Capitol Alert

As the state Senate finished voting today on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, "That is what's called a supermajority."

The measure was a relatively modest part of the annual budget package wrapped up by the Legislature today, but it required a two-thirds vote and afforded Democrats an opportunity to flex the supermajority power they gained in November elections.

Democrats in the Assembly mustered two-thirds not only for the managed care tax, but also for a bill that would ask voters to lower from two-thirds to 55 percent the voter-approval threshold for a local government to incur bonded indebtedness for certain public improvements. It is one of several Democratic proposals to lower the voter-approval threshold on local tax and revenue measures.

Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, D-Woodland Hills, said the measure would give local agencies "tools so that they can make the choices and the investments in the infrastructure that they need to grow their economics and make their cities livable."

Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, said, "You know and I know that bond is just a four-letter word for tax."

After every Assembly Democrat voted for the bill, Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8, Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said on Twitter, "All Dems went up on ACA 8. Let's just say that, for a few of them, the targets on their backs just got a little larger."

Steinberg called the Assembly's vote a "good sign" and said he personally supports the measure. However, he said the upper house will not consider voter threshold issues until early next year, which is still in time to place them on the 2014 ballot.

After voting Friday for the state's main, $96.3 billion budget bill, lawmakers today finished voting on all but one of the numerous trailer bills required to implement the annual spending plan. Senators were expected in committee Monday to discuss the final measure, involving a coordinated care program for "dual eligibles" - people enrolled in both Medi-Cal and Medicare.

For the most part, however, the budget is done.

"I'm just very pleased," Steinberg said.

Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan before the next fiscal year begins July 1. After the Senate and Assembly adjourned for the day, he issued a statement on Twitter.

"After two and a half years of struggle and difficult times," Brown said, "California's budget is balanced and sustainable into the future."

The Bee's Jim Sanders contributed to this report.

PHOTO: State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, right, pumps his fist after one of the state budget bills was passed by the Senate on Friday, June 14, 2013. Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli

With just nine days of budget negotiations left, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg called the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown "basically aligned" on public education funding.

In a conversation with Mark Baldassare, president of the Public Policy Institute of California, on Thursday, Steinberg credited Brown for including "significant augmentations" to public education in his version of the budget. Steinberg noted only a few points on which he differed from the governor.

"The governor suggested an equity formula that to me was about 80 percent there, but I still object to about 20 percent of it," Steinberg said.

Like Brown, Steinberg wants to include a 35 percent bump in funding for low-income or disadvantaged students. Steinberg, however, championed Senate Bill 69, which would use a different formula to dole out additional money to disadvantaged students in both low- and high-income districts.

"Kids that come from more disadvantaged backgrounds ought to have more resources -- spent well, that's the key piece -- in order to be able to achieve their dreams in life," Steinberg said.

Steinberg also downplayed the role that personality differences play in negotiations, saying his experiences working on budgets with three different governors have been relatively similar.

"In terms of some of the tension points as far as my frustrations at times, I can repeat the same things I've said this budget cycle that I've said in all previous budget cycles," Steinberg said. "The executive is the executive."

Steinberg seemed confident the Legislature and governor could work out the remaining kinks in the budget before the June 15 deadline.

"If there is no creative tension, we're not pushing each other hard enough," Steinberg said.

PHOTO: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento during the first day of session at the State Capitol in December 2012. The Sacramento Bee/ Hector Amezcua

Clean jokes at the California Roast? There weren't very many.

Lawmakers who gathered to roast Assembly Budget Committee Chair Bob Blumenfield on Tuesday at the Red Lion Hotel tore at him and one another with glee. But very little of what they said can be repeated here.

A few of the family-friendly highlights:

"Next year's roastee will be (GOP gubernatorial hopeful) Abel Maldonado, trying out his new slogan, 'Can I please start over?'" - Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

"That was riveting, in the Bay Bridge-Caltrans sense of the word." - Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, on Steinberg's admittedly lame roast performance.

"When in doubt, call the sergeants." - Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, with advice for Assemblyman Roger Hernandez following a judge's decision to dismiss his drunk driving charge.

"You try telling Dan Logue the Legislature can't impeach Obama." - Conway again, on the difficulty of her job.

The roast benefited the California Center for Civic Participation, which works to connect teenagers with the Capitol and involve them in public policy-making.

PHOTO CREDIT: The cover of the program for the roast of Assembly Budget Committee Chair Bob Blumenfield on Tuesday, May 28, 2013.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg weighed in on the latest developments in the ongoing fight over the Sacramento Kings Monday, saying the hiked bid offered by a group of investors who want to bring the team to Seattle "looks desperate."

Hedge fund manager Chris Hansen.and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer have increased the price they've agreed to pay the Maloof family for a stake in the team to $406 million since a National Basketball Association committee recommended against approving a move. The NBA Board of Governors meets later this week to consider the team's future.

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California's top Senate Democrat called Tuesday for more investment in mental health services in the state, saying his proposal could improve lives, prevent future tragedies and reduce the burden mentally ill patients put on the state's prisons and hospitals.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is proposing significantly increasing mental health services in the state by adding 2,000 beds and at least 200 "triage personnel" to help individuals with mental health issues. His plan, which he hopes to enact through the state budget process, would also add 25 "Mobile Crisis Support Teams" to provide a range of resources to help people manage their mental illness without turning to emergency rooms or jails.

Steinberg said "invariably heart-breaking and often tragic" stories of what happens when mental illness goes untreated motivated him to craft the proposal. He highlighted the December mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, a federal appeals court's ruling on health care in California prisons and stories chronicled by The Bee of Nevada busing mentally ill patients to California and other states as recent examples of the need for care

"How many more sad stories must we hear? With Newtown, Nevada and the 9th Circuit it is time for action," he said at a press conference in the state Capitol.

The unveiling of the plan comes days after Gov. Jerry Brown submitted a court-ordered plan to reduce the state's prison population. Steinberg said while his mental health services plan might not satisfy the three-judge panel's call for further inmate reductions, it will lower the prison population and recidivism rate for mentally ill inmates over time.

"Ultimately, if we are going to reduce overcrowding over the long term, we have to provide more effective, cost effective ways to keep people who leave the prisons and the jails from returning," he said, citing the success one three-year project for mentally ill parolees has had in cutting down the rate of repeat incarceration.

Steinberg said he has not yet calculated the full price tag for the plan, which would include grants of up to $500,000 for eligible projects. He said he envisions paying for the added services through grant funding offered by the California Endowment, a nonprofit that promotes health care coverage, money from the Proposition 63 tax on millionaires for mental health services, general fund revenues and by enrolling eligible individuals for health care benefits under the new state-run marketplace. He argued that any additional investment would provide big returns for the state over time.

"We are paying already, and we are paying big time," he said. "Our current system is a budget buster, also it's inhumane."

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his proposal on increasing investment in mental health services as Democratic Sen. Jim Beall, chair of the Senate's mental health caucus, looks on. Sacramento Bee/Torey Van Oot.

One day after Gov. Jerry Brown called his education financing plan a civil rights issue and promised opponents "the battle of their lives," Senate Democrats today said their counter-proposal is better for low-income students.

"The governor, obviously, came out firing yesterday, and we take it all in stride," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the Capitol. "But I do want to say that no group is more committed to civil rights and the cause of low income kids than my colleagues."

In a proposal to dramatically overhaul California's education financing system, Brown is seeking to give local school districts greater flexibility in how they spend state money, while also directing more money to school districts with higher proportions of students who are poor or learning English.

