Capitol Alert

The California Senate Thursday defeated a bill that would downgrade from a felony to a misdemeanor charges for simple possession of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

Senate Bill 1506, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Fransisco, would have made the offense punishable by one year in county jail, as opposed to a felony punishable by three years in prison. The measure garnered only 11 votes, 10 votes short in the 40-member Senate.

Leno said the bill would save the state millions and improve the rehabilitation.prospects of convicted drug users.

"No data begins to suggest that putting felonies on these mostly young people and incarcerating them for longer periods of time in any way benefits their recovery from drug use,'' Leno said.

Other senators claimed Leno's approach minimizes the consequences of drug use and would overcrowd county jails.

"I don't understand how a decriminalization will actually reduce crime," said Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville.

Gov. Jerry Brown isn't backing down from his call for $8 billion in spending cuts, despite public push-back from Democratic legislative leaders.

"They've got to make cuts," Brown told a gathering of county supervisors in Sacramento today. "The big battle will be on how much is ongoing and how much is not ongoing, so you have to do something similar next year and the year after that. But we're going to get $8 billion in cuts."

The Democratic governor's revised budget plan calls for reductions to programs that help the poor, including the state's welfare-to-work program and Cal Grants for low-income students, to help close a projected deficit that his finance officials say has grown to nearly $17 billion. Billions in additional cuts to schools, colleges and the courts would come at the end of the year if voters reject his tax measure on the November ballot.

Democratic legislators have vowed to try to "buy out" some of those cuts with other solutions, such as dipping into a planned $1 billion reserve.

Brown told reporters after his talk at the California State Association of Counties' board of directors meeting that he is having difficult but pleasant conversations on the budget with various interests, including Democratic leaders. He said he met with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez yesterday and had an hourlong meeting with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today.

"We're putting our toes in the water," Brown said.

Legislators face a June 15 deadline to pass a budget.

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Don't expect Gov. Jerry Brown to lose much sleep over the Citizens Compensation Commission's decision to slash his salary by $8,699.

"I'd run for governor whether it was a paid job or not," he said today. "I derive a lot of psychic income."

The seven-member panel, which sets pay levels for legislators and constitutional officers, voted 5-1 today to reduce pay for the elected officials by 5 percent. It will take effect in December.

Democratic governor, who currently makes $173,987, said he didn't think it was his place to weigh in on the commission's action.

"They're independent and people voted as they saw it," he said.

He likened the cut to his proposal to reduce state employee payroll costs by 5 percent.

"This is tough times for California and we're proposing some very difficult cuts," Brown said. "They come in many different forms. Some people like and some people won't like."

While he may value the intangible benefits of the job, Brown also has other income streams to rely on. His 2012 financial disclosure form includes six interests valued at between $100,001 and $1 million and he is eligible to receive a pension based on previous stints as governor, attorney general and secretary of state. During his 2010 gubernatorial bid, his campaign said he would receive an annual pension of $79,536 if he retired the following year.

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The California Senate on Thursday passed legislation to restrict the free tickets that elected officials can receive from interests employing lobbyists and to double the annual registration fees lobbyists pay.

Efforts by Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, to restrict gifts had been bottled up in committee in recent years, but Senate Bill 1426 cleared the upper house on a 33-1 vote and now heads to the Assembly.

SB 1426 would ban lobbyist employers from giving elected officials tickets to concerts, sporting events, hunting and fishing outings and other events, or treating them to golf, ski trips or spa treatments.

FREMONT -- Mitt Romney kept up his escalating attack on President Barack Obama's economic policies this morning, calling the administration's investment in Solyndra a "gross waste" during an appearance outside the failed solar plant.

The event, kept secret from reporters until shortly beforehand, comes two years after Obama toured Solyndra, claiming it an example of the success of federal stimulus spending.

"Well, you can see that it's a symbol of something very different today," Romney said. "It's a symbol not of success, but of failure."

Romney's appearance was the latest in an effort by his campaign this week to highlight the Obama administration's involvement in Solyndra, which closed and filed for bankruptcy protection last year. It is also a measure to blunt Obama's criticism of Romney's record at Bain Capital.

Romney accused Obama of steering a $535 million federal loan guarantee for Solyndra to benefit campaign donors. He said the president's policies signal to other companies "that the best way to get ahead is not with the best ideas and the best technology and the best people and the best marketing, but instead with the best lobbyists. That is not the nature of how America works."

Romney, who secured the Republican nomination for president with his victory in Texas on Tuesday, is in California this week raising money. His appearance this morning followed a fundraiser last night at Chateau Carolands mansion in Hillsborough.

The secrecy surrounding Romney's Solyndra event involved assembling reporters at a hotel in Redwood City earlier this morning, disclosing the location of the event only after they had boarded a bus. Romney, who rode the bus to Solyndra after being picked up from a Menlo Park hotel, suggested such secrecy was because "there are a number of people among the president's team" who might try to stop it.

"I think there are people who don't want to see this event occur, don't want to have questions asked about this particular investment, don't want to have people delve into the idea that the president took a half a billion dollars of taxpayer money and devoted it to an enterprise that was owned in large measure by his campaign contributors," he said. "This is a serious conflict of interest. This ought to be a big story, and I think there are a number of people among the president's team who don't want that story to get out."

Pay for California Gov. Jerry Brown, legislators and all statewide officeholders will be cut by 5 percent from current levels, the state's independent salary-setting commission decided today.

The seven-member California Citizens Compensation Commission, the majority of whom were appointed by former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, voted 5-1 for the pay cut at a morning meeting at Sacramento City Hall.

The panel, created by voter passage of Proposition 112 in 1990, is charged with setting compensation for the governor, legislators, and for all statewide officeholders from treasurer to controller to Board of Equalization members.

By law, the commission must take action by June 30 and its decisions take effect in December.

Commissioner Charles Murray had helped push the idea of a 5 percent pay cut for all officeholders, meant to save the state about $650,000 - only a tiny sliver of the state budget but symbolically significant to supporters.

Brown currently receives a salary of $173,987 and legislators are paid $95,291, except for legislative leaders of both parties. The Assembly speaker, Senate president pro tem and the minority party leader of each house receive $109,584.

Other current salaries range from $151,127 for Attorney General Kamala Harris and state schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson to $130,490 for the lieutenant governor, secretary of state and Board of Equalization members. The state treasurer, controller and insurance commissioner are paid $139,189.

A 5 percent reduction translates to $8,699 fewer dollars for the governor, $4,765 for legislators, $5,479 for legislative leaders, and amounts ranging from $7,556 to $6,525 for state constitutional officers.

The commission last cut salaries for legislators and statewide officeholders in 2009, when it approved an 18 percent reduction in pay and benefits. It also sliced lawmakers' per diem that year from $173 to $142.

Last year, the pay panel did not slash pay but eliminated a Capitol program providing cars to legislators, who now drive their personal vehicles and are reimbursed for mileage.

* Updated at 1:05 p.m. Thursday to delete a sentence that said state Controller John Chiang last year suggested the pay panel lacked authority to create a car allowance for lawmakers.

Will California lawmakers see their pay get cut yet again?

The California Citizens Compensation Commission is poised to consider a proposal to cut the pay of all state lawmakers -- from Gov. Jerry Brown and other constitutional officers to the state's 120 legislators -- a total of 5 percent.

Commissioner Charles Murray told The Bee's Jim Sanders on Wednesday that he's bringing that proposal to today's meeting, which starts at 10 a.m. at Sacramento City Hall, 915 I St. Click here to read the commission's agenda.

How do likely voters view the two ballot measures slated for next Tuesday? The latest Field Poll finds Proposition 28, the term limits measure, ahead by 22 percentage points. Proposition 29, on tobacco taxes, has slipped to an eight-point lead, suggesting it could go down to the wire.

Age matters for Proposition 29. Voters under 40 back the tobacco tax measure 66 percent to 24 percent, while voters 65 and older (which Field estimates will make up more than a third of the voters casting ballots in the primary) oppose it, 51 percent to 42 percent.

David Siders has more details in today's Bee. If you want the numbers, click here to read the statistical tabulations prepared exclusively for Capitol Alert. You can read the publicly released poll at this link.

Under the dome, the Senate meets at 9 a.m. and the Assembly at 10 a.m. to continue working through pending legislation. Come back to Capitol Alert during the day as we track the action.

One bill to watch in the upper house is Senate Bill 1426. This measure by Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, would prohibit lobbyists and the firms that hire them from giving elected state officials various kinds of gifts, including golf outings, gift cards, spa treatment or tickets to sporting events, racetracks or theme parks.

Some of the measures the Senate approved Wednesday and sent on to the Assembly included a ban on sexual-orientation change therapy for minors (Senate Bill 1172), a requirement that public companies reveal their five highest-paid retirees (Senate Bill 1208) and a mechanism for a state-run retirement program for private-sector workers (Senate Bill 1234).

Click here to read even more Capitol Alert posts about Wednesday's legislative votes.

The California state Senate today approved a bill 23-13 to create a statewide retirement program for private workers who do not contribute to a different retirement savings plan.

The retirement plan envisioned by Senate Bill 1234 would be voluntary and help "that population that has been very hard to reach," according to Sen. Kevin de León, D- Los Angeles, the bill's author.

De León said private employees who make less than $50,000 a year do not usually participate in the market and retirement packages. This bill, he said, would "try to create savings for this population."

"This is a population that is the most vulnerable," de León said. "This is a population that has been ignored by Wall Street and the private sector financial services."

The bill came under fire from both sides of the aisle.

The California Senate today voted 23-13 to prohibit minors from receiving therapy aimed at changing their sexual orientation.

Senate Bill 1172 by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, now heads to the Assembly. Groups representing psychiatrists and psychologists still oppose the measure, but two mental health groups that originally opposed the bill came on board after Lieu made key changes.

Lieu agreed to remove one provision that allowed lawsuits against therapists who have used the therapy and another that required therapists to receive written informed consent before using reparative therapy on an adult.

"This bill seeks to ban a form of junk science known as reparative therapy," Lieu said. He added that the therapy often caused permanent harm and thoughts of suicide.

Many senators spoke in support of the bill, but asked that Lieu continue to work with mental health groups on the definition of sexual orientation change efforts, the term used to describe the therapy the bill seeks to ban.

Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, supported the bill, but said some mental health professionals told him the bill's definition of the therapy "may limit open conversations on sexuality."

The California state Senate passed a bill Wednesday to require public companies to release the names of their five most highly compensated retirees.

Senate Bill 1208, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, fell one vote short Tuesday, before passing on a 21-15 vote on Wednesday.

Leno said his measure was "just about disclosure," not an attempt to change the way businesses operate.

Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin, argued that the bill fueled "a political agenda" and would harm businesses.

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It's official: The proposal is in writing and set for a vote -- a 5 percent pay cut for Gov. Jerry Brown, legislators, and for state constitutional officers from controller to treasurer to Board of Equalization member.

Charles Murray of the California Citizens Compensation Commission said Wednesday that he will bring his written proposal to Thursday's meeting of the pay panel but may step aside if another commissioner has a similar plan.

"I think they should lead by example," Murray said of state officeholders, noting that his 5 percent pay cut proposal mirrors the percentage that Brown is seeking from state workers.

Asked about prospects for a vote Thursday, Murray said simply, "We're going to force one."

A bill that prohibits the regulation of Voice over Internet Protocol by the Public Utilities Commission passed 30-6 in the state Senate today.

Senate Bill 1161, by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, bans state departments from regulating VoIP unless required to by federal law.

"It ensures that California will not become the first state in the nation to regulate the internet," Padilla said.

Consumer groups have opposed the bill, saying they fear it will cause phone providers to move away from traditional land lines, which could cut off older consumers.

Padilla stressed that any existing consumer protections will be maintained, but new ones will not be added.

Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, said that she did not support the bill because she felt it was wrong for the "California legislature to voluntarily give away power."

"VoIP is doing well under the current law," Hancock added. "I don't think there is a pressing problem."

Padilla and Sen. Juan Vargas, D-Chula Vista. countered that the bill was necessary and would ensure that many Internet companies stayed in California.

"These are some of our best companies," Vargas said. He added that California was working to "grow" these companies and this bill would help to do so.

Legislation to require nurses, doctors and other hospital staff who decline to get a flu shot to wear a mask while working passed 23-9 in the California Senate today.

Supporters of Senate Bill 1318 argue that the proposal would protect patients by pushing more medical professionals to get the influenza vaccines and reduce the potential of exposure from those who decline the vaccinations.

"The problem is that too many in health care choose not to get the flu shot, thus putting patients at risk," said Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, the bill's author.

But the bill, which is co-sponsored by the California Medical Association, ran into opposition from the California Nurses Association the California Labor Federation and Service Employees International Union, which represents some nurses and support staff.

Opponents believe employees "should not be forced to wear the 'Scarlett Letter' of a mask just because they've chosen not to get a flu shot," a Senate analysis says. They also have raised concerns that the policy would be confusing at hospitals and clinics that already have anti-flu measures in place.

Amendments to allow facilities to opt out of the mask policy if they meet high influenza vaccine compliance rates failed to appease the opposition. 

Wolk said that only 64 percent of health care workers get vaccinated and that her bill would raise that figure to 90 percent.

Hannah Madans contributed to this report.

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Legislation to provide nearly a billion dollars in middle-class college and university scholarships passed the Assembly on Wednesday, but lawmakers have not yet taken up a companion bill to provide funding.

The funding measure, Assembly Bill 1500, is fiercely opposed by most Republicans, branded a tax hike by business opponents, and faces far tougher sledding getting the required two-thirds super-majority vote in the Legislature.

