Capitol Alert

As Standard & Poors urged lawmakers Tuesday to pursue "credible" budget solutions to bridge the state's $16 billion deficit, the ratings agency did not approve of Senate leader Darrell Steinberg's idea to forego a reserve this year.

In the report, S&P suggested it could lower the state's ratings outlook or even impose a downgrade if lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown don't pursue real solutions that bolster the state's cash situation this summer. The state still has a "positive" outlook but an A- credit rating, which rates lowest in the nation.

Brown built a $1.05 billion reserve into his $91.4 billion general fund budget for 2012-13. Steinberg said yesterday that one idea was to use that money instead on public programs.

"Look at the size of the reserve," Steinberg said. "You build up a reserve during good times and during the most difficult times, you don't want the resources sitting necessarily in the bank, you want to use it on mitigating the impact on people in the economy."

"It's raining," observed Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, a reference to the reserve nickname of "rainy-day fund."

But S&P said today, "In our view, this reserve level is low but important considering that the potential Facebook initial public offering-related income tax revenue is especially difficult to forecast."

On the eve of a series of public hearings on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial but little-regulated method of oil extraction in California, an industry group said today that its members will voluntarily post information about their "fracking" operations on a disclosure website, Frac Focus, likely by the end of June.

The disclosure comes as Gov. Jerry Brown's administration, pressured by lawmakers, prepares to draft the state's first regulations for fracking, in which water and chemicals are injected thousands of feet underground to break up rock formations. Unlike some other states, California does not have special regulations for that method of oil production, and regulators say they do not know how prevalent it is.

The Western States Petroleum Association said today that hydraulic fracturing was used in 628 of California's tens of thousands of wells last year by association member companies, mostly in Kern County. Those companies represent about 80 percent of oil production in the state.

Association president Catherine Reheis-Boyd said companies will disclose what chemicals they use in fracturing jobs, but not in exactly what combination.

Environmentalists warn fracking can damage wells and pollute groundwater. Industry representatives say the technology, used at least since the 1950s, is routine, with no evidence of any hazard in California.

The state Department of Conservation is hosting a series of workshops on the technology this summer, starting Wednesday in Bakersfield. In addition to developing regulations for fracking, it is reviewing how the state regulates cyclic steam injection drilling, in which steam is used in shallow rock formations to help extract oil.

That method of oil recovery was linked to the death of a Chevron oil worker in Kern County last year.

The latest plan for building a California bullet train system got a very conditional blessing Tuesday from a "peer review committee" of transportation experts.

Will Kempton, the veteran transportation official who heads the committee, told a Senate hearing that the latest revision is "measurably improved" from previous versions.

"It's more reasonable and realistic than previous proposals," said Kempton, who runs the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Senators are weighing whether to give the California High-Speed Rail Authority permission to begin construction on a $6 billion initial segment in the San Joaquin Valley.

Kempton stopped short of recommending approval, but he did say that before money is committed, the Legislature should make sure that there's a competent management structure in place, that the risks are fully weighed, especially whether more money will be forthcoming from the federal government, and that the authority update ridership and operating cost projections.

The rail authority and Gov. Jerry Brown have floated the idea that if the feds don't appropriate more high-speed rail money, the state could complete the $68 billion project with proceeds of the new "cap-and-trade" fees on carbon emissions. The legality of using those funds has been questioned.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who in the past year has likened Republican resistance to tax increases to a pope's resistance to abortion or to a broader audience's fear of "some kind of a sexually transmitted disease," tried a new line this morning.

The one involved conditioned dogs.

"It's difficult for Republicans because they have a theological imperative that says every time that somebody says, 'Tax,' they say, 'No,' " the Democratic governor told a crime victims group in Sacramento.

" 'Tax?' 'No.' That's built-in stimulus response," Brown said. "I don't know how many of you remember, studied about Pavlov."

For those who didn't remember or know about the Russian scientist, Brown briefly explained to the chuckling crowd that Pavlov studied dogs' tendency to salivate in anticipation of food.

The Chicago Tribune caught up recently with California Gov. Jerry Brown's sister, Kathleen Brown, the former state treasurer and Goldman Sachs executive who moved to Chicago after her brother won election in 2010.