While offering conceptual support for Brown's plan, Senate Democrats would eliminate a proposal by the Democratic governor to award districts additional money if more than half of their students are low income or meet other criteria, instead distributing that money partly on a per-pupil basis for all students and partly on a per-pupil basis for disadvantaged students.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is weighing what to do once his final term in the state Senate comes to an end in 2014. Let us know what you think the Sacramento Democrat's next job should be in this poll:

PHOTO CREDIT California state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, left, and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson speak to the press at the Sacramento International Airport, Thursday, April 4, 2013, after returning home from a meeting with the NBA in New York about the possible relocation of the Sacramento Kings to Seattle.: The Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling

With less than 20 months left in Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's final term in the state Legislature, political circles are buzzing with speculation about what the Sacramento Democrat will do next.

One of the latest theories is that the former assemblyman and city councilman will seek a return to local office by running for Sacramento County district attorney when he is termed out of the state Senate in 2014. Longtime District Attorney Jan Scully announced earlier this year that she will step down at the end of her current term, creating an opening in the office,.

Steinberg, an attorney, hasn't ruled out a run for that seat, but says he's keeping his options open for now.

"I'm at that point now where I'm beginning to look at what I might do next in life, and hopefully I'm going to have all kinds of options," he said Thursday. "A few people are talking about that and I may look at it. I may look at it, but I'm not close to making any decisions."

Other possibilities floated by political insiders include future runs for mayor or Congress, a judicial appointment or a return to private law practice.

Steinberg has plenty of political cash stored away to fuel whatever path he pursues. He had more than $1.4 million in two campaign accounts, including one opened for a 2018 lieutenant governor run, as of the end of last year.

PHOTO CREDIT: State Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, left, discusses the agreement reached with Gov. Jerry Brown to finalize California's budget, at a Capitol news conference in 2012. Associated Press/Rich Pedroncelli)

California lawmakers may give motorists the green light to use a smartphone map while behind the wheel in light of a recent Fresno County court ruling.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said this week that a three-judge panel in Fresno County took California's traffic laws too far when it ruled that a man using his smartphone to check a map at a stoplight violated the state's bans on talking on the phone without a hands-free device or texting while driving.

"Knowing where you're going while driving is actually a good way to avoid having accidents, as opposed to 'Shoot! I missed my turnoff. I better swerve three lanes and try to catch it before I drive by,' " the Sacramento Democrat said. "If that requires some clean-up legislation, I'm sure we can accomplish that."

The court found that the use of a smartphone for other reasons than talking or texting qualifies as the type of driver distraction that is the "primary evil sought to be avoided" by the laws. While the ruling applies only in Fresno County, the opinion suggests that lawmakers change the law to clarify their intent if they believe digital map use is OK.

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Court: Fresno motorist can't use hand-held map

PHOTO CREDIT: A driver wears a hands-free ear piece for a mobile phone while waiting in traffic at the Bay Bridge toll plaza in Oakland. Jeff Chiu / Associated Press file, 2008

Those worried that legislative Democrats will use their supermajority power to make changes to Proposition 13 can breathe a sigh of relief -- for now, at least.

Some Democrats, emboldened by a two-thirds control that allows them to approve taxes or put measures on the ballot without GOP votes, have introduced legislation this year targeting different aspects of the landmark tax changes approved by voters in 1978.

But Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters today that 2013 is not the time to tinker with Proposition 13, which is often referred to as the "third rail" of California politics because of the perceived political risk of changing the law.

The Sacramento Democrat said lawmakers should instead make 2013 "a year of producing in a whole host of areas unrelated to taxes," including tightening gun control laws, working to implement the state insurance marketplace created by the federal health care law and passing major education policy changes.

Steinberg said, however, that he is open to some of the proposed changes down the road, including proposals that would change vote requirements for local tax measures. Even if the Legislature acted this year, any constitutional amendments approved by the Legislature wouldn't be able to go to the voters until 2014.

"The question of lowering voter thresholds for the specific taxes on the local level, which is really the beginning of that conversation ... definitely should be had and probably will be had at some point in this two-year session," Steinberg said. "But let's have 2013 be a year where we are focused on bread and butter."

Click here to read a list of related bills that have been introduced in the current legislative session.

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, during the first day of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua.

Citing a desire to get the business community involved in public education, Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is promoting a bill that would encourage industry to invest in what he's calling "social investment bonds."

Steinberg's SB 594 would authorize California to issue bonds aimed at curbing high school dropout rates by creating programs that train high school students for specific careers. Businesses would be encouraged to put money into those bonds with a promise of a high return on their investment if the program met certain measures of success like graduating more students.

"The principle behind it, which is unique and could be far-reaching in the state and the country, is to say to private industry 'you can do better financially by investing in high schools than you do investing in Wall Street,'" Steinberg said.

The bill would also establish regional trust funds that would be governed by district superintendents, community college leaders and business and industry leaders. Those funds would be used to pay for initiatives like developing new curricula tailored to certain careers and funding fellowship or apprenticeship programs.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is back on the East Coast this week as part of his ongoing push to expand funding for mental health services nationwide.

Steinberg announced plans to campaign for a $10 billion investment in preventing and treating mental health issues across the country in the wake of the December shooting at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school. He took his call for creating a national mental health initiative modeled after California's Proposition 63 to Washington, D.C., last month, when he spent several days meeting with members of Congress and Obama administration officials.

Now, the Sacramento Democrat has flown to New York City for two days of media interviews and meetings with finance and political leaders, including former Gov. George Pataki.

State Sen. Kevin de León is heading to New Orleans to watch the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens face off in the Super Bowl -- on the California Democratic Party's dime.

The Los Angeles Democrat is getting a free ticket to Sunday's game as part of a fundraiser to boost his party's bank account. The pass isn't subject to the $420 limit on gifts to lawmakers because the rules provide an exemption for admission to political and nonprofit fundraisers. Face value Super Bowl tickets start at $850.

Jason Kinney, a spokesman for the Senate Democrats' political efforts, said de León, who serves as chair of the Democratic Caucus and the powerful Appropriations Committee, was asked to represent the caucus at the event when Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg could not attend.

Kinney declined to provide additional information about attendees or the itinerary, but said the state Democratic Party paid for all overhead costs and will report those expenditures as well as the contributions received as part of the fundraiser in its campaign filings.

"Personally, I think it demonstrates impressive generosity of spirit that Los Angeles's own Kevin de León is willing to show up and pretend to root for a San Francisco team for three whole hours," Kinney said in a prepared statement.

PHOTO CREDIT: San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis (52), practice squad member Kenny Wiggins (69), and tackle Anthony Davis (76) warm up during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/ Mark Humphrey)

Microsoft is distancing itself from CEO Steve Ballmer's involvement in an investor group seeking to buy the Sacramento Kings, saying the software corporation has no stake in the matter.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg stirred controversy last week when he sent the Department of General Services a letter asking for information about California's business dealings with Microsoft. Critics interpreted the move as an unwarranted threat, but Steinberg, who represents Sacramento, said he was merely serving his constituents.

In response to a query from the Bee, a Microsoft spokeswoman said that Ballmer's role in the group seeking to move the Kings to Seattle is unrelated to Microsoft's business operations.

"The effort to build a new professional sports arena in Seattle was initiated and is led by San Francisco-based developer, Chris Hansen, who has announced a number of investors, including Steve Ballmer," said the spokeswoman, who declined to be identified. "Microsoft Corporation is not involved in the effort."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is not backing down from a request for information about Microsoft's dealings with California, a gesture that many interpreted as a warning to prospective Sacramento Kings buyer and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

After reports emerged that Ballmer was one of the investors seeking to purchase the Kings and relocate them to Seattle, Steinberg sent a letter to the Department of General Services asking for data about California's contracts with Microsoft and the monetary value of the state's past purchases from the technology giant.

California's top Senate Democrat will be in Washington next week to urge leaders to put a greater focus on mental health services in the wake of last month's mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn. elementary school.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that he is extending his trip east for the presidential inauguration to meet with administration officials and congressional leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the state's two U.S. senators, about increasing aid for preventative and treatment programs for the mentally ill.

