Capitol Alert

Seeking to qualify for the November ballot, backers of a constitutional amendment to make major changes in California state budgeting and governance announced Monday that they have submitted more than enough signatures to place their measure before voters.

Spokesman Roger Salazar said that more than 1.2 million signatures have been collected. The California Forward Issue Action Fund proposal needs 807,615 valid voter signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

The measure includes a requirement for a two-year, performance based state budget, legislative transparency measures, and a new process for local governments to opt out of state laws or regulations that they feel hinder their ability to work efficiently.

More than 50 groups signed a letter last week stating plans to form an opposition campaign if the proposal reaches the ballot.

Salazar said negotiations with legislative leaders are continuing, but meanwhile, the petition signatures were submitted to ensure verification in time for the November election.

If a deal is struck with legislative leaders and a compromise measure is written, Salazar said that his group will not campaign for its proposal and will ask voters to support the alternative.

Forget bipartisanship.

Scrap a roll call vote.

Assemblyman Luis Alejo pulled an Assembly surprise that cannot be amended, rescinded or reversed by the house Monday when he proposed marriage to his longtime love, Karina Cervantez, during a floor session.

She quickly said yes.

The Watsonville Democrat had invited Cervantez to the Capitol, in part, because the Assembly was scheduled to honor the week of Cinco de Mayo by presenting awards to Latino leaders from throughout California.

After the awards ceremony, Alejo took the microphone to introduce Cervantez, a 32-year-old student completing a doctoral degree at UC Santa Cruz. The couple, who have dated seven years, met while both were working on a school board campaign.

Recalling his proposal later Monday, Alejo said he began by introducing Cervantez as beautiful, the love of his life, the daughter of migrant farm workers, his best friend, and the smartest person he knows.

"I turned to her and said, 'Karina, on this day and at this special moment, I want to ask you if you would make me the happiest man on Earth by marrying me."

Alejo said he planned to get down on his knees, awaiting her reply, but while he was contemplating that, Cervantez began to stand.

"It was definitely not professionally choreographed," Cervantez quipped as Alejo retold the story.

She said yes on the Assembly floor - and Alejo grabbed the microphone to announce the news to colleagues and to his mother, Mary Lou Alejo, who had come to witness the proposal.

Assemblyman Bill Monning, D-Carmel, then handed Alejo the diamond ring that the latter had asked him to hide.

Alejo's is the first marriage proposal on the Assembly floor in recent memory, if not the first ever. Chief Clerk Dotson Wilson said it is the only such proposal during his tenure, which began in 1992.

Gov. Jerry Brown called California's law enforcement officers the "the best of our state" this morning as hundreds of police, sheriffs' deputies, Highway Patrol officers, correctional officers and their friends and families remembered those who have fallen in the line of duty.

Brown and other dignitaries spoke at the 36th annual California Peace Officers' Memorial Ceremony under a canopy of oaks and redwoods across the street from the Capitol's west steps. Many in the somber crowd of about 700 dabbed their eyes with tissues during the 90-minute event.

Outside the enclosed area for dignitaries, colleagues of the fallen and their family and friends, hundreds of law enforcement officers from around the state stood silently, looking on.

The ceremony at the memorial monument recalled the careers and sacrifice of 18 law enforcement officers, eight of whom died in 2011. Their names join those of more 1,500 others who have fallen in the line of duty since California gained statehood in 1850.

"More than ever we need the inspiration of those who give without asking the cost, who find more and more ways to serve. as opposed to just advancing whatever their interests or their rights might happen to be," Brown said.

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Attorney General Kamala Harris struck similar notes of service and sacrifice in brief remarks to the crowd.

The nonprofit California Peace Officers' Memorial Foundation sponsored the event. The foundation also funds scholarships and grants for dependents of state peace officers who die in the line of duty.

Here's a list of the officers remembered this year:

Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's request to be replaced for today's Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, which will vote on a controversial tax proposal, has been granted by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez.

Fletcher, who recently left the Republican Party and registered as an independent, will be replaced at today's meeting by Assemblyman Donald Wagner, R-Irvine.

By missing today's Revenue and Tax Committee, Fletcher will not cast a vote on hotly contested legislation, Assembly Bill 1500, designed to raise $1 billion for college scholarships by altering tax law affecting out-of-state corporations that do business in California.