Inevitably they talked about Sutter, the Pembroke Welsh corgi Kathleen Brown left behind.

"He humanizes my brother, makes him more approachable," she told the paper.

Kathleen Brown said Sutter, who lives with the governor and is referred to by the administration as California's "first dog," was "a celebrity waiting to be discovered."

PHOTO CREDIT: Sutter Brown, 2011.

An anonymous site attacking Republican congressional candidate Sam Aanestad has sparked legal action, allegations of campaign violations and calls for staff firings in the 1st Congressional District contest.

Voters who came across the site Sam4Congress.com in the past month would find unflattering pictures, criticisms and a banner reading "Sam Aanestad NOT for Congress," instead of the typical endorsements and biographical information they might expect to find at a URL carrying the candidate's name.

"Unlike the real deal -- the real Sam Aanestad has had a long history of bad votes and out of touch elitism," the site said on Monday. It has since been taken down.

The website originally carried the disclaimer "Free Thinkers for D'Acquisito," apparently a reference to another Republican candidate running for the open seat, according to a screenshot that the Aanestad campaign provided. But candidate Michael Dacquisto says he had no part in the site, and records released by the company hosting the site show that the domain name was registered in the name of Mark Spannagel, the chief of staff of yet another Republican candidate, state Sen. Doug LaMalfa.

The Aanestad campaign obtained the domain records as part of a lawsuit it filed to find out who was behind the site. Today, the campaign issued a press release accusing LaMalfa's campaign of violating a litany of federal campaign and disclosure laws, including failure to disclosure campaign communication or independent expenditures and fraud "in disclaiming its own campaign communication to that of another candidate."

Gov. Jerry Brown this morning defended his proposal to use $410 million in proceeds from the national mortgage settlement to help solve California's budget deficit, offsetting other costs.

The Democratic governor said he would consider any "vital programs" that may be affected, but he suggested much of the money from the settlement with large banks would otherwise have been used for lawyers.

"Any program that will help homeowners I will take a good look at," Brown told reporters one day after releasing his May budget revision. "We have time to work on the budget, but we're looking for money where we can find it."

In a written statement Monday, Attorney General Kamala Harris said the bank settlement was designed to help struggling homeowners and that money "should be used to help Californians stay in their homes."

Brown said before speaking to a crime victims group in Sacramento that budgeting is "all a balance."

"Whether it's courts or children or teachers or vulnerable people, it's not pretty," he said.

Brown is seeking a mix of spending cuts, borrowing and tax increases to close a $15.7 billion budget deficit.

Gov. Jerry Brown has weathered criticism for making an aggressive bet on revenues in last year's budget act, but the state's top fiscal analyst approves of his latest forecast, which is more conservative.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said today that its own forecasts "now are fairly similar to the administration's in both 2011-12 and 2012-13, with just a few hundred million dollars of bottom-line differences each year." LAO forecaster Jason Sisney would not specify whether his estimate is higher or lower than the governor's, only that they are "fairly close, and in the revenue forecasting world, fairly close means a great deal."

That is a significant change after the LAO had disagreed since November with Brown's revenue estimates, saying the governor had been too optimistic in thinking the state would remain flush with capital gains revenue after a hot spring 2011. Several economists and fiscal experts said in today's Bee that last year's optimistic assumption was driven much more by politics than economic data.

Interestingly enough, the scaling back of capital gains forecasts comes on the eve of the highly anticipated Facebook initial public offering slated for Friday morning that will generate billions for California tax coffers. The Analyst's Office said transactions related to the IPO would be responsible for one-fifth of California's economic growth over the next 13 months.

The LAO estimates that California will receive $2.1 billion through June 2013 from the Facebook IPO alone as employees and insiders cash in their stock options. That figure also assumes that voters will pass Brown's tax hike on wealthy earners and sales. The LAO increased its projection after Facebook increased its per share estimate this week.

The LAO assumes the Facebook IPO will start at $38 and that shares will trade at $45 in six months, when a new round of insiders are slated to cash in.