The Sacramento Democrat has asked the administration to consider an approach based on California's Proposition 63, the voter-approved tax on millionaires to pay for mental health programs that Steinberg authored and championed.

"We have in California, as we do in so many other areas, led the way by investing a billion dollars a year in a system that is centered on prevention, early intervention and recovery for people who are most ill," he said. "That's worth sharing with the rest of the country."

With a declining birthrate and ebbing migration into California from other states and nations, the historically fast-growing state will see only relatively slow population expansion in the foreseeable future, the state's own demographers conclude.

However, these trends also mean that Latinos are likely to become the state's largest single ethnic group sometime this year, a data-packed section of Gov. Jerry Brown's new state budget plan concludes.

That's a couple of years earlier than previous demographic expectations.

Ensuring public safety will be the Department of Conservation's main imperative as it moves to regulate the disputed extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, director Mark Nechodom said in a letter to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg on Friday.

Nechodom faced a barrage of questions about hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules Committee last week. California is still in the early stages of regulating fracking, and several senators criticized the department's draft regulations as weak and vague.

Before the committee voted unanimously to advance Nechodom's nomination, Steinberg extracted a promise that Nechodom would put his commitment to public health in writing. The letter makes good on that promise, stating that "protection of public health and safety in all aspects of oil and gas production is the Department's paramount concern."

The Senate Rules Committee voted unanimously today to advance Gov. Jerry Brown's appointment to head the state's Department of Conservation, but not before subjecting Mark Nechodom to pointed questions about regulating the controversial oil drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing.

Fracking, as it is commonly known, has been a lightning rod for environmental advocates who say the method of firing a mix of chemicals, water and sand deep underground is poorly regulated and imperils public health.

Nechodom's predecessor, Derek Chernow, lost his job after pushing back on Brown's request to expedite the permitting process by easing restrictions on underground injection.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has released the full Senate committee roster for the 2013-2014 legislative session.

The assignments, posted after the jump, are expected to be ratified by a vote of the Senate Rules Committee later today. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez announced the Assembly committee lineups last week.

Both houses convene today for the first legislative sessions of 2013.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today announced the leadership lineup for the new session, officially elevating Sen. Kevin de León to head the powerful Appropriations Committee.

The only true freshman in the upper house, Riverside's Richard Roth, was given the chairmanship of the Legislative Ethics Committee and the budget subcommittee on State Administration and General Government.

See the full list, as provided by the Senate, after the jump.

Termed out of their California legislative posts in two years, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg are finding themselves on a collision course for higher office.

Pérez opened a campaign committee last Friday to raise funds for a possible bid for lieutenant governor in 2018, creating the specter of a same-party fight with Steinberg, who opened a similar committee early last year.

Incumbent Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will be termed out in 2018, creating a vacancy for a position likely to be filled by a Democrat because of the party's dominance in voter registration statewide.

Doug Herman, Pérez's political strategist, said the Los Angeles lawmaker is considering the lieutenant governor post among his "serious options" for continuing public service after leaving the Assembly.

But creation of an exploratory committee does not obligate either Pérez or Steinberg to run for lieutenant governor.

"Six years is a lifetime in politics," Herman said. "I don't expect the two of those guys to run against each other."

Steinberg, a Sacramentan, currently has more than a half-million dollars in his lieutenant governor campaign coffers, while Pérez's newly created committee has not yet reported any donations.

Under California term limits, Steinberg would be ineligible to run for the Legislature after 2014. Pérez is not barred from seeking a state Senate seat and could serve up to eight years there.

Gov. Jerry Brown rallied hundreds of students at Sacramento City College today as he continued the campaign to get college students excited about his Proposition 30 tax increase.

"The idea of Proposition 30 is to put some more money into state coffers so we can pay for schools and colleges and the University of California. This is a crucial opportunity," the governor told the crowd gathered in a small courtyard on campus.

Proposition 30 involves two temporary tax increases: raising sales taxes by a quarter cent on a dollar for four years and income taxes for seven years on those making more than $250,000.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation to de-emphasize standardized test scores when measuring the performance of California schools, his office announced today.

Senate Bill 1458, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, requires other factors, such as graduation rates and college-going rates, to be used in calculating a school's Academic Performance Index.

The Democratic governor vetoed similar legislation by Steinberg last year. At the time, Brown suggested local panels could be used to evaluate schools, a concept included in the bill he ultimately signed.

Steinberg said in a prepared statement that he believes the measure will be one of the most significant education bills of the decade, "fundamentally changing what we teach and how we measure accomplishment."

Supporters of the legislation have said it could make schools more innovative, allowing them to avoid teaching "to the test." Opponents said it could weaken school accountability.

After failing to win votes for tax hikes this legislative session, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said he's focused on helping Democrats win a supermajority of his house this fall.

Democrats gave up on seeking GOP votes for taxes during June budget talks, instead asking voters to raise the statewide sales tax and income taxes on wealthy earners in a November initiative. Only one high-profile tax measure passed his house last week - a 1 percent charge on lumber - while other proposals to extend motorist fees and change corporate tax formulas for out-of-state firms died on the final night.

California schools would be judged less by student test scores under a bill lawmakers are sending to Gov. Jerry Brown.

Senate Bill 1458 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg de-emphasizes standardized tests in evaluating schools, and requires other factors - such as graduation rates, college-going rates, and other measures - to be used in calculating a school's Academic Performance Index. It cleared the Legislature today when the Senate approved it, 23-13.

"The real purpose of the bill is to do what I hope creates a shock to the system so there is an incentive for a broader curriculum in high schools that is both rigorous and relevant," Steinberg said.

Brown vetoed a similar bill by Steinberg last year, suggesting local evaluation panels could be a good part of a new system for evaluating schools. That concept is part of SB 1458.

Opponents said the bill would weaken California's school accountability system that uses the same tests statewide to judge school performance.

California lawmakers are sending Gov. Jerry Brown a package of bills that would allow college students to choose free online textbooks instead of costly printed ones for common undergraduate courses.

Senate Bills 1052 and 1053 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg cleared the Legislature today, when the state Senate approved them with final votes.

The bills would create an online library of digital textbooks for the 50 most widely-taken lower division courses at the University of California, California State University and the state's community colleges. The project would get under way when state or private funding becomes available.

The digital texts would be "open-source," which means they are not copyrighted the same way traditional texts are, making them much less expensive. The texts are primarily available online; students can typically buy a print-out for around $20, about one-tenth the cost of many traditional textbooks.

"This is the new way to try to bring down the cost of instructional materials, by putting them in an open-source format," Steinberg said.

Publishing companies originally opposed the bills but removed their opposition, Steinberg said. Amendments removed a requirement that publishers provide free copies of textbooks in college libraries.

A late-hour bid by business interests and some lawmakers to overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act fell apart this afternoon, with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg saying the upper house will not take up the measure before the legislative session ends next week.

"The Senate will not take up comprehensive CEQA reform in the last days of the legislative session," Steinberg told reporters at the Capitol. "This law, for all of its strengths and its faults, is far too important to rewrite in the last days of the session."

The announcement cheered environmentalists, who had been lobbying furiously against the bill. The proposal would have limited the reach of California's signature environmental law, insulating from litigation certain projects that comply with a city general plan or other planning document for which an environmental review already has been done.

"I'm relieved," said Sierra Club California director Kathryn Phillips, who called the bill "one of the worst attacks on environmental protections that we've seen in the 40-year life of this law."

In the middle of an end-of-session bid to overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act, 33 Democratic lawmakers urged legislative leaders in a letter released today to oppose any significant re-writing of the law.

"Like many important laws, CEQA is not perfect and could probably be improved while retaining its many benefits - but only if such improvements are undertaken in a good faith process and are crafted very carefully," said the letter, delivered today to Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, both Democrats. "Unfortunately, the proposals we have seen and heard about reflect major changes that have not been vetted and are being advanced by special interests in an end-of-session power play."

