CA: Democratic leaders vow to work together, with governor

IN November's general election, Californians expressed their desire for bipartisan effort and cooperation to solve the state's chronic budget problem and deal with our pressing social and economic needs. With the opening of the new legislative session, the Democrats in the Senate and the Assembly are confident about California's future, and we are making an unprecedented move to come together and work on a strong agenda for this state.

We, the speaker of the Assembly and the president pro tem of the Senate, have been meeting regularly several times a week to begin this process. We will work together stride-for-stride with the governor on realizing the golden dream for the state. We share a commitment to getting results for California's families on the issues they care about -- not just the ones that are popular around the water coolers in the Capitol and in news rooms.

You also will see Democratic assemblymembers and senators working together as a team to negotiate with our Republican colleagues and the governor. We are not going up against the governor -- we want to work with him to ensure a positive atmosphere in the capitol. We are convinced the governor will find a much more productive session with a consolidated legislature.

We intend for both houses to focus on priority goals including the state's desperate needs in transportation, higher education and K-12 schools, health care and job creation. And we will stand up for the values of most Californians when the governor is out-of-step on issues such as a minimum wage that's too low and prescription drug prices that are too high. For instance, we must find a way to help the 6 million who are at risk because they are uninsured and are costing taxpayers and employers $4.6 billion a year in subsidies for health care.

Our most pressing need is to end the structural budget imbalance. In 2000 it was a budget crisis. But the fact that this structural deficit remains unfixed as we enter 2005 makes it no longer a crisis but a chronic, debilitating ailment that seals our ability to solve bigger state problems.

We have to make our transportation system work because when people aren't moving and goods aren't moving then the economy isn't moving.

We have to protect and nurture the "California advantage" -- our innovative industries, our entrepreneurial spirit, our research universities, our environmental beauty and our greatest resource -- the most productive workers in the world.

We have to ensure that home ownership and higher education are not just a privilege of the wealthy. California's post-war prosperity took shape because home ownership and higher education were in reach of working families.

Kids growing up in a world class economy deserve a world class education. If higher education declines in California we lose a prime force behind the state's long-term growth.

We must find a way to get health care to those who don't have it, and make it affordable for those who do have it, but are getting co-paid and deductibled to death. And you shouldn't need a Brinks guard with you when you go to pick up a prescription.

We must ensure that the "economy" isn't some abstract concept: it's a clean safe environment. It's family friendly wages. It's an educated workforce and 21st century research breakthroughs. It's communities where people can afford to live and where they can get home before 8 every night.

These have long been the basis of California's golden dream. In the coming legislative session, in earnest partnership with the Legislature's Republicans and with the governor, we are committed to making that dream a reality once again. And we look forward to hearing from you.

Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, is president pro tem of the California Senate and Fabian Nunez, D-L.A., is speaker of the state Assembly.

Burton the former Assembly Speaker was a real jerk, he gave Arnold a cigar lighter that was a hand which flipped up one digit, a real class act. Like Yasser Arafat, now that he is gone (term limits)things could be much more cooperative in Sacramento.

We intend for both houses to focus on priority goals including the state's desperate needs in transportation, higher education and K-12 schools, health care and job creation. And we will stand up for the values of most Californians when the governor is out-of-step on issues such as a minimum wage that's too low and prescription drug prices that are too high. For instance, we must find a way to help the 6 million who are at risk because they are uninsured and are costing taxpayers and employers $4.6 billion a year in subsidies for health care.

Deport the illegals is a good start.

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