Brown's Department of Finance was more conservative on Facebook, estimating the state would receive $1.9 billion, which includes $400 million if his tax plan passes. Finance assumed a $35 per share IPO and a $35 per share price after six months.

Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said the department had even calculated the state's tax benefit from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's initial transaction alone. California is slated to receive $195 million this month when Zuckerberg exercises his option on 60 million shares, Palmer said.

PHOTO CREDIT: In this Feb. 5, 2007 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiles in this office in Palo Alto, Calif. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File

VIDEO: Dan Walters wonders whether Gov. Jerry Brown will live up to his "no more gimmicks" promise.

Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page.

See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

DAN WALTERS DAILY: As California absorbs the magnitude of the newly estimated budget deficit, Walters wonders whether voters will demand a gimmick-free spending plan.

Kevin Yamamura hosts a live chat today on the state budget at noon today. Follow the conversation (and schedule a reminder for yourself) here.

Sam Stanton reports that UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and Cruz Reynoso, who headed a task force probe into last year's pepper spray incident that was highly critical of her leadership, are among officials scheduled to appear before a legislative panel today:

Katehi, Reynoso and a number of other officials are among those expected to be heard from during a joint oversight hearing by the Senate Education Committee and the Assembly Higher Education Committee.

The hearing, set for 1:30 p.m. in Capitol Room 4202, follows a December hearing that was called in the wake of the Nov. 18 incident that created worldwide outcry after video of campus police pepper spraying protesters went viral on the Internet.

Tuesday's session is scheduled to include a report from Linda Bisson, chair of the UC Davis Academic Senate, and a student representative.

The hearing also is scheduled to include remarks from UC President Mark G. Yudof and other UC officials on the university system's overall responses to campus demonstrations.

The report by Reynoso, a former state Supreme Court justice, was released last month and was highly critical of the campus police and the university leadership.

SUSTAINABLE FARMING: Cuts to agricultural conservation programs and will be among the topics at a hearing today of the Assembly Select Committee on Sustainable and Organic Agriculture. The committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada of Davis, will meet at 1:30 p.m. in room 126 at the Capitol.

Those testifying include Alan Forkey, farm bill program manager for the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Dr. Jeff Dlott, chairman of the Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel for the California Department of Food and Agriculture and Brise Tencer, policy director for California Certified Organic Farmers.

Find more information here. Watch the hearing live here.

BOOK-SIGNING: The California Legislative Women's Caucus and The 20 Million Minds Foundation host a book-signing reception today at 4:30 p.m. The session is just 45 minutes long, so don't be late. The author is Lisa Bloom, a TV legal analyst and lawyer. The book is "Swagger: 10 Urgent Rules for Raising Boys in an Era of Failing Schools, Mass Joblessness and Thug Culture." The location is Ambrosia Cafe, 1030 K Street.

California motorists caught violating the state's rules on using cell phones behind the wheel could face bigger fines under legislation approved by the state Senate today.

Senate Bill 1310 would slap drivers caught texting or chatting without a hands-free device with a base fine of $30 for a first offense, up from the current fine of $20. That increase would bring the total fee faced by first-time offenders to about $199. Multiple offenses could carry a base fine of $60, which amounts to $319 in fees, and a one-point penalty on the driver's license. The additional revenues would be used to educate California drivers about the laws and the dangers of distracted driving.

The bill would also prohibit bicyclists from talking or texting on a cell phone.

The Sacramento-based Criminal Justice Legal Foundation petitioned the 3rd District Court of Appeals today to remove from the November ballot a proposal to abolish the death penalty in California, arguing it violates the state's "single-subject rule" for initiatives.

The foundation said abolishing the death penalty while also authorizing the distribution of $100 million to local law enforcement agencies to help solve murder and rape cases violates a requirement that ballot measures address only one subject.

"This kind of manipulation, forcing the people to vote on two different measures as an all-or-nothing choice, is exactly what the single-subject rule was put in the Constitution to prevent," the foundation's Kent Scheidegger said in a prepared statement.

Supporters of abolishing the death penalty said the litigation is baseless. Former San Quentin Warden Jeanne Woodford said in a prepared statement that the ballot measure is "about one thing and one thing only: ensuring that those who commit the most serious crimes in our state are caught and held accountable. Every aspect of the initiative is connected to that goal."