The letter's release follows a business group's airing Monday of proposed changes to the law, California's signature environmental protection. In a proposal resembling draft legislation circulating at the Capitol, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and other business interests are calling to exempt from CEQA projects that comply with a city general plan or other planning document for which an environmental review already has been done.

Following the letter's delivery, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said he has collected one more signature - from Assemblyman Warren Furutani, D-Gardena - bringing the total number of signers to 34.

"This is the biggest blow to environmental laws in many years and it's being pushed through at the last minute," Huffman said. "And I just think we need to make sure that the whole world is watching."

Steinberg said Monday that he expects a CEQA-limiting bill to come up in the Assembly before the end of the legislative session. He said he is a "strong believer in the importance of our environmental laws" but is open to discussion.

Robin Swanson, Pérez's spokeswoman, said Pérez wants to protect CEQA while encouraging job creation.

"Any reforms that are adopted would be those that are good both for the environment and for job creation," she said. "It's all about finding a balance that makes sense."

CEQA Letter

Jim Sanders of The Bee Capitol Bureau contributed to this report.

An effort to overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act in the last two weeks of the legislative session appeared this morning to pick up, with business leaders calling publicly for changes and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg saying he expects a bill to come up in the Assembly.

The proposal aired by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and other business interests at a news conference this morning resembled draft legislation that would limit the ability to challenge certain projects in court. One proposal would exempt from CEQA projects that comply with a city general plan or other planning document for which an environmental review already has been done.

"We're here to press this effort forward," said Jim Earp, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. "We need to do this in California. If there's an opening that opens up in these last couple of weeks of session, we're going to take advantage of it if we can. But if not, it doesn't matter that much. We're going to be in it for the long haul. We'll be back."

The business group, which includes retailers and builders, is being advised by Gov. Jerry Brown's top political adviser, Steve Glazer. Brown himself has been critical of CEQA, the state's landmark environmental law, and he signed three bills last year limiting its reach.

Environmentalists today were already lobbying against the proposal at the Capitol. Kathryn Phillips, director of Sierra Club California, said general plans are not sufficiently detailed to address environmental concerns about projects.

"The reason you do this analysis is to figure out how much impact that particular project will have," she said.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he is a "strong believer in the importance of our environmental laws" but is open to discussion.

"If and when something comes over to the Senate," he said, "we'll take a look at it."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg formally requested a state audit Wednesday of billions in mental health funds raised by the Proposition 63 ballot measure he authored eight years ago.

The Sacramento Democrat's letter to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee came after two Republican assemblymen, Dan Logue of Marysville and Brian Nestande of Palm Desert, made a similar request.

Mark Hedlund, Steinberg's spokesman, said the committee will consider the request before the Legislature adjourns for the year Aug. 31.

Steinberg noted that some programs bankrolled by Proposition 63 have been blasted by critics since their inception.

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.

State Sen. Lois Wolk, who chairs the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, criticized Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg on Friday for cutting off a cable television broadcast of her committee hearing Wednesday.

The hearing -- one required by law -- was called to present facts and pro and con arguments about four pending ballot measures, Propositions 30, 31, 38 and 39, and as it opened, Wolk said she hoped it would give voters with information to cast informed votes.

But just before the hearing began, someone from Steinberg's office ordered the California Channel, a public affairs channel carried by most California cable systems, to not air the hearing.

A Steinberg spokesman said later that it was to prevent advocates and opponents of the measures from using recordings of the hearing in campaign advertising.

"The decision not to broadcast the hearing was made by the president pro tempore's office without my knowledge or consent, or that of my staff," Wolk said in a statement. "I strongly disagree with the decision, as the hearing was held to fulfill a state-mandated discussion on the initiatives so as to inform the public."

Steinberg has strongly backed Proposition 30, a sales and income tax increase sponsored by Gov. Jerry Brown. One of the opponents to the measure, Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, cited Steinberg's approval of Senate staff raises as a reason not to vote for the measure. But his testimony, along with that of others on the four measures, was confined to the hearing room and a difficult-to-find Internet audio feed.

The state Senate voted by a bare majority today to fund initial construction of California's $68 billion high-speed rail project.

The approval was uncertain as recently as hours before the vote. With all 15 Republican senators opposed to the measure and several Democratic lawmakers wavering, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg scrambled to muster at least 21 of 25 Democratic votes.

Twenty-one Democratic senators voted 'Yes.'

The approval was a major legislative victory for Gov. Jerry Brown. Steinberg said the Democratic governor "talked to a couple members" ahead of the vote, while Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, reminded colleagues that the project not only had Brown's attention, but also that of President Barack Obama and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

The bill approved by the Senate authorizes $5.8 billion to start construction in the Central Valley, including $2.6 billion in rail bond funds and $3.2 billion from the federal government. Lawmakers tied that funding to nearly $2 billion to improve regional rail systems and connect them to high-speed rail. That regional money was considered necessary to lobby hesitant senators about the project's potential significance to their districts.

"Members, this is a big vote," Steinberg said as he opened floor debate on the bill this afternoon. "In the era of term limits, how many chances do we have to vote for something this important and long-lasting?"

Steinberg and other Democrats said the project would create thousands of jobs and make necessary improvements to the state's transportation infrastructure. Republicans said it is too expensive and relies on uncertain future funding. They criticized starting construction in the sparsely populated Central Valley.

Among Republicans in opposition was Sen. Tony Strickland, who criticized a willingness by the Legislature to reduce spending elsewhere while finding money for high-speed rail.

"I think this is a colossal fiscal train wreck for California," he said.

Sen. Joe Simitian, of Palo Alto, was one of four Democrats to break ranks with his colleagues. Simitian said he supports the vision of high-speed rail, but not the current plan. He said there are "billions of reasons" to oppose it.

Other Democratic senators opposing the measure were Mark DeSaulnier, of Concord, Alan Lowenthal, of Long Beach, and Fran Pavley, of Agoura Hills.

As lawmakers prepare for a contentious vote later this week over billions of dollars in funding for high speed rail, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's office distributed a chart that shows the potential benefit of the project to each member of the upper house.

Rail

After Gov. Jerry Brown's office described a divide in negotiations over cutting public pensions, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg suggested Tuesday that the California governor had been slow to propose bill language on a crucial piece of the package.

Steinberg said Democrats drafted a plan that caps the pension share for new public workers at roughly $110,000, giving them a less lucrative retirement benefit for income above that amount. But he challenged Brown for not providing specifics on his own "hybrid" idea that could shift some retirement risk onto workers.

"The governor has a hybrid concept but does not have a fleshed-out proposal," Steinberg said. "Even if he wanted us to take up his hybrid concept today, we couldn't because the proposal has not yet been developed."

Brown spokesman Gil Duran said in a statement this morning that Brown could not agree on some of the ideas in the Democrats' pension plan and that a legislative vote would have to wait until after this month's summer recess.

Steinberg said Democratic lawmakers are in "common agreement" with Brown on most items, including changes intended to curb spiking of pension benefits and eliminating the option to purchase service credit for years not worked, commonly referred to as "air time."

Based on Steinberg's characterization, Brown and lawmakers must still figure out two major components that would change pension calculations for new employees. One has to do with the hybrid concept, which would reduce pension promises to high-income employees. A $110,000 cap would apply generally, while a higher cap around $130,000 would apply to public-safety workers.

Another has to do with raising the retirement age for new employees. The Democratic plan would hike the starting age for non-public safety workers from 50 to 52, while it would delay full benefits until age 67. Public safety workers would have lower qualifying ages.

"We will do more of a gradation," Steinberg said. "Ultimately, 67 will be the retirement age for the highest level of benefits for 'miscellaneous' employees," referring to non-safety workers.

