CA: The March To... November?

Capitol Notes / KQED ^ | 3/1/06 | John Myers

[NormsRevenge]

It seems as though the only people still talking about the looming deadline to get a infrastructure bond proposal on the June 6 ballot... are interest groups and, yours truly, the news media.

The leadership of both houses and Governor Schwarzenegger met for around 90 minutes this morning, with an agenda that was officially about emergency preparedness. But the real issue remains the status of any deal on a major public works proposal, in light of the governor's $222 billion Strategic Growth Plan and individual plans from the Democratic leaders of both the Senate and Assembly.

It's hard to see how all of this can possibly get ironed out by next Friday-- the day any measure for the June ballot must be submitted to state elections officials. As of midday, the various policy committees in both chambers still had not released their analyses of the governor's proposals on roads, schools, levees, etc.

And yesterday, a new wrinkle: word that the state may now have to abandon hopes for federal money to help cover the cost of levee repairs, which would add about another $3.5 billion to the governor's $68 billion bond package.

Today's meeting certainly didn't seem to get anywhere. In fact, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-LA) walked out of the governor's office visibly unhappy and in no mood to talk to the Capitol press corps. Sources say that he was, shall we say, verbally animated during the closed-door meeting with Schwarzenegger and legislative Republicans.

Meantime, Senate President Don Perata (D-Oakland) seemed frustrated afterwards by the chatter about the March 10 ballot deadline. And he took aim at comments made this morning by the California Infrastructure Coalition, a consortium of cities, counties, and other regional organizations.

CIC members told the press that something must be placed on the June ballot. "Time is running out," said CIC Chairman Chris McKenzie, who is also executive director of the League of California Cities.

That didn't seem to sit very well with Senator Perata, who implied those kinds of groups should have been more engaged these past few weeks. "For a group of dilettantes to come around here and say the clock is ticking, where have they been?," fumed Perata.

And while most everyone involved in the process said today that progress is being made, none of those key players are predicting a deal in time for the June ballot.

[NormsRevenge]

[UPDATE: It should be noted, say his advisers, that Speaker Nunez is still eager to get something on the June ballot... which might, one would guess, explain his frustration with today's events. Also, a handful of policy reports are now out, as of late afternoon... more on those in a future posting.]

[Amerigomag]

Simply vote NO.

The more congested California becomes, the more the electorate will be forced to analyze the reasons to find an effective solution.

When the electorate get to that point their research which documents California's legal population has been shrinking since 2003, then California can begin to work on it's imported congestion problems instead of taxing it's citizens to provide luxury for illegal interlopers.