The reaction to Gov. Jerry brown's budget plan is rolling in. Here's a sampling from prepared releases:

Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco and chair of the Senate Budget Committee:

"We've made significant progress in reducing the state's structural budget deficit in the past year, shrinking it from $20 billion to $8 billion through austerity measures alone. Unfortunately, our fiscal crisis in California is far from over, largely due to the $20 billion structural deficit left by the Schwarzenegger Administration, and we continue to face a significant budget gap. We have just two ways to fill that hole, cuts and new revenue. While budget cuts are unavoidable at this juncture, they must be done in the most sensitive way to prevent further harm to our economy and essential infrastructures. We cannot continue to expect our state to thrive while we simultaneously give away tax breaks to large corporations and scale back funding for our schools, universities, social programs and health care services that are important to children, lower and middle class families and elderly and disabled Californians. We will not have the resources we need to put California back on its feet without the revenues that the Governor is proposing in his November ballot initiative. I look forward to working together with my colleagues in the Legislature and the people of California to fully analyze this latest budget proposal and present a transparent and balanced plan to the Governor by June 15."

Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff of Diamond Bar:

"Unfortunately, the Governor's increased budget deficit was predictable. Senate Republicans have consistently raised concerns that last year's majority vote budget relied on too many phony spending reductions, other irresponsible revenue assumptions, and gimmicks. As state revenues have been increasing, total spending has also increased by $20 billion since the 2007-08 state budget. Despite an 11% unemployment rate, two million Californians out of work, and California being ranked the worse state in the nation to do business 8-years in a row, the Governor and Democrats have no proposals to help grow the economy or to help our small business community. Republicans believe we must get people back to work, which in turn will responsibly increase our state tax revenues."

California Gov. Jerry Brown released today a revised plan to close the state's projected $15.7 billion budget gap.

Here is the summary of the May budget proposal:

Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision summary 2012-2013

RELATED POSTS:

Gov. Jerry Brown: Cut state workers, health and welfare to solve budget

Gov. Jerry Brown: State budget deficit now $16 billion

Gov. Jerry Brown called Monday for additional spending cuts to health and welfare programs, as well as a 5 percent furlough for state workers, to help erase a budget deficit that has grown to $15.7 billion.

PHOTO GALLERY: Gov. Jerry Brown May Revise

The Democratic governor relies on a patchwork of solutions to bridge the gap in a $91.4 billion general fund spending plan, including deeper cuts, his November tax initiative and taking money from a multi-state mortgage abuse settlement with banks.

Among the most unusual ideas: asking state employees to work four days a week for a total of 38 hours instead of 40, or 9.5-hour shifts. Brown suggested in the budget that the proposal would save operational costs by shutting down offices once a week in addition to 5 percent of salary. The proposal would likely have to be bargained with labor unions since Democratic lawmakers will not impose the cuts unilaterally.

The governor also proposed giving UC $38 million less than he did earlier this year. Both proposals make it more likely that UC will raise tuition in 2012-13 after UC officials said last week they needed an additional $125 million to avoid a 6 percent hike on students.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says the Legislature has become subordinate to the initiative process in California.

Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page.

See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's report, says that California legislators are playing second fiddle to the state's ballot initiatives.

Just how bad will it be?

Gov. Jerry Brown is releasing his revised budget in Sacramento at 10 a.m., and with his deficit estimate now at $16 billion, nobody thinks it'll be easy on the eyes. As Kevin Yamamura reported Sunday, "No sector that relies on state funding is likely to escape deeper cuts. Brown has already told state worker unions to expect at least a 5 percent compensation reduction."

Brown's morning news conference will be streamed live on the California Channel's website. The revised budget itself will posted online shortly after 10 a.m. at this link. Afterward, the governor will head to Los Angeles for a second news conference at 2 p.m. Come back to Capitol Alert later today for details and reactions from legislators and others.

The Senate's budget panels will start considering some parts of his plan on Wednesday, but some Capitol denizens won't be waiting that long to weigh in. The Women's Foundation of California has organized a rally on the Capitol's north steps at 11 a.m. to protest against cuts to social services and community colleges. Expected speakers include Los Angeles Democrats Sen. Kevin de León and Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell as well as Jack Scott, the California Community Colleges chancellor.