Middle-class scholarships will not be provided unless both bills pass the Legislature and are signed into law.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez touted his scholarship measure, Assembly Bill 1501, as a vital way to provide much-needed relief to middle-class families slapped by skyrocketing college and university fees the past five years. The final vote was 55-17.

Legislation to expand workers' right to take unpaid leave to care for seriously ill family members was passed Wednesday by the Assembly..

Assembly Bill 2039 passed largely along party lines, with opposition from Republicans who said it would place an additional burden on businesses that are struggling to survive hard economic times.

Proposed by Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Alameda, the bill measure would require the state, cities and businesses with 50 or more employees to provide unpaid leaves of absences for workers to care for siblings, grandparents, grandchildren or parents-in-law with serious health conditions.

Call it deja vu all over again.

Taking a page from the past, the Assembly approved legislation Wednesday that would allow motorists to obtain state-issued license plates that replicate those from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80s.

The measure, Assembly Bill 1658, passed without a dissenting vote, 70-0. It now goes to the Senate.

Proposed by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, the bill would price the replica plates at $50 initially, then $40 for annual renewal.

Even if AB 1658 is passed by the Legislature and signed into law, the replica plates would not be issued until 7,500 people had applied for them. If that threshold is not reached by Jan. 1, 2014, motorists who had ordered them would be refunded their fees or deposits.

AB 1658 calls for the replica plates to come in a minimum of three styles -- yellow background with black lettering, black background with yellow lettering, and blue background with yellow lettering.

Gatto contends his measure would provide classic car collectors a risk-free way to acquire plates that match the vintage of their vehicle. Such motorists sometimes are victimized now by unscrupulous sellers of vintage plates who pass off counterfeits as genuine, he says.

A package of bills aimed at expanding access to free digital textbooks for California college students advanced in the state Senate today.

The bills, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, would create an online library of open-source course materials for use at California's public colleges and universities. Students could purchase a hard copy of the texts for about $20.

Steinberg says his measure is meant to lower the financial burden for students who can now pay $200 or more for a single book. Using an "Open Education Resources" system, he said on the floor today, would provide students with the "highest quality textbook at a fraction of the cost."  

"This is going to happen sooner or later, but as policy makers we have the ability to expedite this and to begin saving students and their families money in these most difficult times," the Sacramento Democrat said.  

Senate Bill 1052 starts the process of developing open-source college course materials for the 50 most widely taken lower division courses. A panel of faculty members from the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges systems would be tasked with selecting the courses and launching a competitive bid process for contracts to produce the open-source course materials..

The bill was approved with bipartisan support, by a vote of 32-2. A companion measure creating the digital library for the materials also cleared the Senate, 33-2.  Both bills now advance to the Assembly.

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Barbara Ortega is putting her money where her mouth is in her race for a Sacramento County Assembly seat.

The Sacramento Republican has contributed $95,000 in loans to her own campaign, state records show.

Ortega's infusion of campaign cash, through five separate payments, comprised the bulk of the money she raised from Jan. 1 through May 19 in her bid for an 8th District Assembly seat.

Ortega's opponents include Republicans Peter Tateishi and John Thomas Flynn and Democrat Ken Cooley in the race for a newly drawn district stretching from Citrus Heights to south of Wilton. Democrats hold a razor-thin edge in voter registration in the district, 39.3 percent to 38.4 percent.

A former lobbyist who now owns a consulting firm, Ortega had raised $134,248 this year through May 19.

Major donors to Ortega's campaign include Eli Lilly and Co., $3,900; Linda Halderman for Assembly, $3,900; Perry Communications Group, a $2,500 in-kind contribution; and Abbott Laboratories, Reynolds America, Occidental Oil and Gas, and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, all $1,500.

Tateishi, chief of staff to Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren of Gold River, collected $76,941 this year through May 19, records show. He collected an additional $41,000 in 2012.

Tateishi's major donors this year include Pacific Coast Companies, C.C. Yin, Hagman for Assembly, Sacramento Valley Lincoln Club, Food 4 Less, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and Linda Halderman for Assembly, all $3,900 donors.

Tateishi also stands to benefit from independent campaigns opposing Ortega by the California Chamber of Commerce's Jobs Political Action Committee, $70,000, and by Defending the Republic, whose donors include Stockton/Lodi Food 4 Less, the California Grocers Association, California Medical Association, Jobs PAC, and the Small Business Action Committee.

Cooley had raised $197,831 this year through May 19, with top donations of $7,800 apiece from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, California Teachers Association, Service Employees International Union Local 1000, California State Council of Service Employees, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council and a committee sponsored by the California Faculty Association.

Flynn, a technology company president, had raised about $6,000 this year through May 19. Much of the money, $3,500, consisted of loans made by Flynn to his Assembly campaign coffers.

* Updated at 12:20 p.m. Thursday to clarify that the Perry Communications Group's $2,500 contribution to Barbara Ortega's campaign was for services rendered, making it an in-kind donation.

Gov. Jerry Brown is scheduled to take his pitch for his compromise tax measure to the California State Association of Counties, whose members are in Sacramento today and Thursday for a legislative conference.

Brown is also expected to discuss his revised budget proposal at a luncheon scheduled at the Hyatt Regency across L Street from the Capitol, according to the program agenda for the event.

County supervisors will also be talking about realignment of health and human services as well as the end of redevelopment agencies.

Other listed speakers at the CSAC conference include Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senate Republican leader Bob Huff, and Brown adviser Diane Cummins, all of whom address a general session starting at 8:30 a.m.

Under the dome, both the Assembly and the Senate meet at 10 a.m. for their second day of floor sessions this week to work through bills.

The Board of Equalization, meanwhile, is holding a public hearing on implementing last year's Assembly Bill 155, the compromise legislation on collecting sales tax from Amazon.com and other Internet retail operations.

Alert readers will remember that Amazon agreed to drop its efforts to put a measure on the ballot in exchange for the state delaying collection of that tax until Sept. 15 of this year -- that is, unless Congress comes up with a deal by July 31. (Capitol Alert is not holding its breath.) The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at 450 N St. Click here to read the agenda.

LIVE CHAT: Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, and Jon Fleischman, conservative FlashReport blogger and co-chairman of Californians for Term Limits, mix it up on a ballot proposal to change legislative term limits. Proposition 28 would shorten the amount of time legislators could serve from 14 years to 12 years but allow them to serve all of them in one house. The chat runs from noon to 1 p.m. at sacbee.com/live. Bring your questions.

CAPITOL STEPS: Advocates for the disabled rally on the west steps at 11 a.m. for their 9th annual Disability Capitol Action Day sponsored by the Disability Action Coalition. Listed speakers include Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Sens. Ellen Corbett, Loni Hancock, Mark Leno and Michael Rubio as well as Assembly members Bonnie Lowenthal and Wesley Chesbro.

PRIMARY: Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is hitting the California ATM again with fundraisers scheduled today and Thursday in both Northern and Southern California. Here's the Hollywood Reporter's take on his latest visit, which comes just days before the state's presidential primary.

A union-backed bill to require public companies to disclose in their annual statement the names of the five most highly compensated retirees fell one vote short in the state Senate Tuesday, but will be reconsidered by week's end.

Senate Bill 1208 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Fransisco, would not require companies to change retirees' benefits, but to share that information with the public.

"We just want to see it disclosed," Leno said. "We're not trying to tell anyone how to do their business."

Current law requires public companies to release the names of the five highest paid employees, but not retirees.

Sen. Mark Wyland, R-San Diego, said the Senate should instead ask businesses what California could do to make them profitable.

Others argued that spending by state departments should be addressed before public companies' retirees' compensation.

But Leno said disclosure is justified.

"To argue that shareholders have no right to know how their corporations, which they own, are being run with regard to these retirement packages is to suggest that they should not have information about what is being done with their property," Leno said.

The California state Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation that would legalize sports betting in California if federal law is also amended.

Senate Bill 1390, by Sens. Roderick Wright, D-Inglewood, and Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, would make such betting legal at currently licensed gambling establishments, horse racing tracks or satellite wagering facility. The bill would not make betting legal anywhere that does not already have a license.

Federal law now prohibits these wagers, but Wright said he believes it "will be amended."

"When this law is changed, and we believe it will be, you want California to be in the position to move forward with this," he said.

New Jersey, which has passed a similar law, is suing the federal government to amend its law. Wright said that he was encouraging California to wait to see what happens in that court case, rather than file a lawsuit of its own.

The bill passed 32-2 and now goes to the Assembly.

The Assembly passed hotly contested legislation Tuesday to regulate and restrict how money generated by California's new "cap-and-trade" program of marketing carbon emissions can be spent.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez carried the measure, Assembly Bill 1532, which passed by a vote of 47-26.

The bill marks a major step toward implementing "cap and trade," which places a limit on various pollution generators but allows that cap to be exceeded through the purchase of credits from businesses that fall below their cap.

The program stems from Assembly Bill 32, pushed in 2006 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to require California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

AB 1532 would apply to an estimated $1 billion expected to be generated from cap-and-trade auctions in 2012-13. Revenues are expected to grow significantly in future years.

AB 1532 would authorize funds generated by the auction of "cap and trade" credits to be spent on projects promoting clean energy, low-carbon transportation, natural resource protection, and for research, development and deployment of innovative technologies to promote cleaner air.

Pérez's legislation also would require the state Air Resources Board to develop an investment plan for the auction revenues every three years. The Legislature would review and could change the ARB plan before adoption.

Republicans blasted AB 1532 as a new blow to California businesses that have been hit hard by a rocky economy.

The California Chamber of Commerce is among the measure's opponents.

"Businesses are taking this as an attack," said Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks.

"This is a massive mistake, and this is a movement in the wrong direction," Donnelly said.

Added Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Marysville: "We have to stop looking at our businesses and job creators as a bottomless piggy bank."

Pérez countered that the state already is committed to cap and trade to reduce greenhouse gases, so AB 1532 does not impose new economic pressures on businesses but simply regulates the spending of revenues generated from pollution auctions and gives lawmakers more control over future projects.

"If you would like to bury your head in the sand and say, 'I do not want to be involved in actually governing the state of California in what we do in these areas,' you should vote no," Pérez said.

AB 1532 now goes to the Senate for action.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority voted this morning to hire as executive director a former Caltrans chief who now works for Parsons Brinkerhoff, a major contractor on the rail project.

Pending contract negotiations, Jeff Morales will replace Roelof van Ark, who resigned from the troubled agency earlier this year. The rail authority is seeking legislative approval in coming weeks to start construction of the $68 billion project.

The board is expected to finalize a contract with Morales after negotiating with him on its terms.

Morales was appointed director of Caltrans by Gov. Gray Davis and resigned in 2004. Parsons Brinkerhoff has a $199 million, seven-year contract to manage the rail project for the state authority.

In a brief meeting this morning at which the decision was announced, Dan Richard, chairman of the rail board, said Morales is the "right person to move us to the next level."

PHOTO CREDIT: Jeff Morales, 2002. Sacramento Bee / Randy Pench

The years-long political war among California's judges took another turn Friday, when a special commission appointed by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to investigate the Administrative Office of the Courts delivered a scathing report that, in effect, agreed with rebel judges.

The rebels, coalesced in the Alliance of California Judges, have been pushing legislation that would reduce the powers of the Judicial Council, which is headed by the chief justice, and the AOC and give local judges more authority to spend money.

The Alliance has accused the AOC of building a bloated bureaucracy (more than 1,100 employees) and wasting money on itself and on an inoperable computer case management system while starving local courts and forcing them to shut down periodically and furlough employees.

The "Strategic Evaluation Committee" bolstered the Alliance's case in its 298-page report, concluding, "The top-level decision making process of the AOC became insular, with a top-down management style limiting input from those within the organization."

Now that Memorial Day is in the rear-view mirror, get ready for an avalanche of bills this week.

Friday is the deadline for the California Legislature to pass measures out of their house of origin.

Both houses will be tied up with floor sessions all week, and no committees will be meeting. Today, the Senate convenes at noon, and the Assembly at 1 p.m.

How many bills are pending? Aides said last Friday that the Senate will be working its way through approximately 160 measures, while the Assembly has about 225 on its plate.

Bills to watch in the upper house include Senate Bill 1234, by Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles. This would set up a state-run pension plan for private-sector employees not covered by a retirement plan.

On the Assembly side, Assembly Bill 2312 by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, would regulate the medical marijuana industry and allow local governments to impose up to a 5 percent tax on sales.

Come back to Capitol Alert as we follow the sessions later today.

It's also just a short week away from next Tuesday's presidential primary.

How many people will vote? The secretary of state's office says that registered-voter turnout in California's presidential primaries since 1980 has ranged from 28.2 percent to 63.3 percent, a rather large spread.

More than 17 million Californians were registered by April 6. The secretary of state's office will issue a new count on Friday.

A bill that would have required the state's minimum wage to automatically adjust every year based on inflation was killed in the Assembly today.

AB 1439, by Assemblymember Luis Alejo, would have measured inflation using the California Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Alejo's chief of staff, Marva Diaz, said the lawmaker will try again.

"The new bill introduction will happen I think in December, when the new session begins," Diaz said.The bill, she added "is a top priority of his."

The current minimum wage in California is $8.00 an hour. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. The bill would have raised minimum wage about 14 cents an hour starting in January.

The California state government employs 91,272 minimum wage workers, according to the state Controller's Office. If passed, the bill would have cost the state nearly $800,000.

When Assemblyman Roger Hernandez was stopped on suspicion of drunken driving after pulling into the parking lot of a Concord hotel two months ago, he had a question for the police officer who stopped him.

