Posted on 01/04/2006 5:27:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Legislative leaders returned to work Wednesday promising cooperation with each other and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger despite last year's special election battles and a general election just 11 months away.
Saying they understand voters' growing discontent with Sacramento, lawmakers said they will set aside politics in favor of making progress on a number of issues.
"The voters clearly said they want us to solve California's problems," said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. "They don't want bickering, and they certainly don't want to be given the responsibility of solving the problems they sent us to do."
The sentiments appear to be shared by Schwarzenegger and Republican leaders, even though the governor and 100 legislative seats will be up for election this year. The pledges of compromise also come in sharp contrast to a year ago, when party leaders were polarized over the governor's threat of a special election and lost virtually an entire legislative session to political maneuvering.
Schwarzenegger, who has called for raising the minimum wage, freezing college fees and boosting education funding since voters rejected his special election initiatives, is expected to strike a conciliatory tone during his State of the State speech Thursday.
"Voters hope that the Legislature can work together and that the Democratic leadership can work with the governor - we're committed to it," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles. "That's what voters want us to do. For us to ignore that I think would be political suicide."
Outlined on the first day of the 2006 session was an ambitious proposal to put a multibillion dollar bond measure before voters. It would pay for rebuilding schools, improving freeways and transit systems, repairing aging levees and providing more housing.
Nunez and Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, said they also would work on a plan for changing how legislative and congressional districts are drawn, as well as changes in legislative term limits.
Voters defeated the redistricting measure, Proposition 77, during the Nov. 8 special election. The initiative's supporters on Thursday said they hope to put a similar measure on the November ballot.
"People didn't want a special election, but that doesn't mean they didn't talk about the reforms," McCarthy said. "They might not like the exact reforms we proposed, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to work on it."
Nunez and Perata also said they would convene a conference committee - a bipartisan group from both houses - to work on various bond measure proposals, including those from the governor.
Wednesday's session marked the first day lawmakers could introduce new bills that will be considered this year. Among the bills introduced:
- SB 1117 from Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, which would put the University of California Regents on notice that the Legislature disapproves of the university's executive salary system and would seek voter approval to cut back on the autonomy of the regent's authority if changes are not made.
The bill comes in the wake of a San Francisco Chronicle report showing that university officials have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses and other compensation. At the same time, they claimed budget constraints forced them to raise student fees and freeze pay for lower-paid workers.
- AB 1782 by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, would put an initiative before voters specifically authorizing the California State Lottery Commission to enter a multistate lottery and would direct some of the revenue from the games to benefit special education and low-income student programs.
The lottery commission has been sued by an antigambling organization that claims the popular, 12-state Mega Millions lottery violates state law.
Let's see... Republicans and Democrats agree to cooperate in new legislative session.
Translation: Republicans will knuckly under and roll over to be liked by DemocRats who will never compromise on anything.
First: Legislative leaders returned to work Wednesday promising cooperation with each other and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Legislative Republicans promising to cooperate with a governor from their own party is odd but revealing.
Second: No Republican legislator, leader or otherwise, is quoted in the article. Apparently all is not as rosy in Legislatureland as Mr. Chorneau would have us believe.
I can only image that these Republicans, never taken into the governor's confidence are now really unpleased that he is apparently going over to the dark side.
Schwarzenegger is courting the Democrats, since the Democrats will be who re-elects him, or, not.
It's a sad statement. I'm depressed.
considering a lot of them got him elected in the first place, he should feel right at home.
Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, hugs Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, before the start of this year's Assembly session inside the state Capitol on Wednesday. Today marks the return of both houses after the winter break.
Is that Kumbaya I hear? :-]
More hugging.... no handshakes. Very strange environment, that Sacramento.
Girlie men, the whole damn lot of them . ;-)
Watch the Live Webcast of the Governor's 2006 State of the State Address here Thursday, January 5 at 5:00pm.
Live Stream will be made available shortly before the webcast begins.
Yea, right, that is because all of the GOP in Calif. are RINO's.
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