The changes would go beyond state employees and affect public sector workers in local government, Steinberg said. He said the Democrats' plan would save about $40 billion over 30 years, according to a projection run by CalPERS, but detailed information about that calculation was not available Tuesday.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today repeated a pledge to look for budget solutions that would allow lawmakers to preserve some services targeted with steep cuts under Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget plan.

"I said on Monday, I'm not looking for a public fight here," the Sacramento Democrat said this morning. "We're looking to work collaboratively and yet not be afraid to have our differences or air our differences with the other stakeholders, the other parties, but come to a resolution where we can in fact buy out some of the worst cuts."

The revised budget proposal released by the Democratic governor Monday calls for roughly $8 billion in cuts to close a projected deficit that has grown to $15.7 billion since his January budget was unveiled. Those cuts include reductions to health and welfare programs and Cal Grants for low-income students.

Steinberg said he doesn't like many aspects of the proposal, including using money won in the mortgage settlement with major banks and reducing funding for the courts, but added that cuts with the most severe effect on the state's neediest constituencies will be the first to come off the chopping block.

"To me a cut that, you know, will result in the difference between life and death and a cut that will increase homelessness by definition, it's our obligation it seems that we do everything we can to avoid those cuts," he said.

Steinberg again floated the idea of using the state's planned $1.05 billion reserve to plug some of the cuts. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned lawmakers against that approach Tuesday, writing that the reserve "is low but important considering that the potential Facebook initial public offering-related income tax revenue is especially difficult to forecast."

"I respect the rating agencies, but the rating agencies don't represent a hungry kid who can't do well in school because his family has suffered a big cut in his CalWORKs grant," Steinberg said, referring to the state's welfare-to-work program.

He declined to specify other routes that majority Democrats may take to balance the budget without making all of the cuts proposed by Brown.

Here's a video of Steinberg's previous comments on Monday on how he views the cuts and how he hopes to plug the deficit:

Legislative Democrats are bracing for "more work on the cuts side" once Gov. Jerry Brown releases his revised budget next week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters during a weekly q-and-a in his office.

"We all expect the news to be rough. That's no secret," the Sacramento Democrat said.

That will likely mean more steep cuts to the state's health and human services programs. An estimated $1.5 billion lawmakers had hoped to reserve for affordable housing programs is also "certainly a very ripe candidate" for use for general budget relief, he said.

"We have not shied away from doing what we have to do and we won't shy away now," he said. "But we will certainly fight to save more than we lose.'

When asked what areas he hopes to protect from future reductions, Steinberg cited CalWorks, the state's welfare-to-work program, as a top priority. He said studies showing correlation between cuts to those services and homelessness make the decision "one of those can you sleep at night kind of questions."

"I would do just about anything to avoid that cut," he said.

Brown's budget is expected to rely on up to $9 billion in revenues from his proposed initiative to temporarily raise income taxes for top earners and enact a quarter percent increase in the state sales tax, with a round of "trigger" cuts after the election if the November ballot measure fails. While the revenues at stake on the November ballot has grown since the governor's January budget proposal because of changes to the tax plan, Steinberg said he expects the triggers to still target K-12 schools, higher education and the courts.

"I don't see that the fundamentals will change even if the number changes," Steinberg said. "But you've got to make up for a bigger number."

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said today that it would be "a victory for upholding the separation of powers" if a Sacramento judge finalizes his decision favoring lawmakers over Controller John Chiang in their budget-related pay dispute.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge David I. Brown issued a tentative ruling Tuesday siding with legislative leaders who said Chiang cannot block their pay on the basis of how he interprets their budget. The Democratic controller last year withheld 12 days' worth of pay and expense money by relying a new on-time budget requirement in Proposition 25 and a constitutional requirement requiring their budget to be balanced.

Brown will hear oral arguments today at 2 p.m. before issuing a final ruling.

Steinberg said he was "obviously pleased" with Brown's tentative ruling, which attacked several of Chiang's arguments. The Senate leader acknowledged that he and lawmakers would "take a hit" from the public for suing the controller, but he said, "There is a big difference between how people might feel about this in the present, and what this means for upholding the separation of powers in the long run."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg pledged today to put forward for the 2014 election a package of major changes to California's initiative process, including a provision to make it easier for legislators to place tax measures on the ballot.

The Sacramento Democrat, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club luncheon, outlined a trio of initiative reforms he said "will both strengthen California's tradition of direct democracy and empower the people elected by their communities...to make clear choices."

He said he plans to put the proposals on the 2014 ballot either through a vote of the Legislature, a task he said could be easier if Democrats secure a supermajority in the upper house this November, or by gathering the necessary voter signatures through the initiative process.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Thursday he considers the Republican budget plan a "rehash" that is legally questionable and would not solve California's fundamental budget problems.

Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative Democrats have gone all-in on their multibillion-dollar November tax initiative, which they say will spare the state from deep education cuts this year and from deficit problems in the future.

Republicans issued their own budget plan Thursday to refute that argument, saying that Democrats do not need higher taxes to fully fund schools and that a growing economy and spending restraint will rescue the state in the coming years.

A handful of state lawmakers wore gray-hooded sweatshirts this morning at this morning's session, taking up the symbol of solidarity and protest that has sprung up around the country over the slaying of Trayvon Martin.

Sen. Curren Price, who gaveled the session to order, wore one of the hoodies over his suit jacket and tie. Other Democrats, including Juan Vargas, donned the sweatshirts bearing "In memory of Trayvon Martin" stenciled in black letters on back.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, put on his sweatshirt before addressing the Senate.

Martin's Feb. 26 death has reignited a national debate about race. The 17-year-old was wearing a hoodie when he was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., by George Zimmerman, a self-described neighborhood watch captain. Zimmerman claimed self-defense under Florida's "stand your ground" law and has not been charged.

Martin's family and those who support them say he was a victim of racial profiling and that law enforcement officials haven't adequately investigated the teen's death.

Hoodie-wearing protesters around the country have said Martin's killing is part of a larger pattern of injustice against African American men. On Wednesday, Rep. Bobby Rush, a Democrat from Illinois, wore a hooded sweatshirt on the floor of the House of Representatives. Rep. Gregg Harper, a Mississippi Republican who was presiding over the chamber, kicked Rush out of the chamber for violating a dress code ban on hats.

An Assembly budget subcommittee voted unanimously Wednesday to block expansion of a statewide court case management system that has become the focal point of a months-long political war between the state's judicial leadership and some rebel judges.

The latter -- backed by the politically powerful Service Employees International Union -- have complained that millions of dollars are being wasted on the computer system while local courts are being compelled to curtail their operations and lay off employees as state financing of courts is reduced.

The budget subcommittee's action bolsters the Assembly's position in a conflict with the state Senate over court management. The Assembly has passed legislation, Assembly Bill 1208, that the rebel Alliance of California Judges sponsored to give local judges more power over distribution of operational funds.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who chairs the state Judicial Council and heads the Administrative Office of the Courts, has publicly complained that the legislation violates judicial independence, and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has declared that the bill will be held in his house without a vote.

Steinberg, however, is under pressure from the SEIU, which represents court employees facing layoffs and is a major source of campaign money for Democrats. Wednesday's action makes the computer system financing a potential bargaining chip in the inter-Capitol maneuvering over the legislation.

The subcommittee's action came after the Legislature's budget analyst and the state auditor delivered reports that strengthened the critics' positions.

So far, legislators were told, the Administrative Office of the Courts has spent $556.5 million on the system but it's been deployed in only a few counties. Even so, Auditor Elaine Howle pointed out, the AOC certified that the system is complete, thereby triggering a limited warranty period from the contractor that could leave the state holding the financial bag if problems crop up later.