"I'm here at the hotel and I'm not driving any more, can't you just let me go?" Hernandez asked, according to a Concord police report of the incident released Friday by Contra Costa Superior Court.

The West Covina Democrat subsequently was arrested on a drunken driving charge, pleaded not guilty, and is scheduled to appear in Superior Court for a pretrial hearing June 20.

Hernandez has apologized for getting behind the wheel after drinking, but he has insisted that he was not impaired. Tests pegged his blood-alcohol level at 0.08 percent, the level at which a motorist can be charged with drunken driving.

The second-year legislator, accompanied by a 29-year-old woman, was stopped by police about 2 a.m. on a weekday, March 27, in a state-owned Toyota Camry. His request to be "let go" came while the officer was asking a series of questions about his plans for the night.

SAN FRANCISCO -- While Gov. Jerry Brown attended a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge this morning, someone pointed out that his father, the late Gov. Pat Brown, had served on the bridge authority decades ago.

"I'm glad you reminded me ... but it took no reminding, because growing up as kids, we had a free pass," Brown said to laughter, "and every time we went across the bridge, we never had to pay the toll."

"I felt that was a little unreasonable," he added, "and that's where I first got my notions of political reform."

Brown helped create the Fair Political Practices Commission when he was governor before, from 1975 to 1983. He appeared to be conflicted, though, about the lifetime bridge pass.

"You know, it wasn't such a bad thing," he said. "We've lost a few of those good perks that stimulated a lot of good work."

Brown's older sister, Cynthia Kelly, was also in the audience. She walked across the bridge the day it opened in 1937.

"I wasn't born yet," the 74-year-old governor said, drawing chuckles from the crowd.

"Believe it or not," he said. "I wasn't."

A bill that would prohibit public and private postsecondary schools or employers from asking students, employees or job applicants to provide a user name and password for personal social media accounts passed in the California state Senate today.

"The reality is that in a social media account there is a lot of private information," said Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, the author of the bill. Yee added that there is information such as religion on social media accounts that "is protected by state and federal law."

Senate Bill 1349 was opposed by Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin, who said he was concerned that the bill would hinder employers from intervening to prevent the escalation of workplace harassment. "I want to make sure we are protecting people's privacy," Gaines said. "I have a concern with being able to address early harassment issues."

The bill passed 28-5 and now heads to the Assembly.

"This is a pretty simple issue," Yee said. "Given the reality of social media ... when we first started using these social media platforms, no one imagined that the information in them would be open to the general public."

The Senate today approved a bill requiring motorists to give bicyclists a three-foot-wide berth when passing them.

Current law requires a motorist to keep a "safe distance," something that Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, the author of Senate Bill 1464, said is dangerous and unclear.

"Providing a three-foot statute is removing the ambiguity that currently exists," Lowenthal said.

SB 1464 is similar to a bill vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year. Lowenthal removed provisions to which Brown objected that required motorists to slow to 15 miles per hour when passing bicyclists.

"As a result of the changes we've taken, this bill, this year, has no opposition," Lowenthal said.

The measure passed 27-6 and now goes to the Assembly.

PHOTO CREDIT: Members of the BMC Racing team pedal through L Street traffic near the Capitol in Sacramento on Friday, February 13, 2009. Randall Benton/The Sacramento Bee

The Independent Voter Project, the group that wrote the measure that led to the top-two primary, is sending fliers and using social media to urge people with no party preference to vote in the June 5 primary.

One flier pictures two men smoking cigars and says, "Political bosses made their choices" and "you were not involved." It adds, "This time you're invited...the new open primary puts you in charge."

The flier was sent only to people who listed "none" as their party preference when they registered to vote. It was sent to about 250,000 people, said Steve Peace, a former state legislator and chair of the Independent Voter Project.

"Our core message is for independent voters to know they can vote for candidates," Peace said. "They're not used to being able to vote in June."

Dan Walters says California legislators have spent this week talking about cutting funds for kids, the elderly and the disabled while making sure they keep their own "per-diem" checks flowing.

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VIDEO: Today's "per-diem" session in the California Legislature captures the attention of Dan Walters in his latest video report.

Gov. Jerry Brown is in San Francisco this morning, helping to celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge's 75th anniversary.

Brown, who was born less than a year after the bridge opened to traffic, is scheduled to speak at a "Gifts to the Bridge" ceremony around 10:15 a.m. Brown will help dedicate a new visitors' center and programs as part of the anniversary celebration.

Today's event comes two days before the Golden Gate Festival, which runs all day Sunday. For more information on the celebration, click here.

Back in Sacramento, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson heads to Kit Carson Middle School for its annual career day.

Other listed speakers include Sacramento Democratic Assemblymen Richard Pan and Roger Dickinson, as well as Mayor Kevin Johnson among others. That event starts at 9:30 a.m. at the school, 5301 N St.

Both the Senate and the Assembly have scheduled floor sessions for 9 a.m., after which budget panels meet in both houses. The Assembly Appropriations Committee also will work through its long list of bills after the lower house adjourns. Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

CAPITOL STEPS: Members of Black Farmers and Agriculturalists celebrate Africa Day starting at 11:30 a.m. on the north steps.

MEMORIAL: Members of Vietnam Veterans of America conduct their annual reading of the names etched on the walls at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Capitol Park starting at 7 a.m. Sunday.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar, turns 41 today.

PHOTO CREDIT: The Golden Gate Bridge is seen at dawn, Nov. 10, 2006. (Robert Durell/ Los Angeles Times file)

Gov. Jerry Brown has tucked provisions into his budget that would limit payouts in wildfire liability cases, potentially saving timber companies and other major California landowners hundreds of millions of dollars as federal prosecutors pursue record-high damages in court.

The Democratic governor also has asked lawmakers to impose a 1 percent lumber tax to fund forestry oversight while reducing industry costs. And he wants to reduce the frequency with which California reviews tree-cutting plans for environmental impacts.

Brown has pitched the ideas as ways to help the state's timber industry provide jobs in the wake of a construction downturn and fierce competition with lumber producers from the Pacific Northwest. He also highlights $30 million in new lumber tax funding for environmental reviews that have gone missing due to budget cuts.

But the plan has drawn strong opposition from the Sacramento-based U.S. Attorney's Office, which is aggressively pursuing wildfire negligence cases, as well as some environmentalists who believe Brown is giving the industry too much.

It's spring at the California Capitol, and there's no better way to spend the day than to head for the outdoors.

Hannah Madans was on hand Wednesday for two events outside the dome.

Intel Corp. sponsored a science fair for students to showcase their work, and the California Association of Professional Scientists hosted its 24th annual State Scientist Day for third- to sixth-graders.

Check out her videos below.

Charles Reed, chancellor of the California State University System for the past 14 years, announced Thursday that he's retiring as it and other state-supported higher education institutions cope with severe budget cuts.

Reed, who came to California after 13 years as chancellor of Florida's state university system, didn't cite money woes as the reason for retiring, but did allude to them in his announcement.

"Our campuses have continued to flourish even in the face of budgetary challenges and tremendous growth, he said. "Throughout my time here, the CSU has grown by more than 100,000 students, and I have been honored to sign more than a million diplomas. I take great pride in the CSU's mission to serve California's students, and I am proud to have played a role in carrying out that mission during these critical years."

As state aid has dwindled in recent years, CSU, the University of California and the state's community colleges have reduced class offerings and raised fees. CSU has been hammered in recent weeks by controversy over raising the salaries of top administrators while increasing students' costs.

Photo Credit: Charles Reed in 2009. Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee

The state's most heated legislative primary contest may be in Southern California's very wealthy, movie star-heavy, very liberal 50th Assembly District.

First-term Democratic Assemblywoman Betsy Butler now represents just a tiny slice of the 50th AD but has Democratic Party leadership support as she seeks re-election there, opposed by well-known liberal activist Torie Osborn.

The regions many political factions, including the large and influential gay community, have divided sharply, and LA Weekly newspaper lays out the dynamics of the Butler-Osborn duel in a lengthy article.

With its overwhelmingly Democratic voter registration, it's possible that Butler and Osborn will both survive the state's new "top-two" primary on June 5 and face each other again in the November election.

Gov. Jerry Brown, on public radio this morning to promote his budget plan and ballot measure to raise taxes, was asked by the host of "Marketplace Morning Report" to reveal his "happy place."

"When you want to get away from all this stuff up there in Sacramento, where do you go?" host Jeremy Hobson asked. "What's your happy place in California?"

"Well," Brown said, "I live in Oakland. I find that extremely happy, if you want to call it that. It's a great place. We've got great parks and trails. I can see out into the Pacific 50 miles on a clear day.

"And I like to read about the decline of the Roman Empire, and then I like to read about all the successes that people were able, in the face of challenge, to overcome against terrific odds. And I think that through facing things with clarity and courage, we can get the job done, and maybe we can inspire some of the same spirit of resolve both for Washington, and maybe even in Europe."

The Democratic governor, a voracious reader, has been talking about the Roman Empire for months. He and his wife, Anne Gust Brown, own a house in the Oakland hills.

Dan Walters says the top-two primary could result in some unusual November matchups.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters explains in his latest video report why independent voters have been getting a lot of campaign mail.

California's likely voters remain supportive of Gov. Jerry Brown's ballot initiative to raise taxes even as his approval rating has dipped, as David Siders reports in today's Bee.

If you're hungry for more details about that Public Policy Institute of California survey, the institute's Dean Bonner will discuss it at a lunchtime event from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the CSAC Conference Center, 1020 11th St. in Sacramento. Lunch will be provided at no charge, but advance registration is requested. Click here to learn more and to register.

Under the dome, the Senate Appropriations Committee works its way through the suspense file, as both it and its sister committee in the lower house face a deadline of Friday to send along any fiscal measures to the floor of the house of origin.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee is putting off the task for a day. Both houses have set floor sessions for 9 a.m. Friday, and the Assembly's committee will meet after session adjourns.

Budget panels continue working through the governor's May revise both today and Friday, while the conference committee on foreclosure legislation meets today at noon. Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

This evening, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg honors more than 100 Sacramento area middle-school and high-school students. The honorees hail from Steinberg's 6th Senate District, whose schools nominated them in two categories: "most outstanding" (think well-rounded high achievers) and "most improved" (think rising grade point averages). That event starts at 5:30 p.m. on the Capitol's north steps.

REDWOOD CITY - President Barack Obama, back in donor-rich California to raise money for his re-election campaign tonight, told supporters in the Bay Area that the economy has improved during his first term but that he still has "a lot more to do."

"We're not satisfied," the Democratic president told about 1,100 supporters at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City.

The event, for which tickets started at $250, followed a $35,800-per-plate dinner at the Atherton home of Levi Strauss heir Doug Goldman, capping a day of fundraising in Colorado and California.

Obama told a cheering crowd in Redwood City that he expects the campaign to be "tougher than the last one."

In heavily-Democratic California, Obama leads Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, by 11 points among likely voters, 50 percent to 39 percent, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released tonight. The state is unlikely to be contested in the November election, but both Obama and Romney are doing significant fundraising here.

"It is good to be back in California," Obama said, less than two weeks after his multimillion dollar fundraiser at actor George Clooney's Los Angeles house.

Obama said the nation's economic crisis "didn't happen overnight, and it's not going to be solved overnight."

He said, "We've got more work to do. We know that."

The crowd cheered when Obama mentioned his support for gay marriage, defending his vision as one for all people, "no matter who you love."

About half of likely California voters say Obama's recent announcement that he supports gay marriage has had no effect on their view of him, according to the Public Policy Institute of California poll. One quarter of likely voters say it makes them think more favorably of the president, and one quarter say it makes them think less favorably of him.

"It is nice to have someone take a stand," said Megan Maxwell-Bey, who came with her husband and two young daughters to watch the protesters and cheer Obama from outside the fundraiser.

Maxwell-Bey and her husband, Anthony Bey, said they voted for Obama in 2008 and will vote for him again. The economy is improving they said.

A small crowd of protesters demonstrated outside the theater, including members of the Raging Grannies, a progressive group.

"Tax, tax, tax the rich, make them pay their share," they sang.

Many members of the group voted for Obama in 2008, and they will vote for him again this year, said Ellyn O'Toole, 65, of San Mateo.

But the retired nurse is concerned about the influence of money in politics and about Social Security and health care.

"We actually support Obama," she said, "but we want to move him in a more progressive direction."

The honeymoon is ending for Gov. Jerry Brown.

For the first time in a major California poll since Brown took office, a plurality of likely voters disapproves of the job he is doing, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released this evening.

The margin is pencil thin - 43 percent disapprove to 42 percent approve - but follows more than a year of relatively favorable marks for the Democratic governor. In April, Brown's job approval rating among likely voters was 47 percent.

Brown's dip in public opinion was registered in the days immediately after his announcement last week that California's budget deficit had grown to $15.7 billion, up from $9.2 billion in January.

"There are things that, as governor, you don't have any control over, and in particular the economy seems to have either stalled or worse over the last few months," poll director Mark Baldassare said. "People are getting worried again."

Despite their dimmer view of Brown, likely voters remain supportive of his November ballot initiative to raise taxes - 56 percent to 38 percent, according to the poll. That level of support is slightly higher than in April.

The initiative, a major part of Brown's agenda this year, would raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners.

Competing radio ads spotlight wealthy Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr.'s deep-pockets support for incumbent Assemblywoman Beth Gaines against challenger Andy Pugno in a Placer County-based Assembly district.

Spirit of Democracy, an advocacy group funded largely by Munger, has poured more than $175,000 into a radio and mail promotional campaign for Gaines this month. Pugno is attempting to create a backlash by painting the GOP activist as a liberal.

