Capitol Alert

California lawmakers are sending Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that severely restricts the use of dogs in hunting bears and bobcats.

Senate Bill 1221 by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, crossed its last legislative hurdle this afternoon, when the state Senate approved it on a 22-13 concurrence vote. The bill had become a flash point in California's culture wars -- with hundreds of hunters filling the Capitol for every vote -- and the Senate's debate was no different. Houndsmen in orange t-shirts watched today's debate from the balcony above the Senate floor.

Republicans did most of the talking during the 40-minute discussion. They cast the bill as a case of elite city-dwellers impinging on the rights of rural Californians.

"What is it about hunting that urban folks don't seem to like?" said Sen. Doug La Malfa, R-Richvale.

"I'm not even a hound hunter, but so many of my neighbors participate in this type of activity.... We see this as a threat to very basic, very core, foundational rural life."

Lieu said that senators represent more than their individual districts. They also represent the whole state, he said, adding that a survey showed the majority of Californians favor banning dogs from participating in bear and bobcat hunting.

"This is really not a rural or urban issue. It is a California issue," Lieu said. "It is a humane issue."

The California Medical Association and other health care groups are trying to restore Healthy Families coverage for 880,000 lower-income children, but Gov. Jerry Brown remains opposed.

As part of a June budget compromise, the Democratic governor asked lawmakers to eliminate Healthy Families and shift 880,000 children just above poverty level over to Medi-Cal. Republicans opposed the move and Democrats reluctantly approved it as part of a deal to avoid deeper cuts in other health and welfare programs.

Brown believes the change will be more efficient and points out that children whose parents earn between 100 percent and 138 percent of federal poverty level will regardless have to move to Medi-Cal by 2014 under federal health care changes.

Separately, the governor is counting on $183 million for the state budget by extending a tax on managed care plans that draws down more federal funds. But he still needs two-thirds support from the Legislature to approve the tax, and Republicans have refused to provide votes as long as the state eliminates Healthy Families. The bills being floated by CMA - Senate Bill 301 and Assembly Bill 826 - would extend the tax and restore Healthy Families.

The doctors' group says it has bipartisan support for the legislation. But it still lacks support from Brown.

"The Governor is opposed to modifying the budget agreement, because we can't go back on the important savings we have achieved," said Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford. "The full transition from Healthy Families to Medi-Cal simplifies and improves health care coverage for California's children in addition to saving money."

Rancho Cordova City Councilman Ken Cooley is running in one of four California Assembly races that are being targeted by Democrats as priorities for funding and other assistance in the November election.

Besides Cooley, the other Democrats identified by Speaker John A. Pérez for campaign assistance are Rudy Salas in Kern and Kings counties; Jose Medina, Riverside County and Moreno Valley; and Al Muratsuchi, Los Angeles' south bay.

The California Democratic Party, beginning this week, will move $150,000 into each of the four competitive races, begin field operations, and launch paid media advertising efforts, according to Perez.

The Assembly leader, in a prepared statement, said the four candidates will stress a "powerful message of restoring opportunity for the people" and will remind voters that Democrats represent "the party of solutions."

Democrats currently outnumber Republicans in the Assembly by a large margin, 52-27, with one seat held by an independent legislator. Democrats would need to gain two additional seats to reach the supermajority necessary to approve tax increases.

Cooley, who works as a legislative staffer, captured 43 percent of the District 8 vote in the June primary. Republican Peter Tateishi, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, qualified for the November ballot by garnering 23.4 percent.

Assemblyman Roger Hernandez was found not guilty of drunken driving by Contra Costa County jurors today, ending a trial that lasted nearly two weeks.

The jury found Hernandez not guilty of driving under the influence, and the panel was hung on whether his blood-alcohol content was 0.08 percent, said Cindy Armstrong, clerk for Judge Mary Ann O'Malley.

The West Covina Democrat can return now to the Capitol after missing about a week of work during his trial. Lawmakers are acting on dozens of bills each day as the Legislature prepares to adjourn for the year Friday.

"I'm grateful to our judicial system for a fair and impartial process," Hernandez said in a prepared statement. "I look forward to continuing to focus on my constituents, and the people of the San Gabriel Valley. California faces huge challenges and I intend to be part of positive solutions."

Tampa, Fla. -- Years after surviving the rough and tumble of reality TV, former "The Bachelor" star Andrew Firestone is trying out a new role in politics as California delegate to the Republican National Convention.

"I think probably the difference between politics and 'The Bachelor' is the fact that the candidates I think in 'The Bachelor' are a lot better looking," said Firestone, who was the third bachelor to appear on the ABC dating series. "But probably just as stressful as well."

Firestone, the son of former Assemblyman Brooks Firestone, is a first-time delegate. The Santa Barbara Republican said he hopes to see expected Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney give an acceptance speech Thursday night that fires up the GOP base and gives all voters more details about how he'll use his vision and business acumen to turn the country around.

"I don't think anybody denies that this country is going in the wrong direction and we want a plan," he said. "We want a direct idea of how it's going to be put into place to get us going in the right direction."

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Meg Whitman, who never quite managed to connect with the California electorate in her 2010 gubernatorial run, shared this morning what she suggested is a truism of a good campaign: Hold town hall meetings, but starting two weeks before the election, stop taking questions.

Whitman, the chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, was introducing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to California's delegation to the Republican National Convention. Whitman considers the conservative star a "close friend," and she recalled for the audience "one quick, personal story.

"Towards the end of my campaign - it was the last two weeks of the campaign, and Chris Christie volunteered to come out and campaign with me," Whitman said. "We were in Los Angeles at a roundtable, a big town hall meeting, several thousand people there. And when you're at that point in the campaign, you actually do not take questions from the audience because typically there are 'plants' from the opposition in the audience, and it can get very nasty. So you actually, two weeks before the election, you stop taking questions."

