Capitol Alert

Rep. Ami Bera, a doctor who was elected to Congress last year, questioned Tuesday why his Republican colleagues brought a bill to the floor to restrict abortions beyond 20 weeks when they knew it had no chance of becoming law.

"Why aren't we talking about the things the public wants us to talk about?" the Elk Grove Democrat asked in an interview after he cast a no vote.

The measure passed the House of Representatives on a largely party-line vote of 228-196. Six Republicans broke with their colleagues against, as did six Democrats in favor. It's not likely to survive in the Democratic-majority Senate, and President Barack Obama said he'd veto it if it did.

The bill was designed to satisfy social conservatives after a Philadelphia abortion doctor recently convicted of murder in the deaths of three babies born alive. Kermit Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison.

But it raised an issue that turned out to be unfavorable for Republicans nationwide in last year's elections. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., created a firestorm last week when he said in a hearing that "the incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low." It echoed a remark last year by Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin, who said that pregnancies didn't result from "legitimate rape." He lost badly to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

After Franks' remark, an exception was added to the bill for victims of rape and incest, but the exception would require a woman to report the rape to law enforcement officials.

Bera called Franks' statement "ridiculously ignorant" and said that as a doctor, he'd seen victims of sexual assault come to the emergency room. "These women are at an incredibly vulnerable point in their lives," he said.

None of California's 38 Democrats voted for it, but virtually all of its 15 Republicans did. They included House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, as well as Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock, David Valadao of Hanford and Tom McClintock of Elk Grove.

PHOTO: Dr. Ami Bera smiles as he leaves his polling place at Foulks Ranch Elementary School in Elk Grove on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling

Congressional skeptics of California's high-speed rail project make their feelings known in a draft transportation spending bill made public this week.

The bill from by the transportation subcommittee of the powerful House Appropriations Committee declares that "none of the funds made available by this
act may be used for the California High-Speed Rail Program of the California High-Speed Rail Authority."

The language conforms with the views of skeptics like Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, a member of the appropriations committee, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, chair of the House railroad subcommittee and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, the House majority whip.

Denham said Wednesday his intent is to ensure that "Valley dollars stay in the Valley."

"We're working together in concert with the other concerned members from the Valley," Denham said.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority has already received some $3.5 billion in federal funds, and was not anticipating getting any more in Fiscal 2014.

The high-speed rail language was included in a bill that, overall, provides $15.3 billion for an assortment of federal transportation.

What will Gov. Jerry Brown's course of action be, Dan wonders, as he faces pressure to veto provisions that his own Department of Finance wanted in the budget.

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Yes, it's time again for California lawmakers to take a break from all that lawmaking, roll up their sleeves and see who can make the best California roll (it's made with the state grain, you know). The winner of the competition, put on courtesy of the California Rice Commission, gets a cool samurai sword trophy for their efforts. Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, and Assembly members Toni Atkins, Brian Dahle, Marc Levine and Richard Pan are expected to attend. Starting at noon at the Sheraton Grand.

VIDEO: It's time for the governor to show some leadership on protecting government transparency, Dan Walters says.

TIME FOR A RAISE? Whether lawmakers make enough money ranks fairly low on your average voter's list of concerns, but members of the Citizens Compensation Commission are tasked with thinking about such things -- and there's an indication that, after years of cuts, the commission could vote to boost elected officials' salaries. The other piece of drama likely to emerge at today's meeting, which gets under way at 10 a.m. at Sacramento City Hall, is whether a residency issue should deprive commission member John Stites of his vote.

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BILL-RELATED: It's lobby day for the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which means animal defenders will be pushing for bills that would prohibit lead ammunition that can poison animals, ban the sale of pets at swap meets and enact restrictions on trapping bobcats. An 11:15 a.m. press conference on the north steps is expected to feature Sens. Ted Lieu and Darrell Steinberg along with Assemblymen Richard Bloom, Roger Dickinson and Mike Gatto.

AFTER SAN ONOFRE: The California Energy Commission is meeting today to discuss, among other things, seismic threats to power plants and the repercussions of the decision to shutter the embattled San Onofre power plant. Commissioner Andrew McAllister and Michel Peter Florio of the California Public Utilities Commission are expected to be there.

BUSINESS BASHES BILL: We've brought you news already of the concerted push for legislation that would penalize big employers who don't pay their employees enough to keep them off of Medi-Cal. The business community has also mobilized, and representatives of the California Retailers Association, the California Business Roundtable, the California Restaurant Association and others are gathering at 10:30 a.m. today at the California Chamber of Commerce building on K street to voice their opposition.

