Capitol Alert

By a razor-thin margin, the California Assembly passed legislation today to raise a billion dollars annually for middle-class college scholarships by altering tax law for numerous out--of-state corporations..

The measure, Assembly Bill 1500, passed 54-24, the bare-minimum two-thirds vote needed for tax or fee increases. Democrats supported the measure, as did Republicans Brian Nestande of Palm Desert and Independent Nathan Fletcher of San Diego

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez proposed the bill as a companion to his separate legislation, Assembly Bill 1501, which would spend the billion dollars raised to assist college and university students whose families earn less than $150,000 per year.

AB 1500 would require out-of-state corporations to pay income taxes based on their sales in California. Under a tax deal struck in 2009, such corporations have the option of choosing a tax obligation based on payroll and property in California as well, which can lower their tax debt.

Republican opponents of AB 1500 characterized the measure as a billion dollar-tax increase on corporations at a time when California desperately needs job creation to bolster its economy.

Perez, during floor debate, noted that some California corporations -- such as Qualcomm and Genentech -- support AB 1500 as a way to help them compete against out-of-state firms that sell in California, the nation's most populous state.

AB 1500 now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Editor's Note: The headline of this post has been changed to correct that one Republican and one independent voted for the tax. Updated at 5:08 p.m. Aug. 13, 2012.

The Senate Monday rejected legislation that would have made it more difficult for school districts to impose lengthy suspensions or expulsions on students who have been especially disruptive.

Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, introduced Assembly Bill 2242 in response to complaints from civil rights groups that schools had been too quick to boot out students, rather than attempt to correct behavioral problems and keep them in school.

School districts and administrators opposed the bill, however, saying that chronically disruptive students damaged the educational experience for other children.

The bill failed on an 18-18 vote, three short of the 21 votes required.

The head of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review committee said today he plans to introduce a bill requiring state finance officials to ensure their accounting books are consistent and use the same tracking methods.

The idea from Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, comes after the state Department of Parks and Recreation came under fire last month for hiding nearly $54 million and state fiscal offices have kept mismatched records for years. Leno's committee will hold a hearing Wednesday to review special fund accounting and the parks department situation.

The Department of Finance completed a quick audit this month that showed billions of dollars in differences from records kept by the state Controller's Office. Finance and the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office have said most of the variances were legitimate because the Controller's Office uses different methods to mark when purchases are made and records data at a different time of the year.

The Finance review showed $268.5 million that was miscounted due to accounting errors, but most of that money was caught before lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown enacted the current budget in June. Finance Director Ana Matosantos said her department from now on will ensure that its records for 560-plus special funds are consistent with those kept by the Controller's Office.

Leno said he wants that promise in law.

"One thing I'm looking at is putting that into statute, so that's not something that future administrations can reconsider," Leno said. "It's quite surprising that it's not been done."

Darrell Steinberg, the president pro tem of the state Senate, apologized to the public and press Monday for cutting off television access to a Senate hearing on four ballot measures last week.

"I want to apologize to the press and public," Steinberg told reporters at a hastily called news conference outside the Senate chambers. "This was a mistake and it won't happen again."

Wednesday's hearing of the Senate Finance and Governance Committee was called - as required by law - to air pro and con arguments and factual information about four November ballot measures dealing with taxes and the budget, Propositions 30, 31, 38 and 39.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's decision to name Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate probably won't change the outcome of the race in blue California, but it could bring even more Golden State cash into the campaign.

Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee, already has a base among California donors, campaign finance records show.

More than 1,500 Californians have contributed to Ryan's 2012 bid for re-election in a Wisconsin congressional district nearly 2,000 miles away, sending at least $210,231 into his account. California trails only Ryan's home state in the number of donors, and trails only Wisconsin and neighboring Illinois in the total amount of contributions.

California, which is not considered to be in play for the November presidential election, serves as a major source of cash for both campaigns. Californians contributed more than $90 million to presidential campaigns as of early June.

See a database of Californians who donated to Ryan's congressional bid to date:

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Search California donations to 2012 presidential candidates

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Gov. Jerry Brown said today that "humanity is getting dangerously close to the point of no return" on climate change, and he launched a website criticizing conservatives who dispute its significance.