Democrats support Pérez's tax proposal while Republicans oppose it, calling it a tax increase. Fletcher's vote conceivably could have won or lost him votes in his current race for mayor of San Diego, where primary ballots will be cast next month.

Last year, Fletcher was one of two Republicans voting for another proposal that would have changed the same tax law. That measure died in the Senate.

Fletcher, in his request to the speaker's office, said the absence was due to personal business in his district, said John Vigna, Perez's spokesman. Fletcher waived the $142 he was due to receive in per diem today.

Fletcher had scheduled a San Diego press conference today at which City Council President Tony Young was endorsing Fletcher's education plan for the city.

Two tobacco giants chipped in another $15 million against a tobacco tax initiative on Friday, bringing their running tally to $38 million in the Proposition 29 campaign, state records show.

The new donations by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Philip Morris USA and their affiliates came as the No on 29 campaign launched a new television attack ad featuring an unnamed researcher in a lab.

Of note, the latest campaign finance report showed nearly $700,000 in non-monetary contributions from the cash-strapped California Republican Party. Altria Group, the parent of Philip Morris USA, gave the state GOP $205,000 between September and January.

Update (11:50 a.m.): California Republican Party spokeswoman Jennifer Kerns said the party's non-monetary contribution involved sending an e-mail and print mailer to its members against Proposition 29. The initiative would impose a new $1-per-pack tax on cigarettes to pay for cancer and heart disease research and related facilities. She said the party opposes the tax and wanted to get the word out to its members.

Of the Altria donations, Kerns said, "it's not uncommon to have donors who are like-minded on a number of issues, taxes being first and foremost."

Keep the day job, Tom Torlakson.

Similar to David Letterman's "Top 10" lists, the state's superintendent of public instruction has cited 10 specific ways to celebrate National Teacher Appreciation Week through Saturday.

Here is Torlakson's list, with numbers six through 10 meant for parents, the remainder for students:

10 - Parents should hold fundraisers and donate proceeds to schools.

9 - Donate school supplies.

8 - Help in class or at sports events, field trips or on campus.

7 - Treat teachers as professionals and give them the same respect you would give a good friend or child caretaker.

6 - Send a thank-you note or e-mail.

5 - Kids should raise their hands, answer teachers' questions and participate in class.

4--Respect your teacher and fellow students.

3 - Behave in class.

2 - Do your best on homework and in-class assignments.

Number one on Torlakson's Top 10 list is - drum roll, please:

1 - Thank your teacher for all of his or her hard work.

At least one glaring omission, perhaps:

No apple?

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Torlakson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, shows a chart that gives the progress California schools have made in testing on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. The Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

VIDEO: Dan talks about what has and hasn't happened to California's K-12 schools.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's video report , looks at what's going on with California's K-12 schools.

Gov. Jerry Brown joins law enforcement officials from throughout the state at Capitol Mall to remember fallen peace officers, including eight who died in 2011.

This is the 36th year for the annual memorial ceremony. In a statement released before last year's memorial, Brown called it "a somber reminder of the bravery and valor of the men and women behind the badge who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our communities safe."

The governor didn't attend that ceremony -- he was recovering from reconstructive surgery to his nose after the removal of a cancerous growth. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom did, however, as did Attorney General Kamala Harris.

The honor roll now includes Stanislaus Sheriff's Deputy Robert Paris, whose funeral Brown attended April 20 after Paris was killed trying to serve an eviction notice.

The formal ceremony, which starts at 10:30 a.m., includes taps, a 21-gun salute and the retiring of the colors. Click here to read a schedule of the two-day event, which started Sunday morning.

Both the Senate and the Assembly have floor sessions set for noon. The Senate Appropriations Committee continues to work through a long list of fiscal bills, while Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's AB 1500 -- the single-sales factor measure on corporation taxes that's part of his "middle-class scholarship" proposal -- is at the top of the agenda in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. Click here to peruse all of the Senate committees' agendas, and click here for the Assembly side.

Meanwhile, the California Community Colleges board is looking at enrollment priorities, including course repetition, as Kevin Yamamura reports in today's Bee. State officials say that with budget cuts, they can no longer subsidize artistic or physical activity for students who take a class again and again. The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. in Chancellor Jack Scott's office, 1102 Q St. Click here to read the agenda for the two-day meeting.