Munger is a major GOP donor and was a key financial backer of redistricting reform. He has pushed to moderate the Republican Party by downplaying divisive issues such as abortion, gun rights and same-sex marriage.

Munger's sister, civil rights attorney and Democrat Molly Munger, is pushing a measure for the November ballot that would generate about $10 billion annually by raising income taxes on a sliding scale for all but the poorest California workers for 12 years.

In his 60-second radio ad for Gaines, which began running last week, Munger's Spirit of Democracy touts the Rocklin Republican -- who has pledged not to raise taxes -- as a fiscal conservative:

"Feeling like an ATM for government?" Munger's radio ad says. "You have a friend in Republican businesswoman Beth Gaines for state Assembly. 'I'm appalled at the way state government handles our tax dollars,' she says. And it's not just talk."

Pugno counters with a 60-second ad, beginning this week, that promotes himself as a conservative who served as lead attorney for Proposition 8, a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.

"Don't let a liberal Bay Area billionaire buy the election for Beth Gaines," Pugno's ad says.

Commenting this week about the Munger-funded radio ad, Pugno said it demonstrates that the GOP activist "does not want a strong, effective conservative holding this seat."

Dave Gilliard, Gaines' political consultant, said the campaign has no idea why Munger is supporting Gaines, but added, "Perhaps he has a problem with trial lawyers?" The jab is a reference to Pugno's ownership of a small law office.

Munger's group and other independent expenditure committees can spend unlimited sums for political advocacy but are barred by state law from coordinating their efforts with a particular candidate.

Richard Temple, campaign consultant for the Spirit of Democracy group, said that Pugno's attack on Munger is laughable because the latter is a Republican leader in California who has done more to elect GOP candidates than "Andy Pugno will ever dream of doing."

Temple said that Munger's Spirit of Democracy is looking to assist in races "where there's a dramatic difference between the two candidates on their ability to be a good legislator and also (where) they have a broader appeal that will attract voters, not only Republican voters but independent voters so that we can broaden the Republican Party appeal."

* Updated at 3:35 p.m. to add quotes from Richard Temple and from Andy Pugno.

StudentsFirst, the education advocacy group formed by former Washington D.C. public schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, has poured $2 million into a campaign committee created to influence state legislative races ahead of the June 5 primary.

The "Parents and Teachers for Putting StudentsFirst" committee reported its first contribution late Tuesday, spending more than $400,000 on television buys, polling and consulting services to support Democrat Brian Johnson, a charter school executive running in the open 46th Assembly District. That Southern California seat has become a hot spot for political spending, as pro-charter interests supporting Johnson battle the California Teachers Association.

Rhee, who is married to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson (no relation to Brian Johnson), expanded StudentsFirst's California presence last summer, hiring lobbying firm Gonzalez, Quintana & Hunter and opening a committee to make candidate contributions. A spokesman for StudentsFirst, which is a nonprofit, declined to identify specific donors to the group.

The organization has aimed to raise $1 billion to further its efforts of countering the influence of teachers unions in campaigns and state policy.

RELATED:

Michelle Rhee sets up California PAC, hires Sacramento lobbyist

PHOTO CREDIT: MIchelle Rhee speaking at a May 2010 Sacramento Press Club event. Manny Crisostomo, Sacramento Bee.

Editor's note: This post has been updated to reflect a $350,000 television buy included in the campaign report.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in the latest video report, talks about Proposition 29, which would raise cigarette taxes $1 a pack.

President Barack Obama is back in California for the second time this month, scheduled for two campaign fundraisers this evening in the Bay Area.

First up, dinner in Atherton where tickets cost $38,500 a pop, then a reception at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, where tickets start at $250 and Ben Harper is scheduled to play. Obama won't be venturing any farther east than that before Air Force One heads out on Thursday.

The president raised almost $15 million for Democrats earlier this month at a Los Angeles fundraiser hosted by George Clooney.

Phillip Reese and David Siders have details of presidential fundraising in California in today's Bee.

Meanwhile, Republican House Speaker John Boehner will be in the Bay Area himself tonight at a fundraiser co-hosted by California Reps. Jeff Denham, Dan Lungren, Wally Herger and David Dreier. Tickets top out at $35,800 for the reception at Stacey and Tom Siebel's Woodside home.

Back in Sacramento, Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, D-Coachella, joins the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California as its officials unveil a report assessing the impact of Obama's health care overhaul on California's Latinos. That presser starts at 11 a.m. in the Capitol's Room 127.

Meanwhile. the word of the day -- outside the dome, at least -- is "science."

Intel Corp. is sponsoring a science fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Capitol's south steps, while the California Association of Professional Scientists is hosting the 24th annual State Scientist Day over on the west steps from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

CAPS' event features lots of third- to sixth-graders checking out insects, an earthquake machine and other cool stuff. At noon, Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, gets the nod for honorary state scientist for her resolution declaring the annual event.

LEGISLATURE: Budget panels meet in both houses to consider Gov. Jerry Brown's revised proposals. Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

BAKE SALE: Looking for baked goods? You'll find them on sale on the north steps from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Proceeds benefit Happy Tails Pet Sanctuary.

The state's fiscal analyst has explained one way lawmakers could avoid Gov. Jerry Brown's deepest cuts, but the Legislature's top education finance aide said today that solution is unconstitutional.

Rick Simpson, the Assembly's education finance guru, said he believes Brown accurately calculated how much the state owes K-12 schools and community colleges at $53.7 billion in 2012-13. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office contends that Brown overestimated that amount by $1.7 billion.

Simpson said he wrote the language in the 2009 budget bill spelling out the formula by which the state must pay schools in years when revenues grow faster than inflation and attendance. "The governor is following what the law says," Simpson said today.

He added that he believes the law merely confirms what voters placed in the constitution with Proposition 98 and Proposition 111.

But the Analyst's Office says that interpretation leads to "irrational outcomes" - such as when Brown announced last week that California owes schools more money despite revenues being lower than expected.

The outcome of the disagreement will likely affect how other programs are treated in the budget and how voters view Brown's push for tax increases in November.

LAO education analyst Edgar Cabral reiterated today, "We think our interpretation is the correct interpretation." Even if the 2009 bill spells out a different formula, Cabral noted that it can be reversed through new legislation and does not reflect what his office believes is in the constitution.

The state's top fiscal analyst said today that it "makes sense" for California to help bridge its $15.7 billion deficit with mortgage settlement money, and that the state should be even more aggressive by using more money upfront than Gov. Jerry Brown proposed.

The state will directly receive about $411 million from a multi-state settlement with five banks over their foreclosure practices. Brown has proposed using $292 million of that to solve the current deficit, saving $118 million for the following year, but the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office recommended today that lawmakers use all $411 million of it now.

Brown has proposed using funds to retire a share of housing bond debt and pay for costs in Department of Justice and Department of Fair Employment and Housing programs.

The Analyst's Office said there may be legal risks involved because some money would pay for investigating organized crime, gangs and drug trafficking - none of which are related to the mortgage crisis. But the Analyst's Office believes "the magnitude of the additional budget year savings justifies any legal risk associated with offsetting General Fund costs less directly related to the settlement."

Gov. Jerry Brown, burdened by persistent budget deficits and with much of his agenda still unfulfilled, has tried in recent weeks to lower expectations for his second year.

His predicament, he suggested this morning, is like that of a protagonist in a classic play.

"For you students of classic drama - and I know there's a few left - you read Aristotle's poetics," Brown told about 1,000 people at the California Chamber of Commerce's annual Host Breakfast in Sacramento. "He talks about ... three acts: There's a beginning, there's a middle and the end."

Said Brown: "We're just beginning Act 2."

Politicians, Brown knows, do not always survive long enough to reach the final act. But some do, and the Democratic governor said "I hope I'm one of them, because the third act is when it gets good.

"The second is when the tension, the protagonist is under pressure, can he get out of the box he's in. That's always in Act 2. All right, you wait. We're going to get to Act 3 very soon."

Democrat Xochitl Paderes is dropping out of the race for the open 13th Assembly District.

The community activist told the Stockton Record that she was worried about the effect campaign attacks could have on her family. She had recently been targeted by expenditures made by a committee backed by the California Chamber of Commerce.

The Record reports:

The 36-year-old candidate said she doesn't have the money to fight negative campaign mailers and was concerned that future personal attacks could jeopardize completion of a lengthy adoption process for her 9-year-old son.

"Any kind of misrepresentation of the facts ... could compromise our fight," Paderes said Monday. "It is just ridiculous that politics has to be so nasty and dirty and negative. I don't have the kind of money to tackle them or rebut them or do anything like that."

Paderes will still appear on the ballot and more than 20,000 voters in the Stockton-area district have already cast a vote via vote-by-mail ballots, the Record reports.

But her exit from the race could give Stockton City Councilwoman Susan Eggman, also a Democrat, a clearer shot at securing a spot in the November runoff. The two had been locked in a battle for the runoff, with Cal Chamber chipping in for Eggman and some labor unions that were upset about Eggman's actions on the council backing Paderes.

One other Democrat and two Republicans are also in the running for the seat. The top two vote-getters in the June 5 primary will advance to the November runoff, regardless of their political party affiliation.

Click here to read the full Stockton Record story.

RELATED POST:

California Chamber of Commerce spends to support Democrats running for Assembly

One of the year's fiercest lobbying battles - pitting ocean freighter companies against San Francisco Bay harbor pilots - has been postponed, at least for the time being.

San Francisco Bar Pilots, the union-like organization that represents men and women who direct ships in and out of San Francisco and other Northern California ports, announced Tuesday that it would delay legislation to require additional pilots on some large ships, characterizing it as a safety issue.

Shippers had stoutly opposed Assembly Bill 2287 by Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Oakland, saying it was aimed at raising pilots' incomes, already averaging more than $400,000 a year. Current practice is that some ships require two pilots, but without additional pilot fees, which are assessed on a ship based on its size and other factors.

This year's battle was an echo of a duel last year over raising overall pilot fees between the pilots and the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association.

AB 2287 cleared the Assembly Transportation Committee but has been stalled in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

PHOTO CREDIT: The MSC Fabiola is guided by a tugboat on Wednesday, March 21, 2012, in San Francisco. Jane Tyska/ Oakland Tribune

The California School Boards Association has endorsed both Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative and a rival measure on the November ballot, calling the dual backing "an unprecedented move."

Brown had hoped that his multibillion-dollar tax hike on sales and wealthy earners would be the only major tax initiative this fall. But wealthy attorney Molly Munger filed signatures this month for her initiative raising income taxes on all but the poorest residents to raise money mostly for schools.

In a statement, CSBA executive director Vernon M. Billy said, "While each initiative presents a different funding scenario for our schools, the bottom line is that both will generate billions of dollars in much-needed revenue for public education."

Despite endorsing Brown's measure, CSBA leaders said they "want to make it clear to the public that the governor's initiative does not provide new funding for schools. Instead, it bolsters the General Fund with new revenue."

"Under the governor's plan, schools would get back some of the billions of dollars that were redirected away from them and used to shore up the state's funding gap in the last budgetary cycle," Billy said. "The governor's initiative only restores some of the funds already owed to schools."

It was a bizarre component of Gov. Jerry Brown's latest budget - despite fewer revenues than expected in January, the governor said the state actually owes more to schools under its complicated funding formula.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office says it may be wrong, not bizarre.

One of the key criticisms in the Analyst's review last week was that Brown had overstated how much money the state owes to schools by nearly $2 billion. In a presentation to school officials this weekend, the Analyst's Office said it has "serious concerns" with how the governor treated school funding and that his interpretation leads to "irrational outcomes" of the sort that results in more money to schools despite less revenue.

The outcome of the disagreement will likely affect how other programs are treated in the budget and how voters view Brown's push for tax increases in November.

Dan Walters says Proposition 29 would raise cigarette taxes by $1 a pack.

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Dan Walters says many California schools are in financial trouble.

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Dan Walters Daily: In his latest video report, Dan notes a new report that 188 school districts are in financial trouble.

Gov. Jerry Brown will address the Sacramento Host Breakfast at the Sacramento Convention Center this morning. It's the 87th annual rendition of the event, which lets business and government leaders mix and mingle from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. If you just want to catch the governor, he's scheduled to speak at 8:30 a.m.

Today is also California's third annual Harvey Milk Day, a day of 'special significance' established under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2009.

The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus will appear on the west steps of the state Capitol at 4 p.m. to mark the occasion. They'll be performing the premiere of "Give 'em Hope," an anthem written to honor the slain gay rights activist.

Joining about 70 members of the chorus will be Shara Perkins-Murphy, executive director of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano and Sen. Mark Leno, whose bill required schools to recognize the day. They'll present high school teachers with copies of the choral work's score.

The group will also perform at 8 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 2620 Capitol Ave., featuring music from such musicals as Godspell, Wicked and Hairspray in a concert benefiting the gay and lesbian center.

Fundraising is front and center in California politics this week, as pols from both parties gear up for the November election.

President Barack Obama will be in Redwood City Wednesday for a fundraising event at the Fox Theatre.

Today, Speaker of the House John Boehner will appear in Modesto for Rep. Jeff Denham. The $500-a-plate luncheon will be held at the Del Rio Country Club. Boehner also plans a fundraising stop on Wednesday in Woodside at the home of business software billionaire Thomas Seibel.

The Public Policy Institute of California will hold a luncheon discussion on California welfare recipients today. The event, part of The James Irvine Foundation Briefing Series, will include an overview of CalWORKS and those it serves.