At the end of the event, Whitman said, a man in the audience started screaming, criticizing her for not taking questions.

The exchange that followed made headlines in New Jersey and California, when Christie walked over to the man, pointed his finger at him and scolded, "It's people who raise their voices and yell and scream like you that are dividing this country. We're here to bring this country together."

Whitman's description of the encounter cheered the crowd:

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called California Gov. Jerry Brown an "old retread" this morning, ripping into the Democratic governor in a speech to California's delegation to the Republican National Convention.

Christie, who will keynote the convention this week, told delegates at their beachfront hotel that New Jersey and California Republicans are alike, coming as they do from blue states.

"The message I want to deliver to California this morning is: There is hope," Christie told the delegates, some of whom had staked out positions near the podium more than an hour before Christie spoke. "Don't give up on the fact that California can be governed. You've seen it governed before, and you've seen it governed effectively."

Christie, a conservative star in the Republican Party, cheered the crowd by laying into Brown, California's 74-year-old, third-term governor.

"California made the bad choice by going with an old retread," Christie said. "Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown? I mean, he won the New Jersey presidential primary over Jimmy Carter when I was 14 years old. And now I've got to sit at the National Governor's Association with this guy and have him come up to me and say, 'Gov. Christie, stop telling people that I want to raise taxes. I'm not trying to raise taxes.'

"And I said, 'Yeah you are, Jerry.'

"And he said, 'No, no, Chris, I'm not, I want to put them on the ballot and let the people decide.'

"Man, that's leadership, isn't it?"

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - Sunday's Republican National Convention welcome party brought California Republicans together with delegations from all corners of the country.

So what do those other Republicans think about the home state of the convention's largest delegation?

"You don't want my honest opinion," Ann Sullivan, a delegate from North Carolina said as she swayed to music blasting through the speakers at St. Petersburg's Tropicana Field.

"They're very liberal and you just don't know what they're going to do," said Christine Pilozzi, a delegate from New York. "That's scary."

"Are there any?" J. Michael Collins of Maryland asked of California Republicans.

Other impressions included "surfers," "ganja" and "hyper environmental."

"If you want to do something odd and weird, go to California," Pilozzi said, offering that, on the plus side, the state produces "great wine."

Despite the California's solidly blue reputation, delegates from other states were quick to throw their support behind the Republicans hailing from California.

"I'm proud of the Republicans coming out of California," Sullivan said. "They have my sympathy."

Her advice for members of the Golden State GOP?

"Stand up for (your) beliefs and give them some moxie," she said.

PHOTO CREDIT: Republican National Committee delegates fill Tropicana Field for a welcome party Sunday evening. Torey Van Oot/The Sacramento Bee.

As the Republican National Convention kicks off in Tampa, most GOP legislators can be found on the floor of their respective legislative chambers here in Sacramento instead of the floor of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where former Gov. Mitt Romney will accept the Republican presidential nomination later this week.

Just two Republican legislators are confirmed attendees of this week's convention in Tampa. Sen. Mark Wyland, R-Solana Beach, is serving as a delegate representing the 50th Congressional District. Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, is heading to Tampa with her husband, Board of Equalization member George Runner, another Romney delegate, but a spokeswoman said she is ready to fly back to California if needed.

Senate GOP leader Bob Huff, whose wife is a delegate, spent the weekend with the California delegation at in St Pete Beach, but was scheduled to return home in time for Monday's floor session.

A spokeswoman for Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway said she was unaware of any Assembly Republicans planning to attend the convention.

The low attendance rate among state legislators is likely due to the legislative calendar. Both houses are set to work through hundreds of bills ahead of the end-of-session deadline on Friday.

VIDEO: Dan outlines three pending issues in the Legislature's final week.

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 talks about three issues pending in the California Legislature that get lobbyists all excited. Find his daily report on Capitol Alert.

Republicans are gathering this week for Republican National Convention in Tampa, but few of California's GOP legislators are going. Torey Van Oot, in this Capitol Alert post, reveals who's Florida-bound, and who's not.

Here's what legislators face in Sacramento -- Sausage Week.

Alert readers already know that Friday is the end of the legislative session. Late last week, a Senate spokesman estimated that the Legislature still has about 400 bills on its plate. (Not to mention the proposals that Dan Walters would dub "transmogrified.")

Lawmakers will take a break at noon to hang out with an Olympic athlete. Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, is presenting a Senate resolution to Tyler Clary on the Senate floor. Clary, a Redlands native who attended Riverside Poly High School, won gold in the 200-meter backstroke event in London. He beat out teammate Ryan Lochte with a time of 1:53:41, setting an Olympic record.

Come back later to Capitol Alert. We'll be tracking the action both in the Legislature and in Tampa, where Torey Van Oot and David Siders are on the ground. It's going to be a long week.

Meanwhile, fundraisers continue today at Sacramento restaurants near the Capitol, with three Democratic state senators collecting campaign donations: Ellen Corbett, Juan Vargas and Rod Wright.

Two legislator-wannabees are also holding fundraisers today: Redding City Councilman Rick Bosetti, who is facing fellow Republican Brian Dahle, a Lassen County supervisor, in the sprawling 1st Assembly District; and Democrat Mark Stone, a Santa Cruz County supervisor running in the Central Coast's 29th Assembly District.

NEW GIG: Oscar Hidalgo, most recently spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, is now director of communications and public relations for the California Health Benefit Exchange. He'll be paid $160,000 a year, according to a news release announcing the move.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Republican Sen. Tom Berryhill turns 59 today.