VIDEO: Dan Walters says in today's report that getting the Senate to approve the funds this week to start constructing California's high-speed rail project may not be easy.
Both the Senate and the Assembly have scheduled floor sessions at noon. Legislators are trying to wrap up some loose ends this week before taking a month-long summer recess.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters last Thursday that lawmakers still have "five significant things" on this week's agenda.
"That's not an iron-clad promise that it will get done," Steinberg said, "but we'll endeavor to get done pension reform, foreclosure relief, high-speed rail, ... putting off the water bond until 2014, and the governor's reorganization plan."
Compromise foreclosure legislation, Senate Bill 900 and Assembly Bill 278, is expected to come up for a vote in the Senate today.
The proposal would increase protections for homeowners facing foreclosure through several provisions, including setting up fines for lenders filing robosigned documents and allowing borrowers to sue for damages over material violations of the law.
Banking, business and real estate interests have lined up against it, according to this Senate floor analysis, including the California Association of Realtors, California Bankers Association, California Chamber of Commerce, California Financial Services Association, California Land Title Association, California Mortgage Association, California Mortgage Bankers Association and others.
The Senate may also take up a measure to delay the water bond until the Nov. 4, 2014, general election.
Meanwhile, committees meet in both houses, as Friday is the deadline for policy panels to hear bills. Measures expected to come up in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee include Assembly Bill 298 by Democratic Assemblywoman Julia Brownley aimed at reducing the distribution of single-use carryout bags at retail stores.
Over on the Assembly side, the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee is expected to convene after session adjourns in order to vote on Senate Bill 1221, Democratic Sen. Ted Lieu's measure on the use of dogs to hunt bears and bobcats, which fell one vote short of passage last week.
Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee will consider gubernatorial appointments starting at 1:30 p.m. in the Capitol's Room 113. Among those required to appear are Denise Brown, director of the Department of Consumer Affairs; Brent Barnhart, director of the Department of Managed Health Care; and Charlton "Chuck" Bonham, director of the Department of Fish and Game. The three were originally up for consideration last Wednesday, but Alert readers will remember that the Legislature was preoccupied with budget votes that day.
Not required to appear is the new California poet laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera. Click here to read a biography of Herrera. You can also watch a video of him talking about how libraries made stories come alive when he was a child. Find that video and more in this Capitol Alert post about his appointment.
LEGISLATIVE CALENDAR: Click here to find the Senate's full daily file, and click here for the Assembly's.
CAKE AND CANDLES: Sen. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, turns 52 today.
The Bee's Torey Van Oot contributed to this report.
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