Capitol Alert: AM Alert: Special Funds face more state scrutiny

DAN WALTERS DAILY: Dan's video says lobbyists are poised for another workers' comp showdown.

Those pesky "special funds" that have been in the news so much lately are the subject of a hearing today by the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. The special pots of dough hit the news last month when The Bee revealed that the state parks department was hiding $54 million in two special funds. A subsequent audit showed billions of dollars in differences between the way the Department of Finance and the Controller's Office kept track of more than 500 special funds.

Sen. Mark Leno, who chairs the committee, has said he wants to introduce a bill to square the special funds records kept by the two offices. The timber tax is also on the agenda. The hearing is at 9:30 a.m. in Capitol room 4203.

CHARITY CASE? Nurses are rallying outside the Capitol today to draw attention to a report about non-profit hospitals - and whether they earn their tax breaks. The noon rally by the California Nurses Association follows a 10 a.m. hearing on the same subject by the Senate Select Committee on Charity Care and Nonprofit Hospitals.

CALIFORNIA DREAMIN: The federal government makes applications available today for immigrants to apply for a new relief program known as "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals." The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) says it will be one of the first organizations in the nation to help immigrants apply for the program during an event today at the group's "Seize the Dream" center in Los Angeles.

BACK TO SCHOOL: Gov. Jerry Brown will be at Sacramento's New Technology High School this morning to promote Proposition 30, his tax measure on the November ballot. Teachers and others likely to benefit from the proposed tax increases will be joining him for the 10:30 a.m. campaign stop being billed as a "back to school" press conference.