy chief of staff to the governor.

He takes charge of an agency that has seen its share of trouble in recent months, including a report in The Bee that Department of General Services officials spent $5.5 million on new vehicles that it left sitting idle for months.

After 36 years in elected office as a member of the minority party, including 24 in the Legislature and nearly eight on the board, Leonard said he is looking forward to an administrative job.

The fiscal conservative, one of the original "Prop. 13 babies" elected in 1978, said the position will give him a chance to crack down on spending in the bureaucracy, especially in recessionary times. "People are hurting," he said, "and (wasteful government spending) just galls me."

Leonard will resign his post on the Board of Equalization to take the $175,000-a-year job.

But Leonard isn't the only one getting a plum promotion with the appointment.

A proposed agreement to change to the ballot language for Proposition 14 has sparked a possible legal showdown days before the deadline for finalizing materials for the June primary election.

Proposition 14, which was placed on the ballot by legislators last year as part of the February budget package, would replace the current Party primaries with a system in which voters of all political affiliations cast votes in a single primary election. The two candidates who receive the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, would advance to run-off election.

The current ballot title and summary for the Prop 14 states that the measure "encourages increased participation.... by reforming the procedure by which candidates are selected in primary elections" and "gives voters increased options by allowing all voters to chose any candidate regardless of the candidate's or voter's political preference."

The California School Employees Association filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court Friday to strike those and other provisions approved by the Legislature on the basis that they presented "a completely biased description (of the measure) that in our opinion would not stand the test of the court's evaluation on impartially," according to CSEA Assistant Director of Governmental Relations David Low.

A draft of an agreement to change the language reached between the petitioners and the Legislative Counsel is set to be reviewed at a hearing scheduled for Friday.

But representatives from the Yes on 14 Campaign are filing their own legal complaint, demanding that the courts throw out the proposed agreement.

Steve Merksamer, an attorney for the campaign, alleged yesterday that opponents and the Legislature are colluding to "transform the title and summary and ballot label into a campaign piece against Proposition 14."

Merksamer and other Prop 14 supporters want the Legislative Counsel to defend the ballot language as written in court this week or allow them to intervene to argue in support of the measure.

The California Republican Assembly, the 75-year-old GOP "grassroots" group that was once referred to by Ronald Reagan as "the conscience of the Republican Party," got together at Knott's Berry Farm's hotel over the weekend.

The group (presumably between excursions to Camp Snoopy or rides on "Montezooma's Revenge") gave its formal blessings to various GOP candidates in the June primary race, including Steve Poizner for governor and Chuck DeVore for the U.S. Senate.

Endorsements from the CRA, which is generally regarded as representing the most conservative elements of the party, were once highly prized by Reep candidates because they promised the help of thousands of activists walking precincts and slapping up posters. Nowadays, the endorsements are more valuable in establishing a candidate's rock-ribbed conservatism among GOP voters.

The endorsements aren't easy to get, taking a two-thirds vote of the delegates. You can find a list of the endorsees here.

Just like the late comedian, sometimes it seems the Golden State just can't get no respect.

Take this weekend. Here's the National Public Radio quiz show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," going on and on about the "new law" in California that prohibits residents from cussing for a week.

"It's a law?" asks one incredulous panelist.

Yup, assures the host, passed by the Assembly and everything.

Uh, actually it was just a non-binding resolution that asked Californians to tone it down, language-wise. In fact, the state Senate said *&%$& no, we're not even taking it up because of the *^#%* budget mess."

But the facts didn't deter a long "that's goofy California" riff.

It's enough to make you want to mutter an expletive.

By Rob Hotakainen in Washington

Former business star Carly Fiorina formally filed today as a Republican candidate for U.S. senator, putting her name on the June primary ballot.

She'll oppose Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and former Rep. Tom Campbell.

In case you missed it:

Nearly a week after his DUI arrest prompted questions about his sexual orientation, Bakersfield Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn told radio station KERN he is gay. The interview can be heard here. The Bee's Hector Amezcua captured former state Sen. Sheila Kuehl talking about Ashburn's dilemma.

Carly Fiorina made it official: She's a U.S. Senate candidate.

California just can't get no respect, even from NPR.

The California Republican Assembly went with Steve Poizner over Meg Whitman and made some other choices for the upcoming GOP primary.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Susan Ferriss has the full story on Ashburn's coming out.

The Legislative Analyst's Office says California's landmark greenhouse gas reduction law could cost jobs in the near term, while its long-term impact is uncertain. Steve Wiegand has the story.

Dan Walters writes that

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. Click here to see a collection of his work.

Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn, who has been on leave from the Senate since his DUI arrest last week, confirmed today that he is gay.