Judges themselves are divided over the efficacy of the system, some professing that it lightens their workloads, while others saying it is unusable. In recent weeks, the chief justice and her allies have backed off their previous intent to install it in every county and indicated that they'd give local judges more leeway.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg joined the debate today over the embattled head of the state Fish and Game Commission's Idaho cougar hunt, blasting Dan Richards for acting "like a jackass."

"When you hold a high public position you have a responsibility to act with decorum, act with respect towards the office and, you know, what's he doing?" the Sacramento Democrat said in response to a reporter's question. "You want to make your political point, make your political point at some other stage in your life when you're not an appointee and serving under a governor."

Richards, the commission's president, has been the subject of criticism and calls for resignations since a picture surfaced online of him posing with a mountain lion he killed on a hunting trip in Idaho. California banned hunting mountain lions, which is legal in Idaho, via the ballot in 1990.

Forty members of the Assembly signed a letter last week asking Richards, an appointee of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to resign. A group of GOP lawmakers later came to his defense. Steinberg said in a meeting with reporters that he wouldn't mind if Richards, whose term ends next January, "just sort of slithered out of office early."

But with Richards telling the Assembly in a letter, "There is ZERO chance I would consider resigning my position," at least one member is reportedly considering a resolution to oust him with a majority-vote in both houses.

Steinberg said he is not "completely shutting the door" on the idea of a vote to remove Richards from office, but he would prefer to see the Senate "stay focused on the people's priorities," such as the budget.

'I think the guy ought to quit being a distraction and make whatever political point he wants to make on his own time or his own dime, but I'm weary on spending a lot of time on anything other than the core priorities that we have to accomplish this year," he said.

Richards reiterated his intent to stay put this afternoon, telling KFI AM talk radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou "I'm not leaving." He said a legislative vote to kick him out of his job "basically would be saying lets remove independent voices on all commissions."

Richards blamed Humane Society of the United States for pushing out the photo and sparking the campaign to oust him, citing long-running disagreements and political differences. He said he did not expect to see such a large public backlash for sharing a photo that captures "what we do as sportsmen."

"Of course, I didn't know it would lead to anything like this," he said of the reaction to the photo. "I expected that potentially there might be some folks who (would) not necessarily enjoy it or appreciate or be in favor of it that would see it, but I didn't have any idea if would get anywhere near what it is right now."

And for those wondering, the hunting enthusiast said the cougar he killed tasted "really good."

"It's like a pork loin and it's white meat and it's really good," he said.

RELATED POSTS:
Fish and Game Commission head says defiantly he won't resign

Photo credit: Whitehotpix/ZUMA24.com

Editor's note: This post was updated to clarify that Steinberg didn't call directly for Richards to step down. This post was updated at 4 p.m. with quotes from Richards.

The Capitol's perpetual "tort war" that pits personal injury attorneys against insurance and business groups over the rules governing lawsuits has a new battleground.

Senate President Pro tem Darrell Steinberg has introduced a bill that would overturn one of recent legal history's most closely watched state Supreme Court decisions, dealing with recovery of medical costs by injured parties.

Last August, in a 6-1 ruling, the Supreme Court limited how medical damages could be calculated in auto accidents and other personal injury cases. The issue in the case (Howell v. Hamilton Meats) was whether an injured person could collect the full medical bills imposed by doctors, hospitals and other medical care providers, or would be limited to the amounts actually paid by insurers, which are often pennies on the dollar.

The case, stemming from a 2005 collision in San Diego County, involved $200,000 in medical bills that were whittled down to $60,000 before payment. The trial judge decreed that only the smaller amount need be paid, while an appellate court said it should be the full amount, and the issue landed in the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Jerry Brown said today that Senate Republicans are getting "a little petty" in their unwillingness to confirm the appointment of Herbert L. Carter as chairman of the California State University Board of Trustees.

"They don't have much power left, so when they can take a shot, they will," the Democratic governor told reporters after meeting with governors and President Barack Obama in Washington.

Brown said he has "no idea" if Republicans will also move to block his appointment of Steve Glazer, Brown's political adviser, to the CSU board.

But, Brown said, the "reserve of good appointments is very large," adding that he is "prepared to make annual appointments if they're unprepared to collaborate."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that it's time to end sparring over competing measures and rally behind Gov. Jerry Brown's tax initiative for the November ballot.

The Sacramento Democrat, in what he characterized as a "clarion call," said that Brown's tax initiative appears to be the state's best alternative. Placing competing measures on the ballot could hurt its prospects, he said.

"It's time to get behind the governor's tax initiative," Steinberg said.

"If you have two or three of them on the ballot at one time, they're all at risk of losing," he said.

Brown's proposal would generate nearly $7 billion in budget relief by raising income taxes on high earners and by enacting a half-cent increase in the sales tax.

Two other revenue-raising proposals are being debated among Democrats supporting a tax hike.

The California Federation of Teachers is pushing a tax increase on millionaires, while attorney Molly Munger, an activist on civil rights and education policy issues, is leading a drive to raise state income taxes for all but the poorest Californians to fund schools and early childhood development proposals.

Steinberg, who led a drive to increase taxes on the wealthy seven years ago, said he is convinced that the newly proposed millionaires tax would spark "significant funded opposition" that could sink it at the polls.

The Senate leader said that he wants to see another round of polling on Munger's proposal but that it is not likely to catch fire among voters because it proposes an income tax hike on most working Californians.

"Her polls and the public polls that I've seen show her initiative as not having great upward trajectory," he said.

"I just don't think this is the time," he said of Munger's proposal. "Because the time is now to get behind one solid proposal that presents the biggest opportunity to both fund education and also to end the deficit in California."

Asked if supporters of the tax proposals competing with Brown's could collect the required number of ballot signatures but delay turning them in, thus qualifying for the 2014 ballot, Steinberg indicated that was a viable option.

"I'm just going to say this: We're looking at that very carefully," he said. "I think all things are possible."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is calling for a state review of a Sacramento County pilot program that provides state-funded dental coverage for low-income children.

A Center for Health Reporting article published in The Bee over the weekend detailed the shortcomings of the managed care program, including long wait times and comparatively low rates of dental care among the more than 110,000 Sacramento County children covered by the program.

In a letter to California Department of Health Care Services Director Toby Douglas, Steinberg called for immediate action to address what he called a "crisis in prevention and treatment services."

"Despite that state funding, disturbing specific patient cases as well as the department's own data cited in the article make it abundantly clear that prevention and treatment services are woefully inadequate for those children most in need," the Sacramento Democrat wrote in the letter.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that a nonprofit group's decision to scrap a proposed ballot initiative targeting public employee pensions does not alter his commitment to tackle that issue.

"We are committed to getting pension reform done," the Sacramento Democrat said in a news conference.

Steinberg said he anticipated the question after the advocacy group, California Pension Reform, announced Wednesday that it was shutting down its effort to place a pension initiative before voters this year.

Steinberg said he is committed to passing pension reform before adoption of a state budget this year.

The Senate leader said he intends to address all 12 points of a pension overhaul proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown, but added, "That doesn't mean we're going to do every point in the way he suggests."

Gov. Jerry Brown wants the green light to move forward with construction of California's proposed bullet train.

The Democratic governor called on the Legislature to approve funding for the high-speed rail project today, telling lawmakers in his State of the State address that a revised business plan that will allow construction on the project to start by the end of the year will be released within weeks.

Despite ongoing criticisms about the cost and blueprint for the voter-approved rail project, Democratic legislative leaders appear poised to back the governor's commitment to the bullet train.

See why Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg support the project and where they stand on the question of where to start laying the track in this video from their Capitol press conference today.

Reporters and politicians are known more for thinking on their feet than dancing on them.

But it was the latter that mattered Thursday night when a dozen journalists and politicos took to the stage of the Crest Theatre in Sacramento for a ballroom dancing competition. Each was paired with a professional dancer to compete in the tango, foxtrot or waltz category.