WATER WARS: The Delta Stewardship Council is meeting today to hear about, among other things, the environmental impacts of Gov. Jerry Brown's massive proposed Bay Delta Conservation Plan (not to be confused with the lawsuit-besieged Delta Plan). The meeting kicks off at 9 a.m. at 980 9th Street.

WOMEN AND GIRLS GATHERING: The California Commission on the Status of Women and girls is holding a fundraiser today at the Citizen Hotel, featuring chair Geena Davis. Tickets for the event run from $1,000 for two tickets to $15,000 for the deluxe eight-ticket package; RSVPs include Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge, and Assemblywomen Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and Nora Campos, D-San Jose.

AIPAC ACCOLADES: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is honoring the California Latino Legislative Caucus tonight. Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, are expected to speak.

PHOTO: Rice from a California Heritage Mill in Maxwell is seen in this photo on April 24, 2013.The Sacramento Bee/ Randy Pench.

Water brought California lawmakers together on Tuesday. Or, at least, it got a bunch of them in the same room.

In two separate sessions on Capitol Hill, one held for House Republicans and one held for House Democrats, California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird briefed members of the state's congressional delegation on the touchy subject of the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, or BDCP.

The ambitious plan, which includes construction of two tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento River and to reduce pumping from the south Delta, is favored by Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno as well as some big water districts in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. It also faces considerable skepticism from House members whose congressional districts include portions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. More than 15 Democrats, including Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Thompson, John Garamendi and Jerry McNerney attended the late afternoon briefing, many of them skeptics.

"I was pleased to have the attention of Governor Brown's administration today and look forward to our meeting tomorrow; however, I will only be satisfied when I see concrete results," McNerney said.

Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, called the meeting a "very good exchange," and no shouting could be heard from outside the room during the hour-plus meeting. The enduring differences were clearly present, though, when Costa and BDCP skeptic Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, entered into a spirited and spontaneous hallway debate following the session.

PHOTO: Looking southwest with Mt Diablo in the background, an aerial photo of waterways between Staten Island, left, and Tyler Island, right, on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. The Sacramento Bee/Randall Benton

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation to allow the hiring of hundreds of call center employees in Rancho Cordova and elsewhere to assist in selling medical insurance through the state's new health care exchange.

"Most definitely, it 's going to allow us to move forward with hiring," said Dana Howard, spokesman for Covered California, the health exchange. "This was the key thing we needed to have resolved."

Senate Bill 509, signed Monday by Brown, lays the groundwork for hiring by requiring criminal background checks of potential call center employees who would have access to clients' personal, medical, tax or financial information.

Applicants can be rejected for positions in the health care exchange if state or federal criminal records show a conviction for a felony or misdemeanor -- or a pending criminal charge -- involving moral turpitude.

"Without this bipartisan legislation, these positions would have been on hold indefinitely," said Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, said in a written statement. "These security measures are essential for consumer protection."

Senate Democratic leader Darrell Steinberg will be at Assemblyman Roger Dickinson's side when he announces his candidacy for Steinberg's Sacramento-area Senate seat on Wednesday.

Steinberg's support is a major coup for fellow Democrat Dickinson, who is likely to face Assemblyman Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, in the 2014 Senate race. Steinberg will be termed out.

Dickinson and Pan were slated for an intraparty showdown in the 7th Assembly District in 2012 before Pan moved to the Pocket area to run in the 9th district.

Dickinson was elected to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors in 1994 and served for 17 years before his Assembly run in 2010. In addition to Steinberg, Dickinson will announce a lengthy list of endorsements, including US Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Sacramento County supervisors Phil Serna and Don Nottoli, Sacramento City Councilmembers Bonnie Pannell and Steve Cohn and former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo.

Pan has a campaign committee open and is fundraising, but will likely not announce his intention for the Senate seat while the Legislature is in session, said Doug Herman, Pan's campaign strategist.

Herman said Steinberg's endorsement of Dickinson is not a deal breaker.
"There will be a lot of support for Pan and Dickinson," said Herman, who was Assembly Speaker John A. Perez's campaign consultant. "In the end, it will come down to who they are. Endorsements won't make a difference in this race."

Editor's note: This post was updated with Herman's comments at 4:44 p.m. on June 18, 2013.