"I'm gay," Ashburn told KERN radio host Inga Barks in an interview this morning. "Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long."

Ashburn's announcement follows reports that Ashburn was leaving a gay club before he was arrested for driving under the influence last week.

The Bakersfield Republican, who has consistently voted against gay-rights measures, said his votes were a reflection of how the majority of voters in his conservative district would have wanted him to vote.

Ashburn, who is divorced, has been on personal leave in the Senate since last week's arrest. He is expected to return today.

The Assembly's Women of the Year ceremony today honors 80 women selected from each of the state's 80 Assembly districts.

California National Guard Adjutant General Mary Kight, the first woman picked to serve in the post, will deliver the keynote address.

The lower house may also take up several special session budget bills at its 11 a.m. session, including Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's legislation to lift furloughs for some state workers.

The Senate has a 2 p.m. floor session on tap, though not much action is expected.

But the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee is set to take up a bill that would maintain state worker salaries at current levels in the oh-so-rare event that lawmakers miss the June 15 constitutional deadline for passing a budget.

AB 790, by Democratic Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, would essentially prevent officials from lowering public employees' salaries to the federal minimum wage if the budget debate drags on into summer.

That's what happened in 2008, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tried to slash the salaries of about 200,000 workers to the then-federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour to ward off an impending cash shortfall.

BALLOT WATCH: Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to fund state parks by increasing the annual vehicle registration fee paid by motorists will gather for a 10:30 a.m. rally at the Capitol's north steps. California State Parks Foundation President Elizabeth Goldstein and Democratic Assemblymen Jared Huffman and Bill Monning are expected to attend.

BIRTHDAY: Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, turns 69 today.

In case you missed it:

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has pledged to bring business discipline to the governor's office if she wins, and apparently her fellow CEOs agree.

Steve Poizner says he's changed his mind on supporting government-funded abortions since answering "yes" on that issue in a 2000 questionnaire.

GOP Sen. Tony Strickland is planning to launch a rematch against state Controller John Chiang.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has withdrawn his controversial nomination of former EdVoice President Rae Belisle to the state Board of Education.

Both jobs and unemployment rates increased last month.

Wondering why a Florida firefighter is handing out an "endorsement" in the insurance commissioner race?

Which politician is spending the weekend at "the largest multi-sport event in the nation"?

The Obama administration has joined a lawsuit to block cuts to In-Home Supportive Services.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Steve Wiegand summarizes the shots fired in today's debate among GOP Senate hopefuls.

Bombarded by rumors that he was at a gay bar before his DUI arrest, Republican Sen. Roy Ashburn has taken a leave from his Senate duties, reports Susan Ferriss.

Amy Chance analyzes the first television ad of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's campaign, launched this week.

In a guest op-ed, Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones of Sacramento argues that the state must regulate health insurers' rates.

And former lawmaker Mervyn Dymally, most recently of the Assembly, explains why dirty air is bad for California's fiscal health.

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has pledged to bring business discipline to the governor's office if she wins, and apparently her fellow CEOs agree.

Whitman has collected about $1.5 million from people who identify themselves as CEOs, far ahead of her Republican rival Steve Poizner, another former CEO who's collected about $160,000 from CEOs. The tabulation doesn't include donations under $5,000 given this year.

Democratic candidate Jerry Brown has brought in about $480,000 from CEOs.

Whitman's CEO supporters make up a veritable Hall of Fame of American capitalism. They include:
• Nike CEO Philip Knight
• Michael White -- formerly of Pepsico and now of DIRECTV
• Paul Otellini of chip-maker Intel
• Howard Schultz of Starbucks
• Jeffrey Immelt of GE
• Patrick O'Dea of Peet's Coffee
• Gregory Waldorf of online dating site eHarmony
• Terri Dial of Citicorp's consumer banking division
• John Chambers of tech giant Cisco

Brown's CEO backers include Larry Ellison at Oracle, Robert Iger of the Walt Disney Co. and Thomas Priselac of Cedars-Sinai Medical System.

Poizner's CEO club includes Melvin Kaplan of Wellington Financial Group and Chester John Pipkin of electronics accessories-maker Belkin Intl., who also donated to Brown.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner no longer supports government funding for abortions, his campaign said Friday, although he checked Yes on an item in a 2004 questionnaire asking "Do you support government funding of abortion for low-income women?"

The issue hit the blogosphere today after the Web site POLITICO posted a copy of the questionnaire, which was from The Wish List, a pro-choice Republican group.

Both Poizner and his rival Meg Whitman have said they support abortion rights, with Whitman also expressing her support for public funding of abortions for low-income women.