The website "Climate Change: Just the Facts," is hosted by Brown's Office of Planning and Research. It devotes one page to "the denialists" and another to rebutting "common denialist arguments."

The Democratic governor, in Stateline, Nev., for the annual Tahoe Summit, has long been frustrated by conservative politicians who say the effect of global warming is overstated, or who argue government intervention to address climate change is a drag on the economy.

"Global warming's impact on Lake Tahoe is well documented. It is just one example of how, after decades of pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, humanity is getting dangerously close to the point of no return," Brown said in a prepared statement. "Those who still deny global warming's existence should wake up and honestly face the facts."

Brown signed legislation last year requiring California utilities to obtain one-third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020, and his administration is seeking to promote projects that could create 20,000 new megawatts of renewable energy projects by that year.

With less than three months to go until the November election, the California Republican Party Board of Directors has approved a structural shake-up some insiders say is meant to limit Chairman Tom Del Beccaro's involvement in the party's strategic planning and fundraising efforts.

The actions, outlined in a draft resolution provided to The Bee, included creating a new 2012 campaign fund that will be controlled by the vice chairman and the treasurer. The board also replaced all members of the Strategic Planning Committee, which it assigned to oversee "Victory 2012 activities to support the election of Republican candidates," including voter turnout and outreach programs and media relations. The board also created new efforts to plan for the party's 2013 convention and develop a plan for renovating the Burbank offices.

The changes were approved during a closed meeting Sunday after the general session of the party's fall convention in Burbank concluded.

Del Beccaro, elected to the position in 2011, has come under fire from some inside the party for failing to raise sufficient cash and backing an effort to qualify a referendum of the newly drawn state Senate maps. The board does not have the ability to remove the chair from his post.

The move came after several weeks of bad press for the party, which has suffered losses in registration numbers and at the ballot box in recent years. It closed the second quarter of the year with virtually no cash on hand. The financial troubles forced officials to lay off staff, including the party's spokeswoman, and downsize the Sacramento headquarters, though other offices have been opened throughout the state.

Del Beccaro is eligible to run for a second term at the party's spring convention next year. He has not publicly said whether he intends to do so. He did not return a message seeking comment left Sunday.

Editor's note: An earlier post incorrectly stated that Del Beccaro is not a member of the new committee. The CRP bylaws state that the chair serves ex officio on all committees.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tom Del Beccaro. The Sacramento Bee/Randall Benton

Dan Walters says the California state parks scandal isn't going to help Gov. Jerry Brown's ballot tax measure.

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

See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters, in today's report, says that the California state parks scandal "looks like an issue that's got legs" when it comes to Gov. Jerry Brown's tax measure.

Gov. Jerry Brown heads out of state today -- barely -- for the 16th annual Lake Tahoe Summit.

This year's summit will also draw Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Nevada Republicans Sen. Dean Heller and Gov. Brian Sandoval. Nevada Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove, both Republicans, are also expected to attend.

The event highlights public-private partnerships. Here's an example: Nevada officials recently issued the first ever commercial permit to allow the Tahoe Lobster Co. to harvest crayfish in Lake Tahoe, as Carlos Alcalá reported in this story. The summit starts at 10 a.m. at Edgewood Tahoe golf resort just over the border in Stateline, Nevada.

At last year's event, Brown used a different S-word than the one he more recently uttered: "We want to build stuff, and we want to plan. If we plan too much we are never going to build anything. And if we build too much we are not going to have very good plans."

Back in Sacramento, both houses of the Legislature are expected to gavel in at noon. Friday is the deadline for fiscal committees to send measures to the floor, and the Senate Appropriations Committee meets at 11 a.m. in Room 4203 to work through Assembly bills. The Appropriations committees in both houses are scheduled to meet Thursday after session adjourns.

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

VOTER GUIDE: Today's the deadline for the secretary of state's office to deliver the official voter guide for the Nov. 6 election to the state printer.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, turns 46 today.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tahoe State Recreation Area. Chariton Centers / Sacramento Bee file, 2010.