PHOTO: Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, in a 2010 file photo. The Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

The chairman of California's Citizens Compensation Commission has concluded personally that data supports full restoration of cuts made to state elected officials' salaries the past four years - but he hasn't decided whether to vote that way Wednesday.

Rather than push a specific plan, Chairman Tom Dalzell said he simply will ask the seven-member panel whether it wants to restore all, some or none of the pay cuts to officials ranging from governor to insurance commissioner to state legislator.

"I firmly believe the data suggests restoration," Dalzell said. "I don't know what my policy position is - I want to listen to (commissioners) before I decide, in the end, what I think."

The governor's salary has dropped from $212,179 to $165,288 in the past four years. Lawmakers saw their pay fall from $116,208 to $90,526, their benefits reduced, and their lease-car program eliminated during the same period.

California's officeholder salaries tend to be high compared to their counterparts in other states, but they pale in comparison to salaries paid to many city managers, district attorneys, county executive officers and other key local government administrators, the commission's surveys show.

Dalzell contends that the salary-setting panel must consider whether, despite the state's firmer financial footing, hiking state officeholders' pay would be appropriate so soon after the state's massive budget crisis.

Dalzell said he will not seek a vote on restoring the state's program of purchasing lease cars for lawmakers or increasing legislative per diem because he believes the board acted beyond its legal authority in cutting those benefits in 2009.

"I would propose letting the Legislature handle its affairs, which is what I think the statute envisions."

Gov. Jerry Brown did his best fundraising of the year last week, collecting in two days about what he raised in the previous three months.

Of the nearly $253,000 raised by the Democratic governor last week, slightly less than half came from a group of automobile dealers who hosted a lunch for Brown in Los Angeles.

Brown collected other contributions from a handful of donors with ongoing business before the state. Those donations include $25,000 each from Time Warner Cable and the University of Phoenix's parent company, Apollo Group Inc., $27,200 from the Southern California-based Morongo Band of Mission Indians and $23,448 from a political action committee of the California Chiropractic Association.

Brown's haul for the week would hardly be outstanding for some other incumbent governors with a primary election less than one year away. Brown, however, has done relatively little fundraising since taking office. The contributions he reported receiving last week account for more than 40 percent of total large donations he has reported receiving this year.

Brown raised about $1.9 million last year and had money left over from this 2010 campaign. The third-term governor, who is widely expected to seek re-election next year, has about $7.8 million in cash on hand.

Brown's banner fundraising week was also the week he negotiated a $96.3 billion budget with lawmakers.

Brian Maas, president of the California New Car Dealers Association, said the lunch his group hosted for Brown was scheduled long beforehand.

"We're supportive of the governor and his re-election, and we were happy to get a number of dealers together that were supportive," he said.

PHOTO: California Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled his revised budget plan for the fiscal year at a press conference at the Capitol on May 14, 2013. The Sacramento Bee/Renee C. Byer

California's Capitol is full of hard-drinking, skirt-chasing, and corrupt hypocrites - or so Dianne Harman, the wife of a former state senator, would have readers of her new novel, "Tea Party Teddy," believe.

The title character is "Teddy Randall," newly elected Republican assemblyman from Orange County who hates illegal immigrants and wants to drive them out of the state, but is financially strapped from his campaign, owes money to a Mafia loan shark who's pressuring him for repayment, and is willing to be bribed to vote for an immigrant-friendly bill. Randall falls for an FBI sting, but not before learning that his wife is carrying on an affair with a Latino lawyer who champions immigrant rights.

Harman's husband, Tom, was a long-serving legislator from Orange County, and she says in her acknowledgements that he "day after day asked how the book was coming along, edited numerous drafts and gave tirelessly of his expertise on how things are done in Sacramento." She doesn't say, however, whether that expertise extended to the novel's explicit sex scenes.

"Tea Party Teddy" is a roman à clef that fictionalizes several well-known incidents, such as former Assemblyman Mike Duvall's 2009 bragging on an open mike in a legislative hearing room about his sexual exploits with a lobbyist. Duvall was forced to resign. It also draws on the FBI's undercover sting investigation of the Capitol a quarter-century ago that sent several legislators, lobbyists and staffers to prison.

The novel's Capitol readers will try to match up the fictional characters, especially the title character, with real-life politicians and lobbyists. But Harman makes one connection easy. The influential "FlashReport" blog, much loved by California conservatives, is called "FlushReport" in the book.