On Thursday, Poizner said in an interview with The Bee that he had rethought another issue, his support for Proposition 39 , the 2000 ballot initiative that lowered the vote threshold to pass school bonds. Whitman did not vote in that year's election and took no stand on the proposition. Whitman press secretary Sarah Pompei said the candidate does not support raising taxes for any reason.

The abortion funding issue gained relevance today because Poizner announced he's supporting a ballot initiative on this year's ballot requiring parents be notified when a minor seeks an abortion, except in cases of parental waiver, medical emergencies and parental abuse.

Republican Sen. Tony Strickland plans to launch a rematch against Controller John Chiang.

The Thousand Oaks Republican, who's termed out in 2016, will officially announce the campaign at next weekend's California Republican Party Convention.

GOP strategist Mitch Zak said Strickland was encouraged to jump in the race by Republican guv-hopeful Meg Whitman.

"Meg asked him to run and he graciously agreed," Zak, a Whitman adviser, said. "He absolutely strengthens a great ticket. He'll make it even better."

Chiang, a Democrat, defeated Strickland by 10 points when the two battled in a cash-fueled campaign for the open seat in 2006.

Zak said Strickland's hard-fought 2008 Senate victory, in which he edged out former Democratic Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson by less than one percent of the vote, has prepped him for another tough campaign.

"He knows how to lead and I think the experience is nothing but a positive," Zak said. "I don't think there were any candidates in the 2008 election who worked harder than Tony Strickland."

Hat Tip: FlashReport.org.

California's non-agricultural payrolls increased by 32,500 workers in January, but the state's unemployment rate also increased, according to the monthly employment report from the state Employment Development Department.

The overall unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted, increased from 12.3 percent in December to 12.5 percent in January despite the uptick of employment, largely due to a commensurate increase in the labor force.

The January rate was nearly three percentage points higher than in January, 2009, while the number of jobless workers, 2.3 million, was a half-million higher than a year earlier, and employment, 15.9 million, was 700,000 lower than a year earlier.

The full report is available here.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses released its annual scorecard this week, awarding 100 percent scores to 35 members.

The 23 assemblymembers and 12 senators who earned a perfect score from the small-business group are Republicans. The top-scoring Democrats were Sen. Lou Correa (50 percent) and Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (44 percent).

Scores were based on votes on 11 pieces of proposed legislation. Click here to view the full scorecard.

An earlier version of this post counted 12 senators as earning a 100 percent score. There were 13.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has withdrawn his controversial nomination of Rae Belisle, former president of the EdVoice advocacy group, to a four-year term on the California Board of Education.

Schwarzenegger, in a one-sentence letter Thursday to the Senate, announced that he was withdrawing Belisle's name but did not elaborate. His staff declined further comment.

Belisle, 54, was placed on the board by Schwarzenegger in March 2009, but state law allowed her to serve only one year unless confirmed by the Senate before Thursday.

Belisle's nomination was likely to spark a confirmation fight. EdVoice has clashed in the past with major education groups, including the California Teachers Association, on issues ranging from charter schools to recent Race to the Top legislation that failed to secure federal school-reform funds.

Belisle, an attorney, has had a long career of school-related service that includes stints as chief counsel to the Sacramento County Office of Education and as executive director of the state board of education.

By Steve Wiegand

Sacramento's very own Dave Jones, the Democratic Assembly member who's running for insurance commissioner, was pretty excited to announce this week that he's been endorsed by the Orange County Professional Firefighters and the San Francisco Firefighters Local 798.

So excited, in fact, that the press release the Jones camp released to the press quotes Orange County firefighters president George Romano as saying Jones is just the guy to make sure insurance companies live up to their obligations.

Uh, trouble is that Romano is president of the firefighters in Orange County, Florida, not California.

Campaign spokeswoman Sandra Sanchez couldn't explain how the goof happened, but hastened to assure Capitol Alert that OC-California prez Joe Kerr had approved the quote.

After all, as the press release pointed out, "Jones is building a broad coalition of support..."

The Obama administration has filed an amicus brief supporting a lawsuit against a state plan to cut or reduce subsidized in-home care to 130,000 seniors and disabled people in California.

Attorneys with the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division filed the brief Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Ninth District.

An injunction in a lower federal court stopped the state with going forward with its plan pending the outcome of a suit filed by Disabled Rights California, the National Senior Citizens Law Center and others.

The Schwarzenegger administration appealed, saying officials had a right to reform the In-Home Supportive Services program.

The changes were intended to save the state budget $82.1 million this fiscal year by cutting services to certain people based on an index measuring their mental and physical abilities.