Both houses of the Legislature have set floor sessions today for noon. The Senate Appropriations Committee agenda lists more than 70 bills -- with pet groomers and state park closures among the issues -- as members work toward the May 25 deadline for measures to pass out of fiscal committees to the floor. Click here for the Senate's daily file, and click here for the Assembly's.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, turns 54 today, while Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, turns 50.

Gov. Jerry Brown said in a video release today that California's budget deficit has mushroomed to $16 billion, nearly twice as high as the $9.2 billion he estimated in January.

Brown blamed a slow recovery from the recession and the federal government's blockage of state spending cuts for the widening gap.

"This means that we will have to go much further, and make cuts far greater than I asked for at the beginning of the year," Brown said in a 2 minute, 41-second video released on YouTube. "But we can't fill a hole of this magnitude with cuts alone without doing severe damage to our schools."

The Democratic governor then went on to ask voters to approve his November ballot initiative to raise taxes on sales and wealthy earners. The proposal would raise the sales tax by a quarter-cent and hike taxes on income above $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for joint filers.

Brown is scheduled to release his revised May budget on Monday morning at 10 a.m., an event that will set in motion serious budget discussions as lawmakers attempt to approve a spending plan before the June 15 deadline.

After tax returns were disappointing in April, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office estimated that the state is now about $3 billion behind for the year in revenues and would be a "few billion" behind through June 2013.

RENO - President Barack Obama, appearing in a swing state still reeling from the foreclosure crisis, called on House Republicans this afternoon to enact a mortgage-relief plan that has failed for months in Congress to gain traction.

"You're going to have to pressure Congress," the Democratic president said outside the Reno home of a couple who refinanced their mortgage through a program Obama is seeking to expand. "The pool of folks who can refinance right now, when their homes are underwater, is still too small."

A measure to expand a program for government-backed mortgages to those backed by private institutions is part of an election year "to-do list" Obama is pushing on Congress.

"I need all of you and everybody who's watching to push Congress on their "to-do list," Obama said. "Nag them until they actually get it done. We need to keep moving this country forward. Send them an email. Tweet them. Write them a letter if you're old-fashioned like me."

PHOTO CREDIT: President Barack Obama meets with Val and Paul Keller in their Reno home Friday. Associated Press//Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

JobsPAC, the political action committee of the California Chamber of Commerce, has recently shelled out more than $150,000 on independent efforts backing two Democrats running for the Assembly.

About $121,000 went to consultants,research, polling and mailers to support Orange County Democrat Tom Daly's run for the Assembly District 69 seat, according to the PAC's latest filings with the Secretary of State.

Daly, a moderate who OC Weekly tagged "the Joe Lieberman of Orange County politics," has a long history in public office that includes 10 years as Anaheim's mayor.

Other contenders for the Democratic-leaning seat currently held by termed-out Assemblyman Jose Solorio , D-Santa Ana, include Santa Ana City Councilwoman Michele Martinez and labor activist Julio Perez, both Democrats. Another committee backed by labor has been spending heavily for Perez.

Closer to Sacramento, the chamber supported Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman's candidacy for the Assembly District 13 seat with $33,000 spent independently on consulting, research, and mailers.

Although three Republicans are on the AD 13 June primary ballot, the primary race is focused on Eggman and labor-backed Democratic community activist Xochitl Paderes, whose campaign has received nearly $20,000 from labor organizations, state records show.

The Stockton Record recently reported that the fight between the candidates is centering on Stockton's well-known fiscal problems and how the city council on which Eggman serves decided to enter confidential talks with creditors, hoping to avoid bankruptcy. That has angered unions, which have endorsed Paderes.

The Federal Election Commission this week struggled again with Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's request for a loosening of the usual fundraising limits, in the wake of the massive embezzlement by former campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee.

The upshot: Feinstein didn't get the go-ahead she sought, but neither did the six-member FEC come to a official consensus decision on the key question. There could be more discussions to come.