"Tea Party Teddy is a novel about political corruption, bribes, sex, and intrigue, which all come together in the story of a newly elected assemblyman," Harman said in an email promoting the book. "While you may think you recognize some of the books' characters as being members of the Sacramento political establishment, the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

"If you want to know what really goes on behind the scenes in Sacramento, you'll find out when you read Tea Party Teddy. As the wife of a former California state senator, I had 12 years of firsthand experience in observing politicians, lobbyists, and consultants, as they struggled to gain political advantage."

The novel, available on-line or in print via Amazon, is reminiscent of another novel, "Capitol Punishment," written by a politician's former wife, that also depicted sex and corruption in and around the state Capitol.

Pledging to curb the political influence of big-money donors and update California's voting infrastructure, activist and former Common Cause vice president Derek Cressman announced today his candidacy for California secretary of state.

Cressman joins a field already populated by Republican Pete Peterson, who heads a public policy school at Pepperdine University, and two Democratic state senators, Alex Padilla of Los Angeles and Leland Yee of San Francisco. Like Peterson, Cressman is positioning himself as an outsider with no interest in ascending the political career ladder.

"I'm running for secretary of state only to be secretary of state," Cressman said in an announcement on the south steps of the State Capitol, promising that if he were elected, he would not run for other public offices while serving as secretary of state.

"With the growing concentration of political power in the hands of an elite few," he added, "it too often feels as if our government has been conquered by an army of special interests, lawyers, lobbyists and career politicians who no longer act on our behalf."

Democrats in the California Assembly flexed their supermajority muscles by passing a new constitutional amendment, but Dan wonders what exactly that means for the state and its future.

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During Saturday's budget bonanza, a triumphant Senate president pro tem celebrated the smooth passage of a tax measure by telling observers they had just witnessed the Democratic supermajority in action. Aside from being able to pass taxes without having to woo Republicans, the other benefit to having a two-thirds majority is, of course, the unimpeded capacity to put constitutional amendments on the ballot.

This weekend, we got a glimpse of the supermajority's effect on budget votes -- we'll get another hint today, during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Elections And Constitutional Amendments. The committee is considering four proposed amendments that would lower the threshold for voter approval of various local taxes from its current 2/3 level to 55 percent. The meeting starts at 1:30 p.m. in room 3191.

VIDEO: Democrats are starting to embrace their newfound power, Dan Walters says.

STATE OF SECRETARY OF STATE RACE: We already have multiple contenders to be California's next secretary of state, but today the field expands a bit more: political money critic and former Common Cause vice president Derek Cressman, who had been mulling a run, will formally declare his candidacy on the south steps at 10 a.m. today.

ANOTHER FRACKING HEARING: Okay, today's hearing on California's gas and oil wells is not exclusively focused on hydraulic fracturing -- lawmakers will also hear about the menacingly named process of "acid stimulation," which energy companies have invoked as a way to possibly get at oil locked in the Monterey Shale. But fracking has attracted plenty of attention this session, and the hearing will touch on fracking-related points of contention like the disclosure of chemicals involved in well stimulation.

Speakers include Mark Nechodom, director of the California Department of Conservation; representatives of environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Working Group; and, in lieu of executives from big firms like Halliburton and Chevron who declined invitations, representatives of the Western States Petroleum Association and the California Independent Petroleum Association. In room 4203.

REPUBLICANS PUSH IMMIGRATION: With both parties digging in as Congress debates immigration reform, two California Republicans are traveling to Washington to urge their federal colleagues to act. Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres and Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, will be in D.C. today and tomorrow making their case.

TOUTING TESLA: What are those Tesla Model S sedans doing on the West steps, you ask? The vehicle is there to trumpet California's role in the success of Tesla Motors, which along with Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, is sponsoring the automobile's appearance (the cars were manufactured in Wieckowski's district).

DRIVERLESS DIRECTIVES: Speaking of innovative car technology, the California Department of Motor Vehicles is conducting another public workshop on regulations for autonomous vehicles on California's roads, a process that raises some fascinating legal questions. Starting at 10 a.m. at the DMV headquarters on 2415 1st Avenue.

CELEBRATIONS: Happy birthday to Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, who hits a milestone by turning 40 today.

PHOTO: Could this thing be poised for changes? The Sacramento Bee/Jeremy B. White.

Three days and $13.37 later, Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento said she was struck by how challenging it was to eat properly on a food-stamp budget.

Matsui was among 30 House Democrats who took part in the SNAP Challenge to protest cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program proposed in Congress. She and her colleagues lived on the average benefit of $4.50 a day.