Disabled-rights attorneys argued that the index's purpose is to determine what kind of care the disabled require, not whether they could function in their homes without help. Cutting some people off based on scores, they said, would put people's health and safety at risk and could lead to putting them in an institution.

The U.S. Justice Department brief says: "The United States has a direct and substantial interest in this appeal, which involves the proper interpretation and application of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

The act, it says, "prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in the provision of public services."

In-home care is financed by federal, state and county dollars with some contributions from individuals who get care.

The three Republicans seeking to knock Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer out of her seat will trade blows in their first on-air debate today.

The noon debate on KTKZ AM's "The Capitol Hour" marks the first time the three primary candidates -- ex-U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell, former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and state Assemblyman. Chuck DeVore -- face off on the issues.

The debate, moderated by Capitol Hour host Eric Hogue, will air at www.KTKZ.com.

DeVore and Fiorina will have a chance go for round two later in the day, when both appear at the L.A. County Young Republican Federation Candidate Forum.

In case you missed it:

On her final day as Assembly speaker, Karen Bass gave promotions and pay increases to 20 members of her Democratic caucus staff.

Two large out-of-state oil companies are bankrolling a proposed ballot measure aimed at repealing AB 32.

Jack Chang takes an inside look at the campaign (and campaign headquarters) of gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown.

Speaker John A. Pérez says he's "open" to voting yes on Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado's lieutenant governor nomination.

Check out cartoonist Rex Babin's take on Pérez's proposal to ban lawmakers from texting lobbyists on the Assembly floor.

California didn't win this round of the Race to the Top. The Obama administration chose 16 other states as finalists for a piece of the $4.35 billion in federal stimulus funds for education.

Lawmakers sent more budget bills to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today.

Are the spending reductions in the Democrats' budget plan actually cuts?

Student demonstrators gathered at the Capitol to protest budget cuts and tuition increases at California public colleges and universities.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Jim Sanders has more on Karen Bass and her boosting staff pay.

With the country facing two wars, a dwindling economy and health care overhaul, there's much for the three GOP Senate hopefuls to debate. Yet Israel has become a central focus of the race in recent weeks. Rob Hotakainen has the story.

Laurel Rosenhall rounds up the action from today's "Day of Action" protests in support of public education.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner told the Bee Capitol Bureau that he has rethought his decade-old support for Proposition 39, which lowered the vote threshold to pass school bonds. Jack Chang has the story.

The Obama administration's decision to reject California's application for the first round of Race to the Top funds was met with a call for "bolder' education reform from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Rob Hotakainen assesses the impact of the decision.

Meanwhile, columnist Dan Walters wonders whether the Legislature was "snookered" into passing Race to the Top reforms.

The Bee's editorial board sees a silver lining in California's rejection: It should bring an end to California's smugness about its education system and what it will take to really reform it.

After pulling up to his campaign headquarters Wednesday afternoon, Jerry Brown greeted his wife, Anne Gust, on the Third Street sidewalk near Oakland's Jack London Square. He was looking trim in a purple-tinted dress shirt and tie and turned around to let Gust prop a copy of his book "Dialogues" on his back and sign it.

Journalists were waiting in the spacious, former warehouse, but that didn't stop Brown, who was already 30 minutes late, and campaign manager Steve Glazer from disappearing down Third Street for a walk and talk. Brown returned minutes later gesturing briskly as he spoke to Glazer.

The headquarters itself felt more like a tech start-up than a gubernatorial campaign office. Wooden furniture -- including a long table made entirely of recycled wood, Brown pointed out -- filled the space. The walls were covered with photos of Brown at different ages and stages of balding, his father the late Gov. Pat Brown, his mother and sisters, John F. Kennedy, Gust and others.

Near the front door hung a poster for the California Conservation Corps, which Brown started during his first stint as governor. A vintage-looking cabinet with wide drawers stood against a wall -- full of campaign signs from Brown's attorney general race. And there was the black bar fixed under a second-floor landing on which the 71-year-old did his much-reported pull-ups.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said yesterday that he's "open" to voting yes when the Assembly reconsiders whether to confirm Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado for the vacant lieutenant governor post.

"We've had a series of conversations where he softened me a bit," Pérez said in an interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau.

"I'm like a lot of people in the Legislature," he added. "I was frustrated by some of the way I thought he operated through the politics of attraction. We've had some conversations about that. We've had some conversations about the future, I've given him some advice, waiting to see if he takes it, so I'm open."

Pérez was one of the lower house lawmakers who voted "no" when the Santa Maria Republican's first attempt at clearing the Assembly failed 37-35. Schwarzenegger has since re-nominated Maldonado for the vacant post, giving lawmakers until May 17 to confirm or reject his nomination.

