Capitol Alert

The Legislative Analyst's Office wasn't the most diplomatic, perhaps, when in a February report on Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal for higher education, it suggested a number of shortcomings in Brown's plan to measure performance at public colleges and universities.

Among the subheads in the report: "Key Details Lacking."

This afternoon, the Democratic governor vetoed legislation that would have established statewide goals to guide budget and policy decisions regarding postsecondary education, and in his veto message he had some choice words for the LAO.

The legislation, by Sen. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, would have required goals to be developed with the assistance of a working group convened by the nonpartisan analyst's office.

"Questions about who should measure, what to measure and how to measure what is learned in college," Brown wrote, "are way too important to be delegated to the Legislative Analyst."

In case you hadn't noticed, hunters in California really don't like Senate Bill 1221.

That's the legislation by Torrance Democrat Ted Lieu that would restrict the use of dogs in hunting bears and bobcats. Houndsmen who opposed the bill showed up en masse at the Capitol as the bill was making its way through the Legislature.

They'll be back today to relay their thoughts to Gov. Jerry Brown, who will decide the bill's fate by month's end. Hunting groups put out a press release urging their allies to rally against the "radical animal-rights agenda of the Humane Society" at 11 a.m. on the Capitol's west steps.

TECH TALK: The intersection of politics and technology is the focus of the Envisioning California Conference under way today at the Sacramento Convention Center, where panelists will talk about the use of social media in political movements, whether new technologies can undermine democracy and California's role as a global innovator.

Historian and former state librarian Kevin Starr is the keynote speaker. Panelists include Democratic PR maven Steven Maviglio, News10 political editor John Myers and California's Capitol blogger Greg Lucas.

BULLY PROOF: State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson is in San Francisco today to participate in the Bay Area Stop Bullying Summit, convened by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and The Bully Project. Torlakson will talk about anti-bullying measures in the state's schools.

CAKE AND CANDLES: HBD, as they say on Facebook, to two Assemblymen: Jeff Miller, R-Corona, who is turning 49 today, and Mike Eng, D-Monterey Park, who is now 66.