Feinstein asked the FEC for permission to raise more money from contributors who had already maxed out under federal campaign limits, arguing that Durkee's admitted embezzlement meant the money was never really received.

A revised draft opinion debated Thursday would have denied Feinstein's request to seek replacement contributions from individuals whose money had been deposited in a campaign account. But with one Republican commissioner recusing himself from the deliberations, the 3-2 vote adopting the draft opinion fell short of the four votes needed for approval.

The FEC's general counsel will be redrafting an opinion that would allow more money to be raised only from those individuals whose prior contributions were never actually deposited in a campaign account. This may not cover very many donors.

VIDEO: Many people don't know what the "single sales factor" is, but Dan Walters says it's likely to be the topic of one of this year's biggest legislative battles in California.

Have a question you'd like Dan to answer? Post it on our Facebook page.

See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's video report, talks about an obscure subject that promises to rile up the California Legislature.

Generating jobs and improving regional competitiveness take center stage at the California Economic Summit, which runs all day at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

Sponsored by the California Stewardship Network and California Forward, speakers include former U.S. Labor Secretary George Shultz, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and author Thomas Friedman as well as Gov. Jerry Brown's adviser Michael Rossi.

Later, Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway and Democratic Sen. Michael Rubio will talk with former Assembly Speaker Bob Hertzberg about the Legislature's role. Click here for the full agenda. Learn more at this link.

Closer to the dome, members of Occupy Sacramento gather at Cesar Chavez Plaza at 11 a.m. to protest treatment of the homeless, then march to the Capitol.

Gov. Jerry Brown, meanwhile, heads to San Francisco for the ninth annual dinner of the Asia Society Northern California, where he'll be feted tonight for working to strengthen the state's relationship with Asia.

COMMENCEMENT: California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye delivers the commencement speech at 2 p.m. Saturday to this year's graduating class at McGeorge School of Law at Sacramento's Memorial Auditorium.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, celebrates her 66th birthday on Saturday.

Under pressure from health advocates, Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday removed a controversial physician from a state health board after she appeared in an industry-funded ad against a tobacco tax hike on the June ballot.

La Donna Porter, a physician at San Joaquin General Hospital, had served since 2005 on a state advisory panel of medical experts and scientists that identifies chemicals known to cause developmental or reproductive harm. She was an appointee of then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Brown also took the opportunity to remove five other Schwarzenegger appointees from the panel, according to George Alexeeff, head of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which oversees the California Proposition 65 Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee.

That leaves two members standing: Ellen B. Gold and Hillary Klonoff-Cohen, both Democrats. Meanwhile, at least two of the people removed - Calvin J. Hobel and Carl Keen - are registered Republicans. A third appointee removed, Linda Roberts, works for the Chevron Research and Technology Company.

Brown press secretary Gil Duran offered little explanation, other than to suggest the governor has been making his way through the various appointees from the previous administration.

Duran did not directly refer to the Proposition 29 firestorm. But he said health advocate complaints and media investigations of Porter "certainly brought this board more attention than it usually gets. It brought it to the forefront."

Tobacco companies are spending heavily against Proposition 29, a measure that would raise taxes by $1 per pack of cigarettes and a comparable amount on other forms of tobacco. The initiative would raise $735 million annually for cancer and disease research, as well as smoking prevention.

Three California Republicans running in targeted congressional races have been named "Young Guns" by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Ricky Gill, state Sen. Tony Strickland, and Assemblyman David Valadao were among the 12 candidates to reach the top status of the candidate recruitment and training program.

Gill is running against Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney in the Central Valley's 9th Congressional District, Strickland is vying for the open 26th Congressional District in Ventura County, and Valadao is seeking the open 21st Congressional District, also in the Central Valley.

NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions, a Texas congressman, praised the candidates for "leading the pack as Republicans continue to send a loud and clear message that we will hold Democrats accountable for their job-destroying agenda."

The program was founded before the 2008 election by California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc.

A California proposal aimed at curbing sex slavery and other forms of human trafficking has qualified for the November ballot.

The initiative increases penalties for human trafficking violations, upping the maximum sentence to 15 years to life in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million. It would also require that sex offenders, including people convicted of human trafficking crimes, report information about their online accounts, such as email addresses or social media pages.