Echoing comments made after his swearing-in ceremony, Pérez said it is up to Maldonado to find the four votes he needs to win approval in the Assembly.

"He's got to come back to me when he's ready for us to take it up," Pérez said. "I can't unilaterally approve him. He's got to get 41 votes."

The new speaker, who was vocal in his opposition to the governor's decision to reappoint Maldonado, seemed to have a lighter take on the confirmation saga Tuesday.

"I was working under the assumption I could make him one of the chairs of one of my committee," he joked, referring to his pledge to give Republican members the gavel of two committees this session.

Video by The Bee's Alan LaGuardia.

Here's Bee political cartoonist Rex Babin's take on Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's pledge to ban lawmakers from texting with lobbyists on the Assembly floor.

Click here to see a collection of Babin's work.

California didn't make the cut for taking home cash in the first round of the Race to the Top competition for federal stimulus funds for education.

Lawmakers approved late last year a series of changes to the state's education system with the goal of ensuring California schools would qualify for a piece of $4.35 billion in competitive grants being doled out by the Obama administration.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other advocates of the reforms had estimated the state could win up to $700 million in the competition. But California's application was not one of 16 that made it to the final round of the competition.

Schwarzenegger pledged to push for additional changes to make California more competitive for the second round of funding applications, which are due June 1.

"This decision by the Obama Administration demonstrates that we need to be more aggressive and bolder in reforming our education system," he said in a statement. "While the reforms we passed did move our state forward, they did not go far enough because other states were more competitive."

Read the letter from Education Secretary Arne Duncan here.

See a list of the finalists after the jump. Winners will be announced in early April.

About 2,000 students and teachers are expected to descend on the Capitol today to protest spending cuts, teacher layoffs and fee increases at California's public schools and universities.

Colleague Laurel Rosenhall has more on the rally in today's Bee.

Join The Bee's live chat to share your stories and get breaking updates on the "Day of Action" action.

The Legislature sent eight budget bills last week to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of an emergency session to deal with the state's $19.9 billion deficit. Democrats say their entire package would cut the deficit by $5 billion, while Republicans charge that it would have substantially less impact.

The Senate on Thursday is scheduled to consider a major piece of their solution, a complex $1.8 billion gas-tax swap. Democrats removed provisions scaling back corporate tax breaks in hopes of getting the governor's signature.

Assembly Republicans have criticized one bill in particular -- Assembly Bill X8 2, the omnibus spending reduction bill that the Legislature sent to the governor. Democrats say it saves the state $2.2 billion, but Republicans disagree. (Nearly all Republicans voted against the bill, primarily because it contained cuts to corrections.)

The problem is that the bill spells out unallocated cuts in a 2010-11 budget that does not yet exist. Because you cannot cut spending without approving spending first, the bill serves as a marker for what the Legislature wants to do once it actually approves a budget plan. But it won't change how a single dime is spent until the 2010-11 budget is enacted.

The war to derail California's landmark greenhouse emissions law is on, launched this week by an initiative signature-gathering drive reportedly bankrolled by two large oil companies.

Unlike most ballot measure campaigns, however, even Republican Assemblyman Dan Logue who helped craft the proposal is balking at identifying who is forking out big bucks.

Texas-based Valero Energy Corp. and Tesoro Corp., both outspoken critics of national efforts to cap greenhouse gases, are primary financial backers of the California petition drive, key sources told The Bee.

The initiative would suspend California's landmark clean-air law, Assembly Bill 32, which was passed in 2006 and requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2006.

California law requires contributors and amounts donated to the petition drive to be identified in documents filed with the secretary of state, but not immediately. After initiative committees collect or spend $50,000 or more, they are obligated to report donors of $5,000 or more within 10 calendar days, said Roman Porter, executive director of the state Fair Political Practices commission.

Meanwhile, Logue and Ted Costa, two authors of the measure, are referring inquiries to the public relations and political consulting firm of Goddard Claussen, which will discuss the initiative but not its money.

"Right now, we're not commenting on funders," said Jennifer Dudikoff of Goddard Claussen. "We expect support from a very broad group of individuals, companies and associations who are currently concerned with keeping and creating jobs in California."

Steve Maviglio, spokesman for a coalition fighting the initiative, Californians for Clean Energy & Jobs, claims there is good reason for the opposition's secrecy: Voter backlash.

"It's not surprising that Texas oil companies want to run a stealth campaign because California voters don't want out-of-state polluters trying to buy their way onto the ballot," said Maviglio, representing a coalition of industry and environmental groups.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33908.html

Busloads of students and professors are set to rally at the Capitol to protest budget cuts and fee increases at California's public colleges and universities.