Participants will include PPIC policy fellow Caroline Danielson, PPIC director of government affairs David Lesher, Cheryl Davis, human services director for Placer County Health and Human Services and Noelle Simmons, deputy director of policy and planning for San Francisco Human Services.

The session is set for noon at the CSAC Conference Center, 1020 11th Street. No charge for the lunch, but PPIC asks that you register before you attend.

The Senate Monday approved a bill to limit pay for California State University employees making more than $200,000 a year.

Senate Bill 952, by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, prohibits CSU workers making more than $200,000 from receiving a raise until June 30, 2014. Annual raises for those workers would be limited to 10 percent from 2014 to 2018

"It is wrong to give large pay increases to CSU campus executives when student fees are increasing dramatically and students are facing enrollment increases and courses are not being offered and when many CSU campuses are weakening their local preference policies," Alquist said.

Four months after a California assemblyman was cited and released for carrying a gun into an airport, the Assembly passed legislation today that would require offenders to be taken into custody in such situations.

Democratic Assemblywoman Norma Torres said her Assembly Bill 2182 did not stem from the January incident involving Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, which occurred at an Ontario airport on the first day of this year's legislative session.

"This issue is about protecting the public," Torres said of her bill.

With Republicans opposed, the Assembly voted 46-25 to approve Torres' bill. Donnelly voted no on the bill but did not speak during floor debate today. AB 2182 now goes to the Senate.

Peace officers currently make the decision to take an offender into custody or to issue a citation based on an evaluation of risk to the public, such as prior criminal record and whether the suspect is a gang member.

Republican Assemblyman Steve Knight suggested that the bill was a shot by the Democratic assemblywoman at Donnelly. He also argued that peace officers should have discretion to cite and release offenders in cases where there is no public threat.

"Cite and release means (an officer) might be able to get back on the street in 45 minutes rather than three and a half hours," Knight said.

Supporters characterized AB 2182 as legislation meant to ensure that all cases are treated equally, eliminating any chance of preferential treatment based on status.

"I think fairness is what it's all about," said Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada-Flintridge.

California's salary setting commission is bracing next week to consider a 5 percent pay cut for legislators and other statewide officeholders, in keeping with a similar cut proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown for state workers.

Commissioner Chuck Murray said today that he is "100 percent" sure that the pay cut for elected officials will be on the table at the commission's May 31 meeting. He supports the reduction, though he didn't craft it, he said.

"Even though the legislators don't consider themselves state workers, we do," Murray said.

No written proposal has yet been released to the public.

Legally, the pay commission could not consider a raise for officeholders, even if it wanted to, because the state finance department concluded today that there is a negative balance in a reserve fund for economic uncertainties.

Murray said the 5 percent pay cut, if approved, would apply to constitutional officers as well - ranging from the governor to the state schools superintendent and the four elected members of the Board of Equalization.

Murray said he could not predict whether a pay cut would pass the seven-member compensation board, whose members are appointed by the governor to set compensation for statewide elected officials.

California would adopt rules of the road for self-driving vehicles under legislation approved by the state Senate today.

Senate Bill 1298, by Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla, targets "autonomous vehicles" that can navigate the roads without a human driver. Google has been working on one prototype and already taken to the streets for testing, including demonstrations here in Sacramento.

"We're excited about the potential of the new technology and its benefits, but it's not quite here yet," Padilla said.

While current state law does not specify that a car must be driven by a human, the bill requires a licensed motorist to occupy the driver's seat of an autonomous car on public roads until the technology meets National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requirements. It also allows the California Highway Patrol and Department of Motor Vehicles to make recommendations for safety or other requirements.

Padilla's office says similar legislation was approved in Nevada and is under consideration in Arizona, Hawaii, Florida and Oklahoma.

The bill, which was approved unanimously in the upper house, now heads to the Assembly for consideration.

PHOTO CREDIT: A Google car, 2010, Ramin Rahimian/The New York Times

The California Senate approved today legislation that would ban the use of hounds or other dogs to hunt bears and bobcats.

Senate Bill 1221, by Democratic Sen. Ted Lieu, would make California the 15th state to ban the practice, which critics contend is cruel both for the targeted animals and the dogs involved, which can get injured or killed.

Lieu said dispatching dogs to chase a bear into a tree where the hunter can get a clear shot of the animal "violates the principals of fair chase." 

"It's been likened to shooting a bear in the zoo," Lieu said.

About 45 percent of the bears and 11 percent of the bobcats killed in California last year were hunted using dogs, according to a Senate analysis of the bill.

School districts with 2.6 million of the state's 6 million K-12 students are in "financial jeopardy," state schools Supt. Tom Torlakson declared Monday, including 12 so troubled that they are virtually insolvent.

Although the 188 districts rated either negatively - unable to meet their obligations - or "qualified" are just a fraction of the state's 1,037 districts, county offices of education and other "local educational agencies," they included some of the state's largest, including huge Los Angeles Unified, and therefore a major chunk of the student population.

"This is the kind of record no one wants to set," Torlakson said in a statement. "Across California, parents, teachers, and administrators are increasingly wondering how to keep their schools' lights on, their bills paid, and their doors open. The deep cuts this budget crisis has forced - and the uncertainties about what lies ahead - are taking an unprecedented and unacceptable toll on our schools."

The Department of Education's report was issued as the Legislature began perusing Gov. Jerry Brown's revised 2012-13 budget that calls for reconfiguring how state aid to schools is distributed and proposes major cuts in state aid should his sales and income tax package be rejected by voters in November.

Most school districts appear to be planning for a worst case scenario by keying their own 2012-13 budgets to an assumption that taxes do not pass, leading to massive layoff notices for teachers and other school employees.

The largest school district in Torlakson's negative list appears to be Vallejo Unified, but a number of large districts are on the qualified list, which denotes financial problems, including LA Unified, San Diego Unified, Oakland Unified, Elk Grove Unified, Sacramento City Unified and San Juan Unified.

Opponents of a term limits measure on the June ballot kicked off a campaign tour today using a carved 10-foot "Trojan Horse" -- named Mr. Ed -- to spread their message that Proposition 28 is deceptive.

"We've got to stop this scam that's going to be perpetrated on the citizens of California," said Assemblyman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, at a Capitol press conference today.

Though Proposition 28 is touted as a reduction in terms, opponents contend it would lengthen most lawmakers' time in office.

Controversy over Proposition 28's impact centers on provisions that would cut from 14 to 12 the number of years future lawmakers could serve in the Capitol, but allow all of them to be served in one house.

Currently, legislators can serve no more than six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. To reach the maximum 14 years, they must switch from one house to another - and only a small percentage do so.

Only two of 26 lawmakers who were termed out of the Assembly or Senate in 2010 had served in both houses to reach the 14-year cap. Five others switched from one house to another that year, however, records show.

Gabriel Sanchez, spokesman for Yes on 28, characterized the Trojan Horse campaign as deceptive itself.

"That's completely inaccurate," he said of the contention that supporters are misleading voters.

"(Proposition 28) reduces time in office from 14 to 12 years," Sanchez said. "What we have now is a broken status quo where lawmakers are constantly campaigning for the next office. This measure is a sensible reform that will put the focus on policy, not politics."

Opponents of the term limits measure said they named their wooden horse "Mr. Ed" in reference to Ed Roski, whose firm contributed $300,000 to the initiative several months after the Legislature provided environmental exemptions for his planned NFL stadium in the City of Industry.

Sanchez noted that Proposition 28 applies only to future legislators, not existing officeholders

"It does not extend the terms of any current or past lawmakers," he said.

PHOTO CREDIT: Ted Costa, president of People's Advocate, speaks near "Mr. Ed," a Trojan horse opponents of Proposition 28 are using to represent Ed Roski. The Sacramento Bee/Jim Sanders

The Kern County sinkhole in which a Chevron oil worker died last year was in an area with spills and seeps dating back to the mid-1990s - about a year after oil producers started using a controversial kind of injection drilling there, state regulators said in a report released today.

Meters used by oil companies to monitor ground movement in the area registered shifting underground in the eight days prior to and on the day Robert David Taylor died, the state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources said in its report. Citing ongoing litigation, state regulators declined in a conference call with reporters this morning to say whether that ground movement should have alerted Chevron to possible danger in the oil field.

More than a year after Taylor's death, regulators have not determined an exact cause of the accident, though they have generally linked the eruptions of steam at Chevron Well 20, where Taylor died, and elsewhere in the Midway-Sunset Oil Field to a kind of drilling in which steam is pumped into shallow rock to loosen heavy crude.

Tim Kustic, California's oil and gas supervisor, said sinkholes are "relatively rare." He said the agency is considering new regulations in a bid to "eliminate or curtail" seeps and spills of oil in steam injection operations.

"Our intent is to learn from this experience," he said.

The report said steam injection drilling started in the area around Well 20 in the mid-1990s and that spills and seeps began about a year later. It identified about 30 spills and seeps in the area. In most cases, oil and water flowed to the surface slowly, the report said.

Taylor was a member of an engineering team involved in building an underground containment system to capture seeping fluid and steam near Well 20 early last year, according to the report. He was checking steam coming from the ground in the area when he fell feet-first into a sinkhole, according to the report. His body was found four feet to five feet underground.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says that California had a hard week last week, what with Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget, the state's new unemployment figures and Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor's budget numbers.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters, in his latest video report, says California had a hard week last week, and then counts the ways.

If you were hoping last week was nothing but a long, bad dream, Capitol Alert is sorry to disappoint you. The Senate has scheduled 11 hearings this week to consider Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget, including two today that will look at health and general government issues. Two Assembly budget panels meet today as well.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, meanwhile, continues working through fiscal bills as its members face Friday's deadline for approving measures and sending them on to the Senate floor. One measure of note is Senate Bill 1001 by Democrat Leland Yee, which would increase the filing fee for lobbyists to $50 a year and require political committees receiving contributions of $1,000 or more a year to pay it as well.

Both houses have floor sessions set for noon. Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

Outside the building, hundreds are expected to rally on the Capitol's north steps for the 16th annual Immigrant Day, which organizers say will draw busloads of immigrants from San Diego to San Francisco. Following a procession from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament on 11th Street, participants will visit legislators. Listed speakers include Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, and Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, several Democratic and Republican Assembly members are holding a presser to tout Assembly Bill 1589, which would set up a California State Parks Protection Fund. Listed speakers include Democrats Jared Huffman, Wes Chesbro and Roger Dickinson, and Republicans Kevin Jeffries, Diane Harkey and Kristin Olsen. Robert Hanna, a great-great-grandson of John Muir, is also expected to speak. The event starts at 11 a.m. near the fish pond on the east side of the Capitol.

DEADLINE: Today's the last day to register to vote in the June 5 primary.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, debuting as a cable talk show host on Friday night, told viewers he often wished to share in public the kinds of conversations he has with fascinating people all the time.

"Hosting this show is definitely not in place of doing my job as lieutenant governor," Newsom said. "It's an 'and,' not an 'or.'"

The Gavin Newsom Show, he said, is "in many ways is just an extension of what I'm already doing."

Politics, yes. But also talking with people to "learn from them, to listen to them and to explore new ideas with them."

The weekly, hour-long program on Current TV aired at 8 p.m. on the West Coast. Guests were champion cyclist Lance Armstrong, Google Vice President Marissa Mayer and The New York Times columnist Nick Bilton.

Armstrong talked about the doping scandal - he's tired of it - and about Proposition 29, the ballot measure he supports to increase California's tobacco tax to raise money for cancer research.

"This is interesting," Newsom said. "Some nice kid from Texas is out in California now all the time getting involved in a politically charged issue out here."

He asked Mayer about innovation and the willingness to try new things and fail.

"I think the one most important part of failure is being able to learn from it," Mayer told him, "and to be able to learn from it, you have to diagnose when it's happened, and actually figure out what you should learn from it and move on."

A new Super PAC has started airing television ads in support of independent candidates running in California's June 5 primary.

icPurple announced today that it is backing four candidates running for office with "no party preference," including 26th Congressional District contender Linda Parks, who is running strong in a district targeted by both major parties.

The group is already running one ad in support of San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, an assemblyman who recently dropped his Republican registration

It is looking at buying airtime for the spot supporting Parks, as well as one for Chad Condit, the son of former Democratic Rep. Gary Condit, in the Central Valley's 10th Congressional District. It has also endorsed Chad Walsh, the only candidate running against Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong in the Silicon Valley-based 28th Assembly District.

The committee was created by Gateway founder Ted Waitt, who put up $300,000 in seed money to get the ad buys started.

Waitt said in a statement that voters are "demanding pragmatic and problem-solving behavior from our elected officials once again."

"We believe independent minded voters will see this as an opportunity for more than just a statement vote, but as a chance for real political change," he said.

Online versions of the ads are posted at this link.

Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor discussed his office's review of Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget Friday, suggesting the deficit is higher than the $15. 7 billion Brown projected.

Taylor said that Brown's budget expenditure estimates were "reasonable," but there are risks in other areas of his proposal.

He added that there was no need to build the reserve at the moment.

Taylor also said that outside factors contributed to the deficit, such as California being turned down by the federal government on Medi-Cal reductions.

California's budget deficit is likely worse than Gov. Jerry Brown's estimate of $15.7 billion, the state's top fiscal analyst indicated Friday.

Brown proposed a $91.4 billion general fund budget Monday that slashes health and welfare programs, courts and state worker pay. His proposal also relies on voters temporarily raising taxes on sales and wealthy earners to help cover this year's budget gap and deficits in future years.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said Friday that Brown's revenue forecast is "reasonable," though the Analyst's own projection is still $550 million below the governor's through June 2013. On top of that, the LAO warned that Brown's estimate of money available from former redevelopment programs could be overstated by $900 million.