Validity checks by county election officials showed that proponents submitted enough voter signatures to meet the 504,760 minimum for making it on the ballot, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said today.

The signature-gathering effort was funded with $1.4 million from Chris Kelly, a former Facebook chief privacy officer and 2010 Democratic attorney general candidate who lobbied unsuccessfully for legislation that would have created similar online identity reporting requirements for sex offenders.

The anti human trafficking initiative is the sixth measure to qualify for the November election. Upwards of a dozen measures, including three separate tax proposals, could make ultimately make it on the ballot.

More than a quarter of Californians were born in another country, and those 10-plus million immigrant residents of the state also represent more than a quarter of the nation's foreign-born population, a new Census Bureau report reveals.

California's 25.4 percent of the nation's 40 million foreign-born residents is, by far, the largest concentration of any state, both numerically and proportionately. New York is a distant second with 10.8 percent, followed by Texas.

Nationally, 44 percent of the foreign born have become citizens. The report does not break citizenship down by state, but California's level of citizenship may be lower since Mexico is the state's major source of immigration and nationally, just 22.9 percent of Mexican-born immigrants are citizens.

Latinos, both immigrants and native-born, are now nearly 40 percent of California's population and are expected to become the state's largest ethnic group within a few years as the white population continues to decline. One factor, as the Census Bureau report indicates, is that immigrants have much higher birth rates than native-born Americans, in part because they tend to be younger and in part because they come from cultures that traditionally have high birth rates.

Legislative Democrats are bracing for "more work on the cuts side" once Gov. Jerry Brown releases his revised budget next week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters during a weekly q-and-a in his office.

"We all expect the news to be rough. That's no secret," the Sacramento Democrat said.

That will likely mean more steep cuts to the state's health and human services programs. An estimated $1.5 billion lawmakers had hoped to reserve for affordable housing programs is also "certainly a very ripe candidate" for use for general budget relief, he said.

"We have not shied away from doing what we have to do and we won't shy away now," he said. "But we will certainly fight to save more than we lose.'

When asked what areas he hopes to protect from future reductions, Steinberg cited CalWorks, the state's welfare-to-work program, as a top priority. He said studies showing correlation between cuts to those services and homelessness make the decision "one of those can you sleep at night kind of questions."

"I would do just about anything to avoid that cut," he said.

Brown's budget is expected to rely on up to $9 billion in revenues from his proposed initiative to temporarily raise income taxes for top earners and enact a quarter percent increase in the state sales tax, with a round of "trigger" cuts after the election if the November ballot measure fails. While the revenues at stake on the November ballot has grown since the governor's January budget proposal because of changes to the tax plan, Steinberg said he expects the triggers to still target K-12 schools, higher education and the courts.

"I don't see that the fundamentals will change even if the number changes," Steinberg said. "But you've got to make up for a bigger number."

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

Less than a month before California voters decide on tobacco-tax and term-limits initiatives, Gov. Jerry Brown remains unlikely to take a public position on either one.

The Democratic governor, who submitted signatures this morning for his November ballot measure to raise taxes, declined to discuss the ballot measures on the June 5 ballot.

"Focus, focus," he said, telling reporters he is "sticking to the measure that we're filing signatures for today."

Proposition 28 would alter legislative term limits, allowing lawmakers to serve 12 years either in one house or divided between the Assembly and Senate. Lawmakers are currently restricted to eight years in the Senate and six in the Assembly.

Proposition 29 would impose an additional $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for cancer research and smoking cessation programs.

Brown's November initiative would raise income taxes on California's highest earners as well as the state sales tax rate.

"As governor, my responsibility is to balance the budget, protect our schools, protect public safety," he said today. "That's what I'm doing. I need to get this initiative passed, so that's my focus."

Philip Morris USA is among the most recent large contributors to Brown's re-election campaign, donating $26,000 last month.

PHOTO CAPTION: Gov. Jerry Brown and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, delivers signatures for his ballot tax measure to the county registrar's office in Sacramento on Thursday, May 10, 2012. Sacramento Bee / Randall Benton.