The Capitol protest, which is expected to attract about 2,000 people, coincides with other events being held across the state and country to show support for public education.

Keep tabs on the action with The Bee's live blog on the protests.

Alert readers will recall last year's legislative battle over bills aimed at ensuring that California schools are eligible for federal Race to the Top money for education.

Well, the Obama administration is expected to announce today which states made the final cut in round one of the reform-fueled "race."

Competition is tough, with 40 states and the District of Columbia vying for the big prize -- a piece of $4.35 billion in competitive grants up for grabs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers estimated that California could take home up to $700 million. But as some close observers have pointed out, the state's odds of winning big bucks aren't looking too good.

Meanwhile, the Senate will take up the remaining pieces of special session budget bills, including a modified gas tax swap plan.

Democrats have changed a controversial provision of that proposal that would repeal corporate tax benefits approved in last year's budget, replacing it with a higher excise tax.

The two-bill package, which wouldn't affect school funding levels, would generate an estimated $1.1 billion in revenue, Alicia Trost, spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, wrote in an e-mail.

BIRTHDAY: Democratic Assemblywoman Fiona Ma turns 44 today. Perhaps she'll celebrate by showing off her sushi-rolling skills.

In case you missed it:

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez says he'll try to put a reform package that includes lowering the budget vote requirement on the ballot if the effort to qualify the proposal via signature-gathering falls through.

A federal appeals court has blocked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services and several other health services programs.

Did U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina benefit from a court ruling made by her father?

Find out which tech giant gets to keep a a 10-year $1.7 billion state contract for processing Medi-Cal claims, according to a court ruling issued today.

Sen. Roy Ashburn was arrested this morning on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Check out the winning entry in our latest caption contest.

Share your suggestion for Jerry Brown's campaign slogan.

In tomorrow's Bee:

Jim Sanders has the story behind Pérez's rubber ducky collection.

Busloads of college students and professors are expected to gather in Sacramento tomorrow to protest budget cuts, layoffs and university fee increases. Laurel Rosenhall has the scoop on California events planned in coordination with the nationwide "Day of Action."

The State Worker columnist Jon Ortiz has found one thing that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the unions agree on.

Jack Chang talks to Jerry Brown about his gubernatorial bid.

Wondering why Caltrans does such an uneven job of delivering highway and bridge projects quickly and efficiently? The Bee editorial board looks at the answer.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued four decisions Wednesday against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that continue to block past budget cuts to Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for hospitals and pharmacists and In-Home Supportive Services wages.

The Ninth Circuit agreed with lower court decisions that granted preliminary injunctions against the cuts because California did not comply with the federal Medicaid Act. The cuts were contained in budget agreements over the past two years.

The court decisions not only have blocked past budget cuts, but they could also preclude the state from pursuing similar ways of solving its current $19.9 billion budget deficit. Schwarzenegger, for instance, proposed cuts to IHSS to save roughly $950 million in his January budget plan, but court rulings for now suggest that those solutions will be legally difficult to impose.

(From Rob Hotakainen in Washington)

Did Carly Fiorina benefit from a judicial ruling made by her father?

That's the allegation in a new book, denied by Fiorina, as reported by Politico:

Here's what Politico had to say:

California Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina was negotiating for a lucrative job as CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. a decade ago at the same time her father wrote a significant appeals court opinion that the high-tech industry had aggressively lobbied for, a new book reports.

In July 1999, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Joseph Sneed, Fiorina's father, issued a ruling that made it far more difficult for class-action lawyers to file securities lawsuits. Breaking with two other courts of appeals, Sneed said a legal reform Congress passed in 1995 at the urging of high-tech executives besieged by such suits meant plaintiffs needed solid evidence of wrongdoing before they went to court.

Seventeen days later, Fiorina was named as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard with a compensation packaged valued at the time at between $80 million and $90 million.

The proximity in time of Fiorina's hiring and Sneed's ruling is laid out in a book released Tuesday, "Circle of Greed," by Patrick Dillon and Carl Cannon. The book chronicles the rise and fall of one of America's most successful plaintiffs' lawyers, Bill Lerach, who was a target of Congress's 1995 reform effort but continued to win billions in settlements even after it passed.

To read the entire story, go here.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said today he is prepared to ask the Legislature to put California Forward's proposal to lower the vote requirement for passing a budget on the November ballot.

"I'm still waiting to hear from California Forward if they have finalized all the elements they have been tweaking, but I'm prepared to take it to (my caucus) rather quickly," Pérez said in an interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau.

