Posted on 05/28/2004 1:19:02 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday renewed his support for granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants -- if security issues can be resolved.
The governor's pledge in a private meeting with Latino legislators appeared to ease their concerns. They had feared Schwarzenegger had reneged on a promise to negotiate new legislation to replace a law he pushed the Legislature to repeal last fall.
It's clear ``there is a willingness to try to find a compromise that is acceptable to both sides,'' said Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento.
It's uncertain how quickly Schwarzenegger and the legislators can reach a deal, and how committed the governor is to resolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Published 12:27 pm PDT Friday, May 28, 2004
[Updated at 4:35 p.m.] Setting a benchmark test for two years of cost-cutting legislation, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi called Friday for workers' compensation insurance rate cuts of nearly 21 percent starting July 1. "California is now on the down escalator," Garamendi said at a door factory in North Highlands. "Now insurance companies have no reason whatsoever not to pass on to the businesses of California a 20.9 percent reduction in the cost of claims and their premiums."
Garamendi held a news conference to announce a new pure premium advisory rate, a benchmark that many workers' comp insurers use in setting the cost of their policies.
His suggested cut is based on two years of legislation designed to curb skyrocketing increases in workers' comp insurance prices and is aimed at policies sold or renewed starting July 1.
But Thompson said the Republican governor - an Austrian immigrant - remains committed to the legislation, provided his concerns are met.Thompson declined to speculate on whether the governor will deal with the legislation this year, but she added that Schwarzenegger is "an eternal optimist." "It's not a matter of timing," she said. "It's a matter of getting the policy right."
Thompson said the administration has been talking with security experts "to make sure that we can adequately address the issue of background checks."
"These are very complicated issues," she said. "(We) want to make sure that we ensure that public safety is enhanced throughout the process."
We can take some small consolation in all of these possibilities by imaging how long it will take the Department of Motor Vehicles to get up to speed. That's just the beginning, background checks of any kind will take time. Imagine the Mexican bureaucracy in motion. It will be costly as well. Then there's the rumors that will circulate regarding the licensing being a sham to get illegals' vital information so they can be rounded up and shipped out.
Interesting times in a country that is supposed to be founded on the rule of law. Citizens must bend over backward to fulfill the requirements of the law while those who flout the law need only show up.
With all due respect Norm the article doesn't support the comment.
Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi called Friday for workers' compensation insurance rate cuts of nearly 21 percent starting July 1..
John Garamendi may wish rates would go down by 20% and he may call for rates to go down by 20% but he can't make rates go down by 20%.
The greatest impact on curbing growing workers comp rates was due to changed guidelines from the Davis administration which took effect in January. Specifically, beginning in January, the state restricted the fees that surgery centers can charge in workers' compensation claims.
The legislation that Schwarzenegger championed will have little effect on premiums. It was correctly surmised as an effort by the governance to head off substantial reform at the ballot box in November.
If Schwarzenegger and other liberals keep handing the keys to the asylum to the inmates, the staff will soon become inconsequential. If Schwarzenegger and the other liberals keep giving Mexico's poor the reigns of power through legitimizing their growing swarm soon the rest of us will have to make a difficult decision. Fight or flee.
Why the hell should either I or my family who have resided peacefully and productively in California for over 100 years turn the place over to Mexico's poor? Unlike Texas, Mexico has no great historic claim to California.
While that's a theoretical possibility, it requires a two-thirds vote of the legislature, which mean 6 Assembly Republicans and 2 Senate Republicans have to vote for it. KFI radio questioned every single Republican member of both bodies, and every one of them said that they'd never vote for an urgency provision under any circumstances. Maybe Schwarzenegger could influence some of them, but I doubt he'd be able to get enough. The political firestorm that would result would be enormous, and our new governor is a good example of what happens when the people get that upset.
Frankly it doesn't need one, the majority of voters in California and the Feds, abdicating their charter to secure the borders, are doing it anyway.
Of all the sad things I have seen happen the willful, nay, gleeful, turning over of the US to illegals is without a doubt the saddest of them all. No one in gubbermint seems to give a spit about it only looking at their selfish short term success. Oh, there are a few lone voices, but they are very, very alone.
I think there would be a few more if the Azatlan myth were debunked.
Through 300 years of European influence/visitation Mexico had some control of a small part of California (4 forts and 17 small secularized ranches along the coast) for 11 years and they claim it as their's. Only a woefully ignorant Mexican nationalist could rationalize a legitimate claim to any part of California based on its history.
It would be even more incredulous for an educated US citizen to have any sympathetic stance with regard to the claim much less allow some latitude in dealing with the arriving hordes through a misguided, vague feeling of having committed past wrongs.
What if he is sent the version he is looking for?
He isn't going to be sent a version he is looking for.
The Dems are pushing it, Arnold is going through the motions, but he'll be happy to keep "negotiating" for the next 50 years -- in the meantime, NO BILL.
Can we risk that?
What I don't understand is why some people here are focusing their ire on Schwarzenegger, instead of the Democrats, who are the ones who are pushing this.
So far Arnold had the Legislature repeal the bad bill and he hasn't gone along with any Dem suggestions.
There isn't going to be any version that's acceptable to Arnold.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.