"While this was temporary for me, it is reality for the millions of Americans who are never sure where their next meal will come from," Matsui wrote on her Facebook page. "As we debate the Farm Bill in the House this week I will continue to oppose outlandish cuts to the SNAP program."

What was on the menu: Bread, pasta, Ramen noodles, canned peaches, American cheese, eggs and coffee.

What wasn't: Meat or fresh fruits and fresh vegetables except broccoli.

Matsui began her challenge Thursday and concluded it Saturday. On the last day, she made French toast - and used the canned peach juice in place of syrup.

"I was struck by how challenging it was to find foods that would fit the tight budget and also provide meals for the three days," she said.

A Senate-passed version of the farm bill would cut $400 million a year from food assistance over a decade. The Republican-majority House of Representatives is considering even deeper cuts - $2 billion a year over 10 years.

Matsui said such cuts would deprive 2 million Americans of food assistance and 200,000 children of school lunches.

"This is unconscionable," she said.

PHOTO: From Rep. Doris Matsui's Facebook page, her dinner of pasta with broccoli, cheese toast and water.

Dan gives a history of school finance in California and says the latest budget adds another controversial chapter to that saga.

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Now that the California Legislature's deadline for passing the state budget has come and gone, Capitol Alert takes advantage of Monday morning analysis to parse related bursts emanating from the Twitter-verse.

It was, of course, the first budget votes for Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, the San Diego Democrat sworn in to the lower house May 28.

"You know you're the newest Assembly member when someone speaks & you have to ask your seat mate 'Who is that?' (Answer: Mr. Patterson)," she tweeted, referring to Fresno Republican Jim Patterson. (@LorenaSGonzalez)

Several other Assembly members took advantage of a lull Friday by playing off the NSA leak and the dark-humor meme "NSA called to tell me (fill in the blank)."

The latest state budget adds another controversial chapter to the saga of school finance in California, Dan Walters says.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles: "#TheNSACalledToTellMe that @Talk2Melissa needs to change her twitter handle and that @JeffGorell says @CurtHagman plays too many video games." (He was referring to Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore.)

He kept going. Apparently, 140 characters just weren't enough. (@mikegatto)

Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, shot back: "#nsacalledtotellme my floor speech sucked." (@JeffGorell)

Melendez was not to be outdone: "#nsacalledtotellme that @JeffGorell and @mikegatto are jealous of @JoinTravisAllen hair," invoking fellow Republican Travis Allen of Huntington Beach. (@Talk2Melissa)

Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, weighed in from the upper house: "@JeffGorell #nsacalledtotellme I thought I'd let you know they told me first." (@tedlieu)

Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, took a far more serious tone, tweeting often to explain his votes, which usually fell on the "no" side. (@AsmTimDonnelly)

Democrat Susan Eggman of Stockton took note, quoting Donnelly as saying, "I wish I had a semiautomatic no vote on my desk." (@SusanEggman)

Some of the snarkiest comments, sometimes posted with Twitter pics, came from the anonymous @VanityCaucus ("If they let me get close enough I plan on taking Donnelly's tie away") and @SanityCaucus ("I'm officially in love with a republican '@JeffGorell: bi-partisan boredom.' ").

Capitol Alert can't wait for end-of-session legislative bingo.

CELEBRATIONS: Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, celebrates his 56th birthday today.

PHOTO: A view of an iPhone on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Associated Press/ Evan Vucci

As the state Senate finished voting today on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, "That is what's called a supermajority."

The measure was a relatively modest part of the annual budget package wrapped up by the Legislature today, but it required a two-thirds vote and afforded Democrats an opportunity to flex the supermajority power they gained in November elections.

Democrats in the Assembly mustered two-thirds not only for the managed care tax, but also for a bill that would ask voters to lower from two-thirds to 55 percent the voter-approval threshold for a local government to incur bonded indebtedness for certain public improvements. It is one of several Democratic proposals to lower the voter-approval threshold on local tax and revenue measures.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, said the measure would give local agencies "tools so that they can make the choices and the investments in the infrastructure that they need to grow their economics and make their cities livable."

Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, said, "You know and I know that bond is just a four-letter word for tax."

After every Assembly Democrat voted for the bill, Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8, Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said on Twitter, "All Dems went up on ACA 8. Let's just say that, for a few of them, the targets on their backs just got a little larger."

Steinberg called the Assembly's vote a "good sign" and said he personally supports the measure. However, he said the upper house will not consider voter threshold issues until early next year, which is still in time to place them on the 2014 ballot.