Officials from the foundation-funded reform group said earlier this week that lackluster fundraising will likely sideline their push to qualify a pair of proposed initiatives encompassing various budget and governmental reforms, including lowering the vote requirement for passing a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority.

The group, which would need to gather nearly 700,000 valid voter signatures for each measure by mid-May, is expected to make a decision tomorrow on whether to proceed with the qualification campaign.

Pérez, who also called for the change during his swearing-in ceremony, said he believes having a majority vote would provide more accountability and transparency in the budget process.

A state hearing officer has upheld a $1.7 billion, 10-year contract for processing Medi-Cal claims to Affiliated Computer Services, a subsidiary of Xerox Corp.

The decision rejected claims of improper bid evaluation by Electronic Data Systems, which had held the contract for two decades.

EDS, now owned by Hewlett-Packard, could take the contract dispute to court but hearing officer Ramon de La Guardia found that its complaints about unfair treatment in evaluation of bids were all without merit.

EDS has hundreds of employees in the Sacramento area handling claims processing for Medi-Cal, the state's multibillion-dollar program of medical care for the poor. Norman Williams, a spokesman for the Department of Health Care Services, says ACS has indicated it would rehire most of those workers when it takes over the contract.

Click here to read the full decision.

Sen. Roy Ashburn was arrested early this morning on suspicion of drunken driving.

The Bakersfield Republican was pulled over after his vehicle was observed weaving near L and 13th streets at about 2 a.m., according to CHP officials.

Click here for more from Bee colleague Bill Lindelof.

UPDATE 5 p.m.: Ashburn released the following statement on his arrest: "I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment. I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me - my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate."

The votes are in, and we have a winner in our Capitol Alert Caption Contest.

Drum roll, please....

So as I'm tearing up the lieutenant governor paperwork, I see in small print it says: "SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED."

The clever reader behind the caption is Department of General Services electronic technician Krieg Moore.

Moore, who monitors Capitol security systems and the audio and video recording for press conferences and other events under the dome, said the entry was inspired by his long days observing political gridlock.

"It was pretty much the idea that as national (observers of California politics) have learned there's some presumption that you can just ram-rod things through, but now you can't," he said.

Moore's perspective certainly struck a chord with Capitol Alert readers -- his caption beat out the four other top entries with 60 percent of the vote.

Kreig, who's played our contest in the past, said he was surprised that his suggestion beat out the about 300 entries submitted in this round.

"It's rare, I can't believe it," he said. "I'm glad that my form of wit is actually funny for some people."

Thanks to all who played and, as always, if you see a photo deserving of a chuckle-worthy caption, send it our way at tvanoot@sacbee.com.

PHOTO CREDIT: Hector Amezcua/SacBee.

Looking to show off your skills at writing slogans? As our sister blog The Swarm says, Jerry "Gubernatorial Candidate" Brown could use a more imaginative pitch than "standing up for Californians."

Check out other people's suggestions for Jerry here, and write your own.

Farming and ranching collide with budget cuts today as the Senate Local Government Committee looks at the "past, present (and) future" of the Williamson Act.

That's the more common name for the California Land Conservation Act of 1965, which has its roots -- pun intended -- in the rapid urbanization of the state's rural areas starting after World War II.

The Williamson Act allows local governments to contract with private landowners who agree to restrict land to agricultural or open space use in return for lower property tax assessments.

Here's where the budget cuts come into play. The state paid the local governments to make up for the lost tax revenues -- until now. This year's state budget essentially suspended the payments, and some farmers and ranchers are worried they won't be able to keep working their land.

About 16 million acres are enrolled under contract statewide, according to the state Department of Conservation Web site. The department says that's about one-third of all privately held land in the state, and about one half of all the state's agricultural land.

Maybe the Williamson Act could use a slogan-writing campaign, too. The Local Government Committee hearing starts at 9:30 a.m. in the Capitol's Room 112.

This afternoon, with the recent earthquakes in Chile and Haiti still making headlines, the Senate Health Committee looks at hospitals' compliance with the state's seismic safety deadlines. That hearing starts at 1:30 p.m. in Room 4203.

BIRTHDAY: Republican Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, turns 67 today. "I was born in Jurassic Park," he told The Bee when asked about his text-messaging practices. Check out her story on texting under the dome in today's Bee.

In case you missed it:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration asked the California Supreme Court to consolidate and review seven cases related to the governor's furlough authority, including a recent Alameda Superior Court decision on "special fund" workers that is under appeal.

A state appellate court ruled that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes last year reducing funding for several programs were constitutional.

Attorney General Jerry Brown made it official that he's running for California governor.

Watch the video of Jerry Brown making his announcement here.

