CA: State lawmakers overseas during budget crisis (India, China and Hawaii 'researching' stuff)

SFGate.com ^ | 11/19/08 | Matthew Yi

[NormsRevenge]

Sacramento - --

More than a dozen state lawmakers have missed much of the special legislative session called to tackle the state's fiscal mess, instead traveling to India, China and Hawaii to learn about education, high-speed rail and dams.

The legislators include Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, D-San Diego, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, and several Assembly Budget Committee members who missed a hearing on the crisis on Friday. At least two of the lawmakers are not expected to return by Sunday's planned floor sessions of the Senate and the Assembly, their staff members said.

"Obviously, they're not taking the problem (the state's budget mess) as seriously as the rest of us," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and Media at Sacramento State University. "It's an acute financial situation for the state. I wouldn't be out of the country when I'm supposed to be solving this problem."

Taking such trips while the state is in need of a major fiscal fix only exacerbates the Legislature's already weak approval ratings, said Kathay Feng, executive director of California Common Cause, a government watchdog group.

Two months ago, the Field Poll reported that only 15 percent of the state's voters were pleased with the job state lawmakers were doing, the lowest mark the poll has ever recorded.

[ridesthemiles]

They are deliberately AWOL, IMO.

[lowbridge]

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