After voting Friday for the state's main, $96.3 billion budget bill, lawmakers today finished voting on all but one of the numerous trailer bills required to implement the annual spending plan. Senators were expected in committee Monday to discuss the final measure, involving a coordinated care program for "dual eligibles" - people enrolled in both Medi-Cal and Medicare.

For the most part, however, the budget is done.

"I'm just very pleased," Steinberg said.

Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan before the next fiscal year begins July 1. After the Senate and Assembly adjourned for the day, he issued a statement on Twitter.

"After two and a half years of struggle and difficult times," Brown said, "California's budget is balanced and sustainable into the future."

The Bee's Jim Sanders contributed to this report.

PHOTO: State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, right, pumps his fist after one of the state budget bills was passed by the Senate on Friday, June 14, 2013. Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli

A handful of lobbyists sat before a television in a Capitol hallway as the Legislature convened this morning for final budget debates, where 10 times as many might have minded the goings-on in previous, more contentious years.

One casualty of a frictionless budget, it would seem, is any drama on the constitutional deadline to pass a spending plan.

Lawmakers approved the state's main, $96.3 billion budget bill on Friday, four days after Democratic leaders reached agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown. Lawmakers were casting final votes today on trailer bills required to implement the plan.

With a lack of remaining controversy about the budget - only Republicans, a super-minority, raised significant objections - lawmakers were trying to move quickly to start their abbreviated weekends.

Among the lobbyists in the hallway was Vanessa Cajina, of the Western Center on Law and Poverty. She said she likes to be present when votes happen, and the number of lobbyists around her increased to about a dozen by the time the Senate convened.

Still, a budget debate just isn't the same when it occurs at 11 a.m. on a Saturday.

For one thing, "Chops isn't open," Cajina said, referring to the popular restaurant/watering hole across from the Capitol.

PHOTO: Lobbyists watch Assembly proceedings on a television in a Capitol hallway on Saturday, June 15, 2013. The Sacramento Bee/David Siders

Federal authorities have served a subpoena at the Central Basin Municipal Water District in Los Angeles County, an agency that has come under scrutiny in the past for its close ties to former Assemblyman Tom Calderon and his brother, Sen. Ron Calderon, whose Capitol offices were raided by the FBI last week.

A spokesman for the water district would say little about the subpoena, and did not answer questions about what authorities were looking for and who they wanted to question.

"I can't comment on the particulars of it," spokesman Jospeh Lagaspi said. "This is all brand new to us."

The Los Angeles Times - which has reported on allegations of cronyism in the water district and its ties to the Calderon brothers - wrote today that the subpoena seeks "documents related to contracts awarded by the water district, invoices, purchase orders, voicemails and information related to how officials there accepted or rejected bids."

Favoritism in awarding contracts was a problem Michael Franchek said he saw at the Central Basin district when he lost a bid to a firm with political ties to district board members. Last week, when Sen. Calderon's Capitol offices were raided, Franchek said he had been interviewed by the FBI twice in recent months.

The Central Basin water district covers an area of southeast Los Angeles County that includes the city of Montebello, where Democrats Ron and Tom Calderon reside. Take a look at the Calderon family tree here.

Legaspi said Friday that water district officials plan to "cooperate fully with the authorities."

PHOTO: Earlier this week Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, addressed the media for the first time following the FBI's June 4 raid of his Capitol offices. Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli

Republican Assemblywoman Beth Gaines of Rocklin got more than she bargained for when she wrote an amendment this week to a budget trailer bill on mental health services.

Gaines asked that the word "underserved" be changed to "undeserved" in language that calls for a program designed to prevent mental illness from becoming severe and disabling. The program in Senate Bill 77 would emphasize improving timely access to services for underserved populations.

Democratic lawmakers huddled on the Assembly floor for several minutes Friday before they broke to ambush Gaines in a floor debate. They voted to prevent her from discussing other amendments she proposed to the mental health bill, but asked her to read the portion on the one-word change.

Then the Democrats took turns voicing their objections.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, called the amendment "patently offensive."

Republicans came to Gaines' defense, arguing that the language was a bill-drafting error.

Speaker John A. Pérez of Los Angeles disagreed, pointing out that Gaines initially stood behind the amendment when forced to read it on the floor.

Gaines ultimately asked members to vote against her amendment. Lawmakers obliged.

Photo: Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin, in a 2011 file photo. The Sacramento Bee / Autumn Payne

Both houses of the Legislature passed the main budget bill today, four days after Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders reached a compromise on the state's annual spending plan.