Meanwhile, GOP guv-hopeful Steve Poizner is hitting the airwaves with his first television spot of the campaign.

Half of California voters think legislators should focus on spending cuts over taxes to close all or part of the $19.9 billion budget deficit, according to the latest Field Poll.

In his first press conference as Assembly speaker, John A. Pérez shied away from taking a stance on the lieutenant governor nomination of Sen. Abel Maldonado, telling reporters that the governor's pick has "got to go and find his 41 votes."

Mickey Kaus, an political blogger on the Slate Web site, has taken out nomination papers to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in June's Democratic primary.

The body of Ken Gosting, who was a high-ranking aide to Attorney General Jerry Brown during his governorship three decades ago, was found near his home in the Sierra foothills last week.

Check out our video of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief of staff Susan Kennedy, Senate Republican leader Dennis Hollingsworth and Democratic Assemblywoman Fiona Ma facing off in a sushi-making competition.

Speaking of videos, Schwarzenegger isn't the Capitol's only motion-picture actor.

In tomorrow's Bee:

With Jerry Brown officially jumping into the governor's race Tuesday, state voters are facing a stark choice in who should lead California through its most difficult period in decades. Jack Chang reports.

Caltrans should eliminate 1,500 full-time positions in its highway construction division because of inefficiencies and overstaffing, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office. Kevin Yamamura has the story.

Torey Van Oot reports that legislative leaders want to crack down on lobbyists texting lawmakers while they prepare to vote, but it all may be for show.

Dan Walters says the pivotal question in the governor's race is whether Jerry Brown's "world-class verbal skills can overcome a big bucks opponent and create the lasting image of a practical and effective political manager."

Thousands of students, faculty and others are expected to descend on the Capitol Thursday to protest fee increases and instructional cuts. The Bee's editorial board says they're coming to the right place.

Bee columnist Dan Morain writes that whoever becomes California's next governor will find him or herself ever more hamstrung by laws created through the ballot box.

Mickey Kaus, an online political blogger on the Slate Web site, has taken out nomination papers to challenge U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer in June's Democratic primary.

Kaus, who lives in Southern California and is the son of former state Supreme Justice Otto Kaus, portrays himself as a centrist Democrat and has been particularly critical of his party's position on illegal immigration.

Kaus explained his embryonic candidacy in his own Slate column, which is dubbed KausFiles, saying, "The basic idea would be to argue, as a Democrat, against the party's dogma on several major issues (you can guess which ones). Like-minded Dem voters who assume they will vote for Sen. Boxer The Incumbent in the fall might value a mechanism that lets them register their dissent in the primary."

Kaus, who often comments on California issues, said it's uncertain how his candidacy would affect his position with Slate.

A state appellate court ruled Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes last year reducing funding for several programs were constitutional, rejecting a challenge from various social service advocates, unions and Democratic legislative leaders.

In a 3-0 decision, Justice J. Anthony Kline wrote that the challenge failed to show that Schwarzenegger had overstepped his executive authority in further reducing expenditures during last July's budget revision. The case, St. John's Well Child and Family Center v. Schwarzenegger, called into question seven line-item vetoes worth $288 million, cutting programs ranging from the Office of AIDS to Healthy Families.

Last year's situation was unique because lawmakers and Schwarzenegger approved the budget act in February, four months early. Because of a further drop in revenues and voter rejection of budget solutions, state leaders had to solve for a new $24 billion deficit last summer.

The body of Ken Gosting, who was a high-ranking aide to Attorney General Jerry Brown during his governorship three decades ago, was found near his home in the Sierra foothills last week and local authorities said it appeared to be a suicide.

Gosting, 62, a one-time Sierra Club adviser on Yomesite National Park issues and most recently head of a rail transportation organization called Transportation Involves Everyone, appears to have died of a drug overdose of some kind, a spokesman for the Mariposa County sheriff's office said.

Deputies found Gosting's body in Mariposa Creek Saturday after a friend reported him missing upon finding his home empty with the front door ajar. Deputies found a note in the home and then began searching for Gosting.

"It's currently ruled as a suicide," a sheriff's office spokesman said. "It appears to be an overdose."

Gosting became an adviser to Brown on transportation and emergency services after working in his 1974 campaign, but resigned in 1976, 20 months into Brown's governorship, with a blast at Brown's position on a pending bill, saying Brown was acting out of political expediency.

Brown, who announced his candidacy for a second stint as governor on Tuesday, said through a spokesman that he hadn't talked to Gosting in 30 years, but added, "Ken was a very imaginative guy, He foresaw tha value of trains in mass transit. He was way ahead of his time, and he was good guy."