"Dancing With the Capitol Stars" was a fundraiser for the Sacramento Press Club's scholarship program and a celebration of 50 years of journalism by Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton.

Bee columnist Dan Walters sat on the panel of three judges, handing out Simon Cowell-esque feedback after each performance. He told Assemblywoman Alyson Huber that her dance was "smoother than your re-election campaign will be," and told former Assemblyman Lloyd Levine that his moves proved his reputation as "one of the most slippery members of the Legislature."

Fellow judge Ron Cunningham, artistic director of the Sacramento Ballet, may have delivered the slickest dis when he told former Assemblyman Roger Niello that his performance was "effortless." As in, he made none.

The same couldn't be said for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who sang a spoof rendition of Frank Sinatra's "That's Life." Steinberg's out-of-pitch opening line was: "The press. What all reporters say. Like my ideas in April, tear them down in May. But a strong poll makes you change your tune. Putting me back on top in June."

At the end of the night, judges named political consultant Karen Skelton the winning dancer. She's the daughter of the LA Times columnist who was being honored at the event. And their family was a major donor in putting it on.

"Someone call the FPPC!" demanded one spectator, with typical Capitol cynicism.

PHOTO: Professional dancer Barnaly Pande and her dance partner, former Assemblyman Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, dance the waltz at the Sacramento Press Club's "Dancing with the Capitol Stars" fundraiser Thursday at the Crest Theater. Adam Gottlieb/Sacramento Press Club

Gov. Jerry Brown suggested in a veto message this afternoon that California might improve its schools by establishing a system of local panels to observe teachers, interview students and examine their work, among other things.

Brown, a critic of the state's existing testing program, vetoed Senate Bill 547 by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, that sought to change how the state measures high school performance, including factors such as graduation and promotion rates and career readiness.

"There are other ways to improve our schools - to indeed focus on quality," Brown wrote. "What about a system that relies on locally convened panels to visit schools, observe teachers, interview students, and examine student work? Such a system wouldn't produce an API number, but it could improve the quality of our schools."

The Democratic governor called the legislation, a priority of Steinberg's, "yet another siren song of school reform."

The bill, he said, "certainly would add more things to measure, but it is doubtful that it would actually improve our schools. Adding more speedometers to a broken car won't turn it into a high-performance machine."

As Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders dicker over a package of business tax incentives aimed at boosting the state's stagnant economy, an oversight office created by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has concluded that previous corporate tax breaks cost many billions of dollars more than anticipated.

The report, issued Thursday by the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes, provides ammunition for tax reformers who have called for closing corporate loopholes to raise state revenues and who are leery of opening new ones.

Brown has proposed to change the way multistate and multinational corporations are taxed to raise revenues, then use the proceeds for targeted tax breaks to spur job-creating investment. But with the 2011 legislative session in its final hours, he's encountered resistance from Republicans whose votes would be needed for the tax swap.

Meanwhile, Steinberg's investigators, who are mostly former Capitol reporters, have concluded that "some California tax breaks are acting as blank checks, costing the state billions of dollars more than anticipated when they first were put in place..."

They estimate that over the last decade, 10 major corporate tax breaks have cost the state treasury $6.3 billion more than estimates when they were enacted, including $1.3 billion more in 2010-11.

Gov. Jerry Brown's decision to remove two GOP appointees to the California Water Commission sparked a partisan dispute under the dome this morning as Senate Republicans sought to approve the appointees despite Brown's plans to replace them.

Brown said last week that he plans to replace former Republican Sen. Dave Cogdill and former Sonoma County Water Agency Director Paul Kelley on the nine-member panel, but has yet to formally withdraw either appointment, both of which were made by former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Instead, Brown asked Democratic leaders to let the appointments lapse at year's end by not approving them by their confirmation deadline.

Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton today introduced a motion to bypass the Senate Rules Committee, which has not yet considered the nominations, and immediately hold a floor vote on confirming both members.

With less than four weeks left in this year's legislative session, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg says his top priority will be putting Californians back to work.

"It doesn't take any kind of a brain surgeon or political genius to know that the economy and unemployment are the most important issues," Steinberg told reporters yesterday after a Senate floor session.

For the Sacramento Democrat, that means pursuing a handful of proposed changes to the state's regulatory processes, including measures to streamline permitting, take duplicative regulations off the books and create some sort of standardized economic impact analysis to weigh the costs of new regulations. Some of those measures were unveiled in February as part of a package backed by Steinberg and other Democrats, while others were discussed as part of this year's failed negotiations to hold a statewide election on taxes.

It's July 29, and California is in the unusual position of having its fiscal house in order while federal leaders are mired in a partisan battle over the debt ceiling.

We asked a few veterans of state budget battles, past and present, how Washington leaders might reach a bipartisan deal in the coming days. They emphasized that the specifics of the state budget and the federal debt ceiling are different, though they saw plenty of parallels in the political dynamics.

A wealthy Indian tribe has given another $300,000 boost to a nonprofit center for unity and tolerance championed by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The Sacramento Democrat reported soliciting the contribution for the planned Capital Unity Center from the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in a behested payment disclosure to the Fair Political Practices Commission earlier this month. The Capay Valley tribe, which is a major political contributor and lobbying force in the Capitol, operates the Cache Creek Casino and Resort in Brooks.

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation Chairman Marshall McKay said in a statement that the tribe is supporting the project because it believes "as a society and a people, we all benefit from a culture of openness and tolerance."

"Native Americans have for generations felt the pain of discrimination, and know first hand the harm it can bring," he said. "The Yocha Dehe Community Fund's support for the center is based on our hope that through outreach and education others can be spared this pain."

We asked our Facebook fans to contribute questions for The Bee Capitol Bureau's interview with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The hourlong interview with the Sacramento Democrat touched on many of the topics raised by readers. Here's Steinberg's response to a question based on one submitted by Facebook user who wanted to know whether Steinberg thinks Proposition 25 is a bad thing, given that legislators temporarily lost their pay and some experts believe the first majority-vote budget is unbalanced:

Click here to become a fan of Capitol Alert on Facebook. Check out tomorrow's Bee for Bee colleague Kevin Yamamura's recap of Steinberg's comments on the budget.

Legislative pay has resumed in the wake of last week's budget deal, but Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday that lawmakers still take exception to Controller John Chiang's decision to cut off their wages last month.

Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, said the issue needs to be legally challenged, though he still doesn't know who will pursue the case.

"In the moment, of course, it was a popular decision," Steinberg told The Bee's Capitol Bureau. "But over the long term, do we really want any governor of the state of California, or a controller, or it could be an attorney general, to say, 'I demand more cuts. I demand solutions different from what you presented or else people aren't going to get paid.' "

After Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Democrats' first majority-vote budget, Chiang reviewed the plan using new authority under Proposition 25. Voters passed that measure in 2010 to dock pay for late spending plans and reduce the vote threshold for budget passage. Chiang determined that their budget did not meet qualifications for a balanced budget under Proposition 58 and so was insufficient to meet the pay requirement.

Over 12 days, rank-and-file lawmakers lost about $4,830 each in salary and per diem.

"I think it was an erroneous decision," Steinberg said. "And I think over time it will be seen as a decision with very troubling precedent for this state and our system of government."

Lawmakers in both parties questioned the decision, though Democrats seemed to react with more anger than their GOP counterparts. Democrats maintained that their budget was balanced in accordance with the law.

It is not clear that the budget that Democrats passed and Brown signed last week would meet the same tests Chiang used in his analysis, but the controller believes he does not have authority to intervene once the governor signs the budget.

Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders announced today that they have reached an agreement on a new majority-vote budget plan.

"We've had some tough discussions, but I can tell you that the Democrats in both the Senate and the Assembly have now joined with the administration and myself and we have a very good plan going forward with the budget," Brown said at a press conference in his office this afternoon.