Lawmakers in both the Senate and Assembly were beginning to take up more than 20 trailer bills associated with the budget and were expected to return for final votes on Saturday.

The $96.3 billion budget includes a modified version of the Democratic governor's proposal to shift more education money to poor and English-learning students, as well as commitments to spend money in the future on mental health services, college student aid and other programs.

The Senate approved the budget 28-10 along party lines. Democratic lawmakers hailed the plan for its reinvestment - however limited - in social programs cut during the recession.

"California's back," said Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara. "I think this budget is a reflection of that fact."

The vote in the Assembly was 54-25

Republican lawmakers, a super-minority all but irrelevant in budget talks this year, complained the budget failed to sufficiently address debt.

"We're not addressing the bigger financial issues that challenge California," said Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin.

The Republicans said they were shut out of budget talks and that the compromise was done without public vetting.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, disagreed.

"All of us have a vote," Blumenfield said. "No one was excluded from the meetings."

The Bee's Jon Ortiz and Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report

PHOTO: State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chair of the Senate Budget committee, urges lawmakers to approve the state budget, Friday, June 14, 2013 in Sacramento, Calif. Associated Press/ Rich Pedroncelli

While open government advocates are celebrating part of California's budget, they are lamenting another.

Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to allow courts to charge a search fee for access to public records fell short of making it into the spending plan. But his move to suspend a state mandate that requires local governments to follow the Public Records Act is included in the plan lawmakers are considering today.

The court fee proposal would have attempted to boost court revenues by placing a $10 price tag on any public records search requested by businesses, journalists and members of the public. Parties involved in the case would have been the only group exempt from the fee.

What is first dog Sutter Brown thinking?

We put that question to readers last week, and our exercise in interspecies telepathy produced more than 250 responses (Who's a good reader? You!).

The offerings were as varied as the spectrum canine breeds. Plenty of jokes about tummy rubs, pork and Latin, which Sutter's dad, Gov. Jerry Brown, enjoys sprinkling into speeches. A few readers wanted to tell us about their own pet corgis. One reader went with the stuff-the-ballot-box approach, submitting 18 offers.

After doggedly searching through the contenders, we've narrowed it down to the following. If you need a little context, Sutter was taking a break after gracing the Sacramento SPCA's doggy dash with his presence.

1. "If you scratch my belly...I'll scratch yours."

2. "I'm not wearing a wire. Rub my belly and check."

3. "The Governor told me to either strike this ridiculous pose for the SPCA, or start digging the Delta tunnels."

4. "Now that Steinberg and Pérez have rolled over for the governor, why shouldn't I?"

5. "I shouldn't have had that second drink at the duck pond."

Send your responses to capitolalertcontests@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. Monday. You can remain anonymous if you wish, but we need to have your name to award the grand prize of a $25 coffee shop gift certificate.

And they are off. The first of the budget bills is being taken up in the Legislature as the Assembly and Senate both convened at 10 a.m. to talk money. The plan is for the two houses to take up about 16 bills today, with the remaining bills being pushed over to Saturday, said John Vigna, spokesman for the Speaker's Office.

If lawmakers are ahead of schedule, they will attempt to take up more bills in hopes of not having to come in Saturday, Vigna said.

There are 22 bills in the budget package. Each house has to approve the main budget and the accompanying trailer bills.

Check back here for ongoing coverage.

2013 Budget and Trailer Bills

PHOTO: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, Gov. Jerry Brown and Assembly Speaker John Perez celebrate a budget deal with a formal announcement at the State Capitol on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. The Sacramento Bee/Randy Pench

The only constant in California is change, Dan says, which means the state faces unique challenges.

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Will California lawmakers have to work this weekend? We'll find out by the end of business today: The deadline for passing a budget beckons, so if legislators don't ratify the latest budget accord today, they will have to do so Saturday before midnight.

The Assembly and the Senate both convene this morning, so stay tuned to see whether they manage to wrap things up in time to head back to their districts for the events they've planned for Saturday (of which there are plenty).

VIDEO: A look at California's changing demographics reminds Dan Walters why the state can claim the most complex society in the Western hemisphere.

A group of legislators is proposing to name the western span of the Bay Bridge after former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 65 recognizes Brown's accomplishments, which include two terms as mayor of San Francisco, by naming the western span the Willie L. Brown, Jr. Bridge.

