Free Republic

This was to be the year of big ambitions in California politics. In January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, ever eager to put his stamp on outsized ideas, proposed a $12 billion overhaul of the state's health care system. It would provide universal coverage and give relief to the state's 6.5 million uninsured, a bold plan he hoped would become a national template. At the same time, he wanted a $5.9 billion makeover of California's complex network of reservoirs, pumps and canals to help the state weather future droughts and accommodate an ever-expanding population. And to increase competition for legislative seats, the...

Unfortunately, Senate Republicans, except for Sen. Maldonado, decided they would continue holding up the budget in an effort to address concerns they have with environmental regulations. Let me be perfectly clear - it is unacceptable to hold up the budget, and negatively impact the entire state, over a non-budget issue. Once the Republican senators achieved their promise to balance the budget, they should have joined Sen. Maldonado and passed it. The budget is now six weeks late, leaving one of the world's largest economies without a spending plan. The ramifications are real and far-reaching.

While his Senate Republican colleagues have cowered under the shadow of right-wing ideology, he has had the courage to move forward on a centrist course of compromise. Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria), 39, is the kind of lawmaker ordinary people say they want representing them: Not too politically partisan. Not afraid to exercise independence. More loyal to his constituents than his party caucus. Senate Republicans either don't know when to declare victory because they're so used to losing. Or they're just hankering to fight -- to prove their relevance and take a shot at the governor who last year virtually...

Now, many of the policy advocates who have spent months working on healthcare bills are starting to panic. The window of opportunity for the state to change its healthcare system in a meaningful way is rapidly closing, they say. Robert Phillips, senior program officer with the nonprofit California Endowment, is imploring lawmakers to continue working on healthcare reform despite the lack of a budget. "Every day they have this impasse it serves as an excuse to avoid making hard choices they need to make to deal with broad healthcare reform," he said. But such calls for action are largely being...

Senate Democrats enlisted environmentalists Wednesday to chastise Republicans for holding up the state budget, arguing that the GOP is seeking a rollback of a Ronald Reagan-approved environmental law at the behest of business interests. Despite a pledge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto spending in the Assembly-approved plan, Republicans also are demanding a provision to prevent cities and counties, as well as developers and businesses, from being sued on climate change for the next three years. Republicans cite concerns about Attorney General Jerry Brown's use of the California Environmental Quality Act to stall local development projects. They worry that Brown...

Bill Whalen, a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution who wrote speeches for former Gov. Pete Wilson, said Republicans may be sending a twofold message. They are showing Democrats how difficult it will be to pass new taxes in future years while also proving their relevancy to Schwarzenegger. "Eleven months out of the year, the poor Republicans in the state Senate and Assembly toil in obscurity," Whalen said. "They don't matter when it comes to party-line votes. When it comes to (Schwarzenegger's) post-partisanship, they're the ones standing on the outside while the governor basks in the spotlight." Last year,...