Based on those initial judgments, the Analyst's Office seems to suggest the state deficit is north of $17 billion rather than $15.7 billion, which was Brown's estimate. But the Analyst's Office didn't provide an exact deficit figure and simply says that the budget problem is "likely somewhat larger" than Brown has estimated.

The Analyst's Office estimates that the state now has an accumulated deficit of $7.6 billion -- meaning a hole that exists because the state failed to balance budgets in the past -- as well as a structural imbalance of roughly $10 billion between revenues and expenditures annually. It believes that the governor's mix of onetime solutions to solve the accumulated deficit is fine, but that the state also needs permanent cuts or revenues to truly solve the gap.

Post updated to clarify that the Analyst's Office is not providing an exact deficit estimate.

Supporters of a proposal to give state regulators power to reject health insurance rate increases say they are submitting 800,000 voter signatures to election officials in hopes of qualifying for the November ballot.

"We will give California voters the chance to decide their own fate in November and stop out of control health insurance premiums," Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court, whose group is sponsoring the initiative, wrote in an email to supporters today.

Under the proposed initiative, changes to heath insurance policy rates would need approval from the state insurance commissioner. Voters approved a similar process for auto insurers, also backed by Consumer Watchdog, in 1988.

Consumer Watchdog launched the initiative qualification campaign after heath insurance rate regulation legislation stalled in the state Legislature last year. The measure also targets provisions of a rate-related initiative sponsored by auto insurance agents.

Supporters say the measure will protect consumers from excessive rate hikes. A coalition formed to oppose the measure, which includes the California Medical Association and the California Hospital Association, blasted the move as bad for patients.

"This measure will create another duplicative and expensive bureaucracy when we can
least afford it, ultimately paid for with higher health insurance premiums." California Chamber of Commerce President Allan Zaremberg said in a statement released by the opposition campaign.

Supporters are holding a press conference in Los Angeles this morning to begin submitting petitions to election officials there. They need roughly 504,000 valid voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. All measures headed for the November ballot must be certified by June 28.

RELATED POSTS:

California group files health insurance regulation initiative

Dan Walters: Feud colors clash over California's health care rates

Editor's note: This post was updated at 10:49 a.m. with comments from the opposition.

Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview televised this morning that the water project he proposes this year will be a $14 billion endeavor.

The Democratic governor's remark suggests the administration is fine-tuning its proposal for a peripheral canal or other way to move water through or around the Delta, even as a public announcement has been delayed. In January, Brown said the project would cost water users "well over $10 billion."

Brown was on "CBS This Morning" to promote his November ballot initiative to raise taxes and to defend the budget he revised on Monday. The state budget deficit has grown to $15.7 billion from the $9.2 billion Brown estimated in January.

"California is growing," Brown said in an interview taped Thursday. "This is not Europe ... We're very entrepreneurial, very innovative, and people are still coming here. You know, this is where they put in, they invented Facebook. Not in Texas, not in Arizona. Not in Manhattan, and certainly not under the, you know, the White House or the Congress. This is still the Wild West, and we're going to prove to the rest of this country and the world that we know how to do it."

Told by CBS' Charlie Rose that Facebook was invented in Cambridge, Mass., Brown said that after tinkering there, "they learned fast to get on a plane and get out to California, where all the other innovative people are."

Brown's comments about the water project came as he defended another multi-billion infrastructure project: high-speed rail.

"California's not stopping," Brown said. "We're not some tired country of Europe. We're a buoyant, dynamic society that will both discipline itself on a daily basis, but it will, on the long term, plant the seeds of future growth."

Watch the video:

VIDEO: Dan Walters says judges aren't the only ones to voice disapproval over Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in his latest video report, says judges aren't the only critics of Gov. Jerry Brown's new budget numbers.

Gov. Jerry Brown is taking his pitch on California's state budget to a national television audience, talking with Charlie Rose on "CBS This Morning." The interview, which was taped Thursday, will air at about 7 a.m.

Brown tweeted Thursday that it's "a lively conversation."

Attorney General Kamala Harris is joining Holly Petraeus, who's the director of the Office of Service Member Affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, at Travis Air Force Base to talk up legislation sponsored by Harris that is intended to give property owners more foreclosure protections. Their presser will be followed by a town hall at 11 a.m.

The Legislature has no floor sessions, but four legislative panels are meeting elsewhere in the state.

The Senate Agriculture Committee, chaired by Republican Anthony Cannella, heads to Fresno to learn about agricultural metal theft.

A Senate select committee chaired by Democrat Ellen Corbett, is in Fremont looking at electric vehicle deployment.

Meanwhile, an Assembly select committee is in San Diego -- where chairman Nathan Fletcher is running for mayor as an independent -- for a hearing on "current workforce realities and keeping innovation domestic."

Yet another Assembly select committee -- this one headed by Democrat José Solorio -- explores the future of storm water, including its capture, storage and supply, in Los Angeles.

Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

HIGH-SPEED RAIL: The California High-Speed Rail Authority is holding a special closed telemeeting starting at 10 a.m. to discuss hiring a new chief executive officer to replace Roelof Van Ark, who resigned back in January. The authority has scheduled four more closed meetings on the same subject next week and the week after.

DEADLINE: Monday is the last day to register to vote in the June 5 primary.

PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Rose of "CBS This Morning" tapes an interview with California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday, May 17, 2012. "CBS This Morning" photo distributed via Twitter.

California lawmakers took a major step Thursday toward carving an exception in public records law they said would enhance the safety of peace officers, judges, probation officers and other law enforcement personnel.

Without a dissenting vote, the Assembly passed legislation that would allow counties to create a program allowing law enforcement personnel to redact names from property records available to the public.

Assembly Bill 2299 passed the lower house, 65-0. It now goes to the Senate.

"Let's make the protection of officers' families meaningful," Assemblyman Mike Feuer said in floor debate on his bill.

A group that set out to hold an online nominating convention for the presidential contest has thrown in the towel on its goal of selecting an alternative, bipartisan ticket for the 2012 election.

"There is a desire among Delegates and millions of Americans who have supported Americans Elect to see a credible candidate emerge from this process. However, the rules, as developed in consultation with the Americans Elect Delegates, are clear. As of this week, no candidate achieved the national support threshold required to enter the Americans Elect Online Convention in June. The primary process for the Americans Elect nomination has come to an end," a statement released by the organization today reads.

Despite wealthy backers, Web infrastructure and ballot access in all 50 states, the movement was unable to attract serious candidates to compete in its primary process.

Though its ticket will not be on the ballot this November, the statement released today said the group is "continuing the Americans Elect mission of creating more choice in our political system, giving candidates unaffiliated with the nominating process of either major party an authentic way to run for office and giving the American people a greater voice in our political process."

RELATED POSTS:

Americans Elect backing effort for nonpartisan Web-based presidential convention

Dan Morain: Online alternate campaign is flagging

Americans Elect gets OK to put ticket on California ballot

The state political watchdog agency moved today to post financial disclosure forms submitted by California judges online.

The California Judges Association has fought for months for an exemption to a 2010 regulation requiring that the statement of economic interest forms filed by certain elected officials, including the governor, legislators and county supervisors, are posted on the Internet.

The association argued that information contained in the forms, such as property ownership or a spouse's place of work, could jeopardize the safety of their families if it was available on a smartphone or in just a few clicks online.

"We see this as an issue of life and limb," California Judges Association President David Rubin, a San Diego judge, said in an interview today. "We don't want people beaten, murdered, raped, what have you, because of an irate litigant."

Instead of carving out an exception for judges, the Fair Political Practices Commission voted today to approve a new policy that allows all filers subject to online posting to request redaction of sensitive information, such as the name of a family member or the address of their workplace.

California's judicial civil war -- judge against judge over money and power -- has been rekindled by Gov. Jerry Brown's revised state budget.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye convened a special meeting of the state Judicial Council in Sacramento today to discuss Brown's proposed cuts in state support for the courts. Right off the bat, a member of the rebel Alliance of California Judges berated the body for cutting money for trial courts while maintaining a bloated judicial bureaucracy in San Francisco and wasting money on a now-abandoned statewide computer system.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White delivered the broadside, pointing out that he and his colleagues had warned of continued cuts in state funding and complained that the judicial leadership -- Cantil-Sakauye and her predecessor, Ron George -- had ignored them.

"We were right," White told members of the council. "The time has come to stop and change that."

A whistle-blower fired while cooperating with a state probe of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing about 18 months ago has lost her appeal before the State Personnel Board.

Kathy Carroll failed to prove that she was dismissed because of whistle-blowing and her job performance included incidents of insubordination and other misbehavior that warranted sanction, the board found.

Carroll, a former commission attorney, said the ruling was political and followed a hearing before an administrative law judge in which she was not given adequate time or allowed to present all her witnesses.

"It was a kangaroo court," Carroll said in an interview Wednesday.

Commission officials called the ruling "complete, comprehensive and well-reasoned" but declined comments on specific findings.

Carroll, 50, was fired in November 2010 during a state investigation of the commission, which is charged with credentialing teachers, sanctioning them for misconduct, and accrediting teacher credential programs.

The probe ended with State Auditor Elaine Howle calling the agency one of the "worst run" that she ever has investigated.

Latinos will become California's largest ethnic group very soon, a new Census Bureau report indicates.

The bureau issued its first post-2010 census estimates of population growth, birth rates, age cohorts, and racial and ethnic characteristics.

It pegs California's Latino population (it uses the term "Hispanic") at 14.4 million, 38.2 percent of the state's 37.7 million residents, while the non-Hispanic white population is just under 15 million or 39.7 percent, dropping below the 40 percent mark for the first time.

Republican Leroy Ornellas is airing his first television spot in the targeted 5th Senate District.

The San Joaquin County supervisor is battling Assemblyman Bill Berryhill, R-Stockton, for one of two November runoff spots in the swing district, which encompasses all of San Joaquin County and part of Stanislaus County. The third candidate on the ballot, Democratic Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, is expected to make it to November by carrying the Democratic voters in the primary.

The 30-second ad, which is running on cable stations through the June 5 primary, is centered on the Tracy dairy farmer's "no more bull" appeal as the only candidate who is not currently serving in Sacramento.

"I've been a dairy farmer all my life and I know bull when I see it and I see a lot of it in Sacramento," he says in the spot, which is posted below. "I see politicians fighting, not solving problems, raising taxes, not cutting waste."

Berryhill, who had to move into the district to be eligible to run, has the backing of the Senate Republican Caucus and some powerful Sacramento interests. A committee funded largely by the California Medical Association, for example, recently reported spending $33,500 on mail pieces opposing Ornellas. The Senate GOP believes Berryhill has a better shot of defeating Galgiani in the seat.

VIDEO: Dan Walters questions if term limits have had their desired impact on the California Capitol.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

Read Dan Walters' columns here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters asks in today's video report whether legislative term limits have done what they were supposed to do since California voters approved them back in 1990.

The funding dispute between the Judicial Council of California and the Alliance of California Judges spills over into the council's emergency meeting this morning. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White of the alliance is expected to argue that the state Administrative Office of the Courts should see cuts before local courts take another budget hit.

Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget would require the state court system to use reserve funds and delay its courthouse construction program, a $544 million cut, as Kevin Yamamura reported earlier this week.

The San Francisco-based council, which Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye heads, is considering how Brown's revised numbers will affect the court system. Brown's finance director, Ana Matosantos, is also scheduled to speak at the meeting, which starts at 11 a.m. at the AOC's regional office in Sacramento at 2860 Gateway Oaks Drive. Click here for the agenda.

The alliance has accused the council and the AOC of wasting money on bureaucracy, a computer system and the courthouse construction, columnist Dan Walters wrote in a column last month.

Meanwhile, members of the California arm of the Society for Human Resource Management are at Sacramento's Hyatt Regency Hotel for a two-day legislative conference.

Today, they'll be lobbying legislators from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on two measures -- Assembly Bill 1450, which would ban employers from screening out applicants who aren't employed, and Assembly Bill 2039, which would expand family and medical leave to include an adult child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, domestic partner or parent-in-law. The California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups oppose both bills.

Both the Senate and the Assembly have set floor sessions for 9 a.m. Three budget panels meet in the upper house, with Proposition 98 formulas for K-14 education and prison spending among the issues. An Assembly subcommittee will consider Brown's revised proposals for health and human services. Click here to read the Senate's schedule, and click here to read the Assembly's.

CAPITOL STEPS: Members of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, is holding a presser at 10 a.m. on the south steps to announce opposition to Assembly Bill 1544 by Democratic Assemblyman V. Manuel Pérez, which would set up a guest worker program for employees in agriculture, domestic and janitorial services, housekeeping and food preparation. The California Hunger Action Coalition, meanwhile, is sponsoring a rally on the north steps at noon in between visits to legislators.

LIVE CHAT: Jon Ortiz, The Bee's baron of our sister blog The State Worker, will be taking questions about Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed four-day workweek for state employees. The hour-long live chat starts at noon. You can find the chat at this link, where you may also sign up for an email reminder before it starts.

CAPTION CONTEST: The Bee's editorial board is sponsoring a caption contest for guest cartoonist Steve Greenberg's depiction of Gov. Jerry Brown dressed as the Grim Reaper while unveiling his revised budget. Find the cartoon at this link. The winner gets a signed color print of the cartoon with the winning caption in the word bubble. The deadline for submitting captions is noon today.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, turns 58 today.