"He was able to bridge all kinds of people and I think he is very deserving of this," said Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernardino, a co-author on ACR 65. "The caveat is that it is unfortunate that they are only naming the bridge that needs the most work after him. As I understand it, that span needs the most repairs."

The new eastern span of the Bay Bridge is due to open later this year. The project has been embroiled in controversy involving faulty materials and questionable testing procedures, as reported in a series of stories by Charles Piller in The Sacramento Bee.

Brown was mayor of San Francisco when Gov. Pete Wilson signed legislation doubling tolls of five San Francisco Bay area bridges to pay for seismic upgrading and repairs on the Bay Bridge in 1997. Brown battled with lawmakers over the design and location of the bridge, which led to years of delays. In a column in the San Francisco Chronicle in February, Brown said it was worth the wait.

Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, and 10 co-authors introduced the resolution Wednesday to name the western span after Brown.

"Willie Brown has been a trailblazer in so many ways," said Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, who returned to the Capitol this week after a three week absence. Holden has been out on bereavement leave following the death of his mother, as well as a medical leave.

"My mom always said give people flowers while they can still smell them," Holden said. "(Brown) has touched so many lives in a positive way."

* NOTE: This version has been updated to delete a portion of a quote by Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, who said she misspoke.

PHOTO: California Gov. Pete Wilson, center, talks with San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, second from left, after the governor signed legislation doubling tolls of five San Francisco Bay area bridges as Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, left, Bill Lockyer, D-Hayward , and Quentin Kopp, I-San Francisco, right, listen Wednesday, Aug. 20, 1997, on Treasure Island, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay. The increased tolls are to pay for seismic upgrading and repairs on the Bay Bridge, shown in background. Associated Press//Thor Swift

When Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced a motion in the Senate on Thursday to move the budget trailer bills to the floor, it sparked heated debate from several Republican senators.

Senate Republican leader Bob Huff, Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet, and Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, all urged the Senate not to send the bills out of committee without a public hearing.

Huff accused Senate Democrats of wanting "to skip another step" and questioned the fairness of the process. Without public debate, Huff said, the budget would not be a fair representation of the people's needs.

"Colleagues, ask yourself how comfortable you are with a final product produced by three people in a closed room that neither you, nor your constituents, have had a chance to review," Huff said.

Emmerson voiced similar concerns about what he called a "shameful" process, telling his colleagues that "the people of California deserve better."

Nevertheless, the motion passed 23-9. Links to the trailer bills were later posted online and are listed here. The Senate is expected to take up the budget Friday morning.

RELATED POST: Help us examine California's budget bills

PHOTO: Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, and then state Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, talk during a Senate session in Sacramento in January 2012. The Sacramento Bee/Paul Kitagaki Jr.

The California Legislature has begun to release details of the so-called "trailer bills" that will accompany the budget bill for floor votes Friday -- and possibly Saturday.

The last-minute release of the policy bills needed to implement the spending plan has become something of a tradition at the Capitol, with open government advocates complaining that the public is not given enough time to evaluate the sometimes voluminous provisions.

The Senate this morning voted to send all the bills to the floor without committee hearings, drawing the ire of Republicans.

As we start to comb through the measures looking for heretofore unknown budget provisions, perhaps Alert readers can lend a hand. Below are links to the current versions of the bills, including the main budget bill, that have been released so far.

See anything interesting -- or fishy? Email David Siders at dsiders@sacbee.com

SB 66 - Human Services
SB 70 - Alcohol and Drug programs
SB 71 - State government
SB 74 - Corrections
SB 75 - Courts
SB 76 - Public Safety
SB 77 - Health
SB 82 - Mental Health
SB 83 - Developmental Services
SB 85 - Transportation
SB 86 - State government
SB 89 - Augmentations
SB 91 - School Finance
SB 92 - Seismic Safety
AB 110 - Budget Bill

PHOTO: Then Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, reads during discussion on the main budget bill on Tuesday, June 28, 2011, in Sacramento. The Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

A high-profile bill to help the United Farm Workers union secure contracts with growers has hit a roadblock in a California Assembly committee that's ordinarily very friendly to union-sponsored legislation.

The measure, Senate Bill 25, had cleared the Senate easily -- not surprisingly, since its author, Sacramento Democrat Darrell Steinberg, is the Senate's president pro tem.

However, it got just three votes Wednesday in the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee -- one short of the four required -- as two Democrats on the committee refused to vote, including Salinas Assemblyman Luis Alejo, who has worn support for farmworkers' interests on his sleeve throughout his political career.