A political committee that Service Employees International Union California created to support moderate Republican candidates for the Legislature reported its first expenditure of the 2012 election Wednesday, dropping more than $15,000 on mail pieces opposing Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly's bid for re-election.

Donnelly, a conservative first-term assemblyman known for his vocal opposition to illegal immigration, is facing Republican Bill Jahn, the mayor of Big Bear Lake, and Democrat John Coffey on the June 5 ballot in the 33rd Assembly District.

The mailers were reported in a campaign filing posted on the secretary of state's website.The committee also reported spending about $20,000 on a survey in the safe Republican district.

SEIU California launched the Golden California Committee last year as part of an effort to elect more moderate Republicans to the Legislature. Leaders said the new district lines and top-two primary system allow more opportunities to influence the outcome in conservative districts.

The union says 87,000 of its 700,000 members are registered Republicans.

RELATED POSTS:
SEIU California launches Republican PAC to back moderates

Against Gov. Jerry Brown's wishes, the California Public Employees' Retirement System board voted today to phase in a higher cost to the state over two years rather than bill the state immediately in full.

In a letter to the board, Brown called that "not a prudent decision."

The disagreement was over the pace at which PERS is lowering its assumptions about future investment returns from 7.75 percent to 7.5 percent, called the discount rate. Such changes are intended to compensate for lower market returns. When the rate of return assumption goes down, governments must contribute more.

The PERS board agreed to phase in the change over two years at a onetime $137 million savings ($78 million general fund), but Brown had wanted the board to drop the discount rate immediately. In a letter he sent to the board today, Brown reasoned that despite the onetime savings, the delay would actually cost the state general fund $145.9 million over 20 years in higher interest costs.

A political advocacy group funded largely by wealthy Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr. has poured $83,000 this week into an independent push to re-elect Republican Assemblywoman Beth Gaines.

Gaines, of Rocklin, is running against attorney and fellow Republican Andy Pugno in the 6th Assembly District, a newly drawn district based in Placer County but extending into Sacramento and El Dorado counties. Democrat Reginald Bronner of Lincoln rounds out the field.

A radio advertisement and campaign literature supporting Gaines was funded by Spirit of Democracy, whose coffers consist of $727,000 from Munger and $150,000 from the California Dental Association, records show.

Of the money spent to benefit Gaines, $54,000 was for radio airtime and production costs, $15,000 for campaign consultants, and $14,170 for printing and mailing campaign literature.

Spirit of Democracy was created for the purpose of supporting and opposing candidates for state office. The group also is backing Republican Leslie Daigle against incumbent GOP Assemblyman Allan Mansoor of Costa Mesa in the 74th Assembly District race.

Munger is a major GOP donor and was a key financial backer of redistricting reform. He has pushed to moderate the Republican Party by downplaying divisive issues such as abortion, gun rights and same-sex marriage.

By supporting Gaines, Munger is taking aim at Pugno, the author of and chief counsel for Proposition 8, the initiative passed by voters in 2008 to limit marriage to a man and woman.

Munger's sister, civil rights attorney and Democrat Molly Munger, is pushing a measure for the November ballot that would generate about $10 billion annually by raising income taxes on a sliding scale for all but the poorest California workers for 12 years.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today repeated a pledge to look for budget solutions that would allow lawmakers to preserve some services targeted with steep cuts under Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget plan.

"I said on Monday, I'm not looking for a public fight here," the Sacramento Democrat said this morning. "We're looking to work collaboratively and yet not be afraid to have our differences or air our differences with the other stakeholders, the other parties, but come to a resolution where we can in fact buy out some of the worst cuts."

The revised budget proposal released by the Democratic governor Monday calls for roughly $8 billion in cuts to close a projected deficit that has grown to $15.7 billion since his January budget was unveiled. Those cuts include reductions to health and welfare programs and Cal Grants for low-income students.

Steinberg said he doesn't like many aspects of the proposal, including using money won in the mortgage settlement with major banks and reducing funding for the courts, but added that cuts with the most severe effect on the state's neediest constituencies will be the first to come off the chopping block.

"To me a cut that, you know, will result in the difference between life and death and a cut that will increase homelessness by definition, it's our obligation it seems that we do everything we can to avoid those cuts," he said.

Steinberg again floated the idea of using the state's planned $1.05 billion reserve to plug some of the cuts. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned lawmakers against that approach Tuesday, writing that the reserve "is low but important considering that the potential Facebook initial public offering-related income tax revenue is especially difficult to forecast."

"I respect the rating agencies, but the rating agencies don't represent a hungry kid who can't do well in school because his family has suffered a big cut in his CalWORKs grant," Steinberg said, referring to the state's welfare-to-work program.

He declined to specify other routes that majority Democrats may take to balance the budget without making all of the cuts proposed by Brown.

Here's a video of Steinberg's previous comments on Monday on how he views the cuts and how he hopes to plug the deficit:

University of California students disrupted a meeting of the UC regents in Sacramento this morning, protesting tuition increases in a sustained chant that forced regents to break early for a closed session meeting.

The regents were about to discuss the impact of Gov. Jerry Brown's May budget revision on the university system when about 18 students dressed in orange prison garb and complaining they were "sentenced to debt" began marching in a circle in the audience.

Regents were expected to return to open session before noon to discuss the budget. The protest died down about 30 minutes after it began.

"The UC regents are closer to Wall Street than they are to the people of California," UC Berkeley student Charlie Eaton said.

The UC system last year raised tuition by about 18 percent over the previous year, and administrators are considering further increases. Brown's May budget revision, released Monday, did not include an additional $125 million for the college system that administrators said they need to avert a potential 6 percent tuition hike.

The crowd included students from UC Davis, where last year's pepper-spraying incident still resonates.

Students in the audience hissed when Nathan Brostrom, a UC vice president, said administrators have "full, unequivocal confidence" in UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi.

A member of the audience yelled, "Is that a joke?"

The regents are meeting in Sacramento for the first time since 1993, as administrators lobby lawmakers at the Capitol for additional funding.

The Federal Election Commission has formally advised Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein that she can ask for replacement contributions from past donors so long as their prior checks were never deposited in a campaign account.

The ruling does not give Feinstein what she really wanted, which was to seek replacement donations totaling some $4.5 million -- the amount campaign officials estimate was embezzled by former treasurer Kinde Durkee. Durkee is now awaiting sentencing, after pleading guilty to charges of mail fraud.

In an advisory opinion issued Tuesday, the FEC reasoned that if "the initial funds were never received by the committee, they would not count towards the attempted contributors' contribution limit."

The five voting FEC members, though they could not reach an official consensus on the broader question, did note that "the Commission has never applied the same reasoning to contributions that were actually deposited in the intended recipient committee's account as it has to circumstances where a committee lost a contribution check."

VIDEO: Dan Walters says Democrats and Republicans are both unhappy with Gov. Jerry Brown's budget.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says in today's video report that even though California legislators have a month to pass a budget, the real action won't start until June 6.

Neither house has a floor session scheduled today, and many budget panels have yet to gear up.

The Assembly Appropriations Committee keeps working through dozens of fiscal measures, including Assembly Bill 1501, one of Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's "middle-class scholarship" measures, and Assembly Bill 1616, Assemblyman Mike Gatto's proposal to lift restrictions on homemade prepared food. That hearing starts at 9 a.m. in the Capitol's room 4202.

The Senate Rules Committee considers the governor's appointments starting at 1:30 p.m. in Room 113, with Askia Abdulmajeed of the Juvenile Parole Board and three commissioners on the Board of Parole Hearings -- Dan Figueroa, Jack Garner and Peter LaBahn -- required to appear.

Democratic Sen. Michael Rubio is holding a presser at 1 p.m. in the Capitol's Room 2040 to talk up his Senate Constitutional Amendment 22, which would bar the University of California from enrolling more than 10 percent of out-of-state students in the first-year class on each campus as well as across the system.

Meanwhile, the Assembly has welcomed a new member. Robin Swanson, spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, added to her and her husband Michael's family Tuesday with the birth of son Logan Michael Kanotz.

"Appropriately, Robin's labor began on Mother's Day," Pérez said in a statement announcing Logan's arrival. "Typically, she had some of her hardest labor during the May Revise. The LAO has not yet commented on how long recovery will take."

Click here for the Senate's daily agenda, and click here for the Assembly's.

SOLAR: Solar industry officials and workers will be on the Capitol's north steps at 10 a.m. to urge legislators not to approve any new fees on solar energy users.

GREEN FAIR: SAGE, which works to improve recycling and sustainability efforts in state agencies, is hosting a "green fair" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Capitol's west steps.

BARBECUE: The California Beer and Beverage Distributors are hosting a barbecue lunch for legislators and staff as part of the group's annual legislative day starting at 11:30 a.m. on the south steps. Bring ID.

As Standard & Poor's 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.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned the California Legislature today that the Obama administration will not wait until fall for a vote on high-speed rail, urging its approval in a budget vote next month.

"We need to make sure that the commitment is there to obligate the money," LaHood told reporters at the Capitol, where he was meeting with lawmakers and with Gov. Jerry Brown.

The state's commitment, LaHood said, will be demonstrated when lawmakers "put it in the budget and take a vote on it."

Brown and the California High-Speed Rail Authority want to start construction on a $68 billion rail project by early next year, proposing initially to use $2.6 billion in state rail bond funds and $3.3 billion in federal funds. Lawmakers considering allocating that money remain skeptical, however, and the Legislative Analyst's Office has recommended against it.

LaHood said he was at the Capitol to reiterate the Obama administration's commitment to high-speed rail, while "checking signals" in the Legislature.

He said the suggestion by some lawmakers that they may need more time to consider the proposal - perhaps pushing an up or down vote into the fall - is unacceptable.

"We want to make sure that our partners here understand what's at stake," he said. "We can't wait until the end of summer."

LaHood declined to say what the administration will do if the Legislature does delay, saying, "I'm going to operate on the assumption that people are going to act in good faith."

LaHood praised the Brown administration for a project redesign this year that dramatically reduced its price, from $98 billion.

"My message to the Assembly, to the leadership, is that we need to make sure that there's a continued, strong commitment on the part of the Assembly, as reflected in their budget," he said.

The nonpartisan LAO has criticized the project for its reliance in future years on uncertain federal funding. State Sen. Joe Simitian, the Palo Alto Democrat who chairs the budget subcommittee considering high-speed rail, has said the administration's recent changes to the project would likely require more time to consider beyond when the state budget is adopted next month.

A week after announcing that he had collected enough signatures to qualify his tax initiative for the November ballot, Gov. Jerry Brown's campaign to pass the measure appeared this morning to take shape.

The Democratic governor, appearing at the office of the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters to submit the first of about 1.5 million signatures collected statewide, was accompanied by political consultant Ace Smith, whose company, SCN Strategies, will run the campaign.

Smith managed Brown's bid for attorney general in 2006, and SCN oversaw California Attorney General Kamala Harris' run in 2010.

Brown proposes to raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners.

"It's balanced, it's fair and it will take a major step forward in putting California in a very solid position," Brown said, leaning into a podium outside the registrar's office flanked by boxes of signatures and about two dozen supporters. "We are facing a world that is full of economic uncertainties, but with this tax measure, and with the cuts that I'll be proposing on Monday, California will put itself in a very, very strong position."

Brown is expected to propose further spending reductions in a revised budget proposal on Monday. He declined to discuss his proposal in detail but said it "will be a difficult day in Sacramento."

Brown was joined at the press conference by his wife and special counsel, Anne Gust Brown, and his dog, Sutter. Following his brief remarks, Brown said to his supporters, "That's it? All right guys, let's get 'em filed."

Without a dissenting vote, the California Assembly passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring their workers or job seekers to provide access to passwords for Facebook or other social media.

Assemblywoman Nora Campos, a Democrat who crafted the bill, Assembly Bill 1844, said that information posted in social media accounts does not necessarily reflect a person's job competence.

"AB 1844 makes clear that job seekers and employees have a right to privacy in the social media," she said.

Nobody spoke against AB 1844 on the Assembly floor

The bill passed by a vote of 69-0, with three members absent and eight members abstaining.

Campos' bill now goes to the California Senate.

The California Assembly approved legislation Thursday requiring parents to receive counseling about the risks and potential benefits of vaccinations to prevent communicable diseases before opting out of their children receiving the medicine.

The measure, Assembly Bill 2109, was approved by a vote of 44-19.

Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento, who crafted the measure, said it ensures that parents will make an informed decision without eliminating their right to opt out of immunizations for their children.

Pan, a pediatrician, characterized AB 2109 as a public safety measure that could reduce the spread of measles, mumps and pertussis.

If signed into law, Pan's bill would take effect in July 2013.

Assemblyman Dan Logue, R-Marysville, criticized the bill as placing a new obstacle between parents and the right to opt out of immunizations.

"We have enough of a nanny state as it is," Logue said.

Under AB 2109, parents who exclude their children from immunization requirements would have to submit a statement, signed by themselves and their health care practitioner, that they received information about risks and benefits of the medicine.

Republican Assemblywoman Linda Halderman, a Fresno physician, said she could not support AB 2109 because it does not include Christian Science practitioners in its list of health-care professionals that can provide parents with the immunization information the bill requires.

AB 2109 now goes to the California Senate.

* Updated at 2:05 p.m. to add Assemblywoman Linda Halderman's opposition. PHOTO CREDIT: Cristian Vargas, 10, of Sacramento's Oak Park neighborhood braces himself for an immunization shot at the Oak Park Neighborhood Multiservice Center on Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Sacramento Bee file, 2005 / Randall Benton.

Billionaire hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer will donate $20 million toward an initiative that would raise $1 billion annually from multi-state corporations for green building projects and the state budget, proponents said today.

That brings Steyer's contributions to $21.9 million so far in the campaign, one of the highest amounts ever by one individual for a California initiative effort. Steyer is an environmentalist who founded San Francisco-based Farallon Capital Management in 1986. Forbes magazine lists his net worth at $1.3 billion as of March.

Only one contributor in recent memory gave more to a statewide initiative: real estate heir and businessman Stephen Bing, who gave $48.6 million to Proposition 87 in 2006, according to state records. The failed effort would have raised taxes on oil production for alternative energy projects.

Steyer has formed a coalition of environmental groups that dubs itself the "Californians to Close the Out-of-State Corporate Tax Loophole." The committee filed signatures last week to put their initiative on the ballot.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says that Gov. Jerry Brown's budget revision won't present a pretty picture for California.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters warns Californians in today's video report that Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget won't be pretty.

SeaWorld San Diego is in town. Call it SeaWorld's annual effort to convert the Capitol into a zoo to highlight animal care and conservation. Check out the lemurs, penguins and reptiles on the north steps from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The menagerie moves to the Senate lounge from 2 to 3 p.m., then to the council room in the governor's office from 3 to 4 p.m.

Gov. Jerry Brown will be elsewhere, at least in the morning. He and supporters of his ballot tax measure will deliver signed petitions to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters office on 65th Street at 10 a.m.

Back at the dome, both the Senate and the Assembly have set floor sessions for 9 a.m.

One bill that's drawn the attention of Mothers Against Drunk Driving is Assemblyman Roger Hernández's Assembly Bill 2127 to allow a sheriff or other official to let a participant in a work release program to get credit for participating in educational, substance abuse and other programs.

AB 2127 has a long list of supporters, including the California State Sheriffs' Association, and the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the measure Tuesday, 5-2. One of the no votes came from Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, who has signaled that other Republican senators aren't going to be fans of the measure either.

Alert readers will recall that Hernández, D-West Covina, is facing drunken driving charges in Contra Costa County.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Kamala Harris is heading to the Capitol to testify before a conference committee on mortgage and foreclosure matters. Click here for the agenda. Several budget panels will also convene. Click here for the Senate's daily file, and click here for the Assembly's.

PRAYER BREAKFAST: Senate Republican leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Rocklin, and Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, are co-chairing the 51st annual California Prayer Breakfast at the Sacramento Sheraton Grand. The keynote speaker is Patrick Lencioni, author of "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team." The program begins at 7 a.m.

POTUS: President Barack Obama will be in California air space, with Air Force One scheduled to touch down at LAX at 6:20 p.m. Obama is hitting the Golden State's ATM with a fundraiser with actor George Clooney. Obama is scheduled to leave LAX at 10:15 a.m. Friday.

THINK TANK: Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, has announced that he's launched a new think tank called the California Reform Institute. Billed as being bipartisan, it will be seeded with $750,000 from wealthy Republican activist Charles Munger Jr., who had backed giving the job of drawing political districts to a citizens commission.

NEW GIG: State Controller John Chiang has appointed Julio Martinez as his director of legislative affairs. Martinez most recently was chief of staff to Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park.

PHOTO CREDIT: Bakari, a 10-year-old lemur, sits on the shoulder of David Jackson, director of the SeaWorld animal ambassador team. SeaWorld San Diego returned to the Capitol with a team of educators, animal ambassadors and a bevy of exotic animals on Thursday, May 12, 2011.
Randy Pench / Sacramento Bee file, 2011.

President Barack Obama today became the first president to declare his support for gay marriage. Here is some reaction for California officials:

"I commend President Obama for supporting Americans who deserve equal rights, equal respect and equal recognition. ... However, the fight is not over. Whether here in California, or in places like North Carolina where voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage this week, the march towards justice must continue." --Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom

PHOTO GALLERY: Reaction from the US, California

"I applaud the President's statement today supporting marriage equality. Equality before the law is the founding principle of our nation. In that spirit, I will continue our common work to ensure that equality belongs to all Californians and all Americans." -- Attorney General Kamala Harris

A San Diego County woman who has fought the California Department of Fish and Game for years over her keeping 10 wild birds at home is preparing to surrender them to the state Thursday, apparently unsuccessful in her appeal to Gov. Jerry Brown to "pardon" them.

In a half-page ad in The Bee's print edition this morning, Lindy O'Leary penned an open letter to the Democratic governor under the headline, "Dear Governor Brown: Please Pardon These Birds!" She included photographs of seagulls and a hawk she has been keeping without a permit, and she said the birds are "on their way to being killed."

The state disputed that. Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for Fish and Game, said the birds will be placed in other facilities.

"Our intent is not to kill these animals," Traverso said.

The state and O'Leary have been wrangling in court for several years about the legality of O'Leary keeping her birds at her home, where she operates the Wildlife Center of San Diego. Last month, Sen. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Niguel, dropped legislation she had proposed to help O'Leary get permission to keep the animals.

Walters' chief of staff, Garth Eisenbeis, said this afternoon that the senator helped broker a proposed compromise between O'Leary and the Department of Fish and Game, but that O'Leary ultimately rejected it.

"She's done what she believes she can do on her behalf," Eisenbeis said.

Jennifer Hegemier, O'Leary's lawyer, said terms of the proposed compromise were unreasonable and that O'Leary will keep pressing her case in court. Ultimately, she hopes to have the birds returned to her.

Meanwhile, Hegemier said the birds will be surrendered to the state Thursday.

"We are planning to comply," she said. "We don't have a choice."

Gov. Jerry Brown today defended the work of the public sector as that which "ties us together," speaking at a memorial for Caltrans employees killed while working last year.

The memorial at the Capitol was the third in three days for Brown. The Democratic governor attended ceremonies on Monday and Tuesday for California Highway Patrol and other peace officers killed last year.

"We ought to recognize the public calling," Brown said, "which is absolutely indispensable for the social and political fabric."

A member of the honor guard fainted during the ceremony, briefly interrupting it. An organizer said he was alert and talking to emergency workers before he was taken off in a stretcher.

Earlier today, Brown appointed Malcolm Dougherty, 43, director of Caltrans. Dougherty, of Fresno, has been acting director of the department since last year and chief deputy director since 2010.

The position, which pays $155,040 a year, requires Senate confirmation. Dougherty is a Democrat.

After rubbing elbows with George Clooney at a fundraiser in Los Angeles on Thursday, President Barack Obama will fly to Reno to push his economic agenda in a battleground state.

The Democratic president is scheduled to meet with a Reno-area family and speak about his "to-do list" for Congress, including a proposal to help homeowners refinance mortgages at lower interest rates.

Obama's campaign has been promoting the Clooney fundraiser for weeks, soliciting small donations online by offering a chance to win tickets to the otherwise high-dollar event.

The Washington Post reported the fundraiser at the actor's home may be one of the largest presidential fundraisers in U.S. history.

Looking to catch up with a who's who of California Republican power players in late August?

Head to the The Tradewinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach.

That's where California's delegation for the Republican National Convention in Tampa will be staying during the party's nominating convention.

Expected Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign has submitted to the office of Secretary of State Debra Bowen a list of delegates to represent the former Massachusetts governor on the floor of the convention.

The list, first reported on the conservative FlashReport blog, includes former Gov. Pete Wilson, 2010 gubernatorial candidate and Romney surrogate Meg Whitman Griff Harsh, former Secretary of State Bill Jones and former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim. Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Darrell Issa and Mary Bono Mack, state Sen. Mark Wyland and Board of Equalization member George Runner. also made the cut.

Also tapped as potential delegates are several spouses of elected officials, including Senate GOP leader Bob Huff's wife Mei Mei Huff and former Assemblywoman Audra Strickland, who is married to Sen. Tony Strickland.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says the government-change group known as California Forward may not move ahead with an ambitious ballot measure.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's video report, asks whether California Forward will keep pushing its ballot proposal to change the state's budget and governance, "or will it succumb to politics as usual?"

Welcome to the brave new world of campaigning in the digital age: No fewer than 15 of the 23 candidates challenging U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the June 5 primary have said "yes" to participating in The Bee's live chat today about the election.

The 15 are all over the political map. They include three fellow Democrats, nine Republicans and one member each from the American Independent, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties.

It's a given that Feinstein will make it into the top-two runoff in November. Which of her rivals will join her? Torey Van Oot moderates. Catch the chat from noon to 1 p.m. at sacbee.com/live.

Gov. Jerry Brown, meanwhile, continues his appearances during memorial week as Caltrans honors fallen highway workers. Brown's talk during the agency's 22nd annual ceremony is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. on the Capitol's west steps.

Under the dome, the Senate Rules Committee considers gubernatorial appointments, with Pamela Harris, director of the Department of Employment Development required to appear. After that committee adjourns, a Senate subcommittee will take up Sens. Joe Simitian and Noreen Evans' proposal on state parks, which Torey Van Oot outlined yesterday in this post.

On the Assembly side, the Appropriations Committee has its work cut out for it, with about 12 dozen bills on its agenda. Several budget panels also convene, considering proposals on higher education, corrections and other matters. And another hearing will look at how to regulate diploma mills in the state. Click here for the Assembly's full schedule, and click here for the Senate's.

EDUCATION: The State Board of Education is reviewing how California's public schools are assessed, including the Academic Performance Index and the School Accountability Report Cards. Thursday, members will discuss whether to apply for a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law. Today's meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. at 1430 N St. Click here for the agenda.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Twin Peaks, turns 46 today.

Backers of a tobacco tax initiative responded today with a trio of ads that seek to undermine the credibility of their tobacco-funded opposition, including two ads featuring cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong.

The 15-second television spots began airing in Northern California markets this morning, according to the Yes on 29 campaign. The initiative would add a new $1 tax per pack of cigarettes to fund cancer and heart disease research.

Proponents are trying to respond specifically to an ad featuring San Joaquin General Hospital physician La Donna Porter, who criticized the initiative while wearing a doctor's smock in an ad that aired statewide for the past two weeks. The opposition campaign has raised nearly $40 million so far, nearly all from tobacco firms R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA.

A proposed resolution to commend the Boy Scouts of America on its 102nd anniversary died today in an Assembly committee because the measure did not urge the group to accept gays and lesbians.

Instead, the Assembly Judiciary Committee passed a separate resolution that applauded the Boy Scouts but said its policy against accepting homosexuals is harmful and discriminatory -- and should be reconsidered.

The measure that passed, crafted by committee Chairman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, encouraged the group to "accept for membership and leadership positions all qualified boys and men, without discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or religious beliefs."

Assemblyman Mike Morrell, R-Rancho Cucamonga, wrote the resolution that died in the committee by a party-line vote, supported by Republicans. He said he simply wanted his Assembly Concurrent Resolution 94 to commend the group for its many good deeds, not to make the issue political.

"I don't think this body should impose your will upon them," Morrell told the committee.

Feuer countered that lawmakers were not imposing their will upon the Boy Scouts - and could not legally do so. But before commending an organization, the Assembly should consider all facets of it, he said.

Comparing one form of discrimination to another, Feuer said that any group that excluded potential members because of their skin color would not be popular at the Capitol.

"I don't see the difference between discrimination based on race and on sexual orientation," he said.

Feuer's Assembly Concurrent Resolution 128 passed the committee by a vote of 7-2, with Democrats supporting it.

Democratic state Sens. Joe Simitian and Noreen Evans today rolled out a proposal aimed at keeping the gates open at more than 50 California state parks set to close this summer.

The proposal, which will be heard by a Senate budget subcommittee Wednesday afternoon, includes shifting as much as $40 million from existing state accounts for road maintenance, septic system repairs and trails and off-highway vehicle funds to cover parks' costs. That money would be used for purposes consistent with the original intent of those funds, Evans and Simitian said.

Other recommendations include facilitating operating agreements with nonprofits, improving entry fee collection efforts and exploring other funding sources, such as license plates and concessions agreements. Some parks would still likely have to close, but supporters said they hoped those would be able to reopen in the future thanks to the plan.

State parks officials announced last year that 70 of the state's more than 270 parks would be targeted for closure due to budget cuts. The closures are projected to save about $22 million. The parks department has been able to form partnerships with nonprofits and local governments to keep 16 of those parks open. Richard Stapler, spokesman for Natural Resources Secretary John Laird, said officials are involved in substantive talks involving about a dozen additional parks.

Hawaii, not surprisingly, is home to more Pacific Islanders than any other state, but California isn't too far behind, a new Census Bureau statistical study has determined.

In fact, the Census Bureau says, more than half of the nation's 1.2 million native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders live in either Hawaii or California. And it's a fast-growing population, up 40.1 percent from 2000 to 2010.

Hawaii was home to 355,816 Pacific Islanders, the 2010 census found, while 286,145 lived in California, a 29.2 percent increase from 2000. The third largest concentration was in Washington state (70,322) while the smallest was in Vermont (465), although that was a 51 percent increase.

Gov. Jerry Brown said this morning that the public has a "legitimate interest" in knowing his whereabouts, but he still won't say where he vacationed while out of state over the weekend.

"I have to have a few moments of privacy," the Democratic governor told reporters after a California Highway Patrol memorial event in West Sacramento.

Asked about the public's interest in knowing his whereabouts, Brown said, "They have a legitimate interest," but he declined to say where he was.

Brown has left the state only a handful of times since taking office last year, mostly for short trips on official business. He traveled far more frequently when he was governor before, from 1975 to 1983, and running for president.

Brown said this morning, "I was on R&R," which is more than his office would say about the trip. When Brown left California on Thursday, the administration's advisory said only, "The Governor has left the state."