The proposal, outlined in this post, assumes that the state will bring in an additional $4 billion in revenues in the upcoming fiscal year, based in part on higher-than-expected revenue figures in recent months. If those revenues fail to materialize, steeper cuts to programs including K-12 schools, higher education, public safety programs and In-Home Supportive Services would occur later in the year.

"We have severe trigger cuts that will be triggered and go into effect (without the projected revenues)," Brown said. "And those are real."

Brown vetoed the majority-vote budget that lawmakers approved ahead of the Legislature's June 15 budget deadline, calling the package of spending cuts, funding shifts and one-time fixes "not a balanced solution." Legislators have also lost their pay in the wake of Controller John Chiang's decision that the plan approved earlier this month fails to meet the requirements for pay under the voter-approved initiative allowing the budget to be passed with a majority vote.

The governor, who has been working for months to secure Republican votes needed to hold a statewide election on expiring higher tax rates, said without a deal on his original proposal, leaders will have to "look very seriously" at using the initiative process to qualify a measure to secure future revenues.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said Brown and Democrats "have not wavered in our belief that new revenues are essential" to balance the budget over the long term.

"The conversation has been started and we will keep that conversation going as we move to the ballot next year," Pérez said.

Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton criticized the plan unveiled today as a "hope without change" budget.

"This latest budget is based on the hope that $4 billion in new revenues will miraculously materialize, but does absolutely nothing to change government as usual," he said in a statement.

Read more about the plan here.

It wasn't any legislator's favorite question Monday, but it was the one reporters kept asking: Should you continue receiving pay?

After emphasizing he was more concerned about potential deep cuts in the wake of Gov. Jerry Brown's veto, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a lawyer, offered arguments for why Controller John Chiang should pay lawmakers.

Chiang, a Democrat in charge of issuing paychecks, is weighing whether to issue salary and living expenses under a new voter-approved law that docks legislative pay for each day the budget is late. Democratic lawmakers passed a majority-vote budget on Wednesday, the constitutional deadline, but Brown vetoed it immediately while questioning its legal viability and balance.

The law itself, Proposition 25, is silent as to whether the budget must be "balanced," but Chiang said earlier this month that it should be read in conjunction with another law requiring a balanced budget. The controller is reviewing the budget bills and is expected to decide this week on whether to issue pay.

Steinberg's first argument had to do with separation of powers. He said that it would be bad precedent to allow a controller - or anyone else from the executive branch - to decide on whether lawmakers should get paid.

"Forget any of us as individuals, it is a bad precedent for anyone in the executive branch to question the quality of a budget passed by the legislators," Steinberg said after a brief Monday floor session. "Because to do so shifts the balance of powers in what is supposed to be coequal branches of government in a way I think is dangerous."

"Think about if there was a governor or treasurer or controller from the other party, think about that," he added. "And they were unhappy with the quality of a budget the Legislature passed. They would then have the ability, if Proposition 25 were to be interpreted in a way some suggest, to say not good enough. We withhold your pay until you make all of the decisions and all of the cuts that we believe are appropriate."

A separate issue, Steinberg said, is whether the controller's interpretation undermines the spirit of the state's conflict of interest law.

The Senate leader noted that lawmakers have a duty to abstain from voting on matters in which they have a personal financial interest. He suggested that if the controller withholds pay, then lawmakers may decide to slash programs just to benefit their own pocketbooks.

"Think about how all that could be turned on its head here if, in fact, we have to make a decision, choices, that have real impact when it comes to cuts on the people of California and our own well being," Steinberg said. "I don't think that even the authors of Prop 25 ... would see that as any kind of healthy development for California. We ought to make the decisions that we make on the level of cuts on the merits."

Torey Van Oot contributed to this report.

Hours after Gov. Jerry Brown roiled majority Democrats with his budget veto, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg made public his plans to halt consideration of the governor's appointees "for an indefinite period of time."

Members of the Senate Rules Committee were informed via email yesterday that gubernatorial appointees requiring Senate confirmation will not be considered by the committee or put up for a floor vote until further notice.

"The Rules Committee will not be meeting to consider any Governor's appointments for an indefinite period of time per the Pro Tem. In addition, no action will be taken on appointees pending on the floor during this time," the email reads.

When asked why Steinberg decided to hold off on confirmation of Brown's appointees, spokesman Nathan Barankin said, "We're focused on the budget right now."

Gubernatorial appointees in need of Senate confirmation must be approved within one year of their nomination in order to retain their posts for the full term. The only Brown appointee currently awaiting a full Senate vote is David Maxwell-Jolly, the governor's pick for undersecretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, according to Steinberg's office. Several dozen people nominated by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who still need to be considered by either the committee or the full house face confirmation deadlines this summer.

Editor's note: An update on the number of appointees pending was added to this post at 2:30 p.m.

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

UPDATE 6:43 p.m. to add video of the Democratic legislative leaders press conference

The state's two Democratic legislative leaders parted ways with Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday after he swiftly vetoed their budget plan, saying they were "deeply dismayed" by the governor's action in a hastily called Capitol press conference.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, blamed Republicans for not agreeing to a bipartisan deal to extend taxes. But the two leaders also took shots at Brown and said the governor's inability to secure enough GOP votes forced their hand.

"We are too far down the road for the governor to continue avoiding a specific proposal or specific set of proposals of what he intends to do or wants to be done if he can't gain those Republican votes," Steinberg said. "Governor, over the next two weeks, if you can't get the Republican votes, give us your specific changes to the budget that we passed yesterday that can be adopted by a majority vote."

"The governor's constant references to his January proposal ring hollow if he is unable to deliver Republican votes," Steinberg concluded.

Scroll down to see Hector Amezcua's video of their news conference.

Republicans praised Brown's immediate veto Thursday, but they denied that they were the cause of the state's budget woes.

Four Republicans who had been negotiating with Brown - Senators Tom Berryhill, Anthony Cannella, Bill Emmerson and Tom Harman - issued the following statement: "While the Governor did the right thing by vetoing the Democrats sham budget, we challenge his assertion that Republicans have blocked the right of the people to vote. In fact, it's the Democrats who are holding California hostage by refusing to allow the voters to weigh in on meaningful structural reforms -- not just Governor Brown's tax proposal.

Opponents of a controversial bill to give local governments more power to seek tax increases have preemptively launched a campaign to repeal the measure should it become law.

A business-backed coalition called Stop Hidden Taxes has opened a campaign account to fund a referendum on the legislation, which would allow counties, school districts, community college districts and county boards of education to ask voters to approve taxes on a variety of goods and services, including income, sales, alcohol, oil and medicinal marijuana.

"Allowing this bill to become law would undermine the state's struggling economy, kill jobs and send exactly the wrong message about California's business climate to prospective employers. We are confident voters will reject this measure at the ballot box," said California Chamber of Commerce CEO Allan Zaremberg, a co-chairman of the campaign.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who authored Senate Bill 23 X1, has sought to use the threat of new local taxing authority as leverage in the budget process, saying he will pursue the measure absent a budget solution that provides adequate funding for local services.

The majority-vote bill was approved by the Senate last Friday after a proposal to extend higher tax rates for one year, which requires Republican support, fell short of passage. Steinberg's measure has yet to be sent to the Assembly for consideration.

Steinberg, who transferred the contents of what was formerly Senate Bill 653 into a budget trailer bill earlier this month, has suggested it could not be subject to referendum in its current form. Opponents, citing a Legislative Counsel opinion requested by Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway, dispute that claim.

The opposition coalition says they have already retained a campaign consulting team, pollster and a firm to gather the 504,760 valid voter signatures they would need to ask voters to repeal the measure if it becomes law. Qualifying a referendum within 90 days of the bill being signed into law would block the proposal from taking effect until the bill is put on the ballot.

With just one day remaining until the constitutional deadline for the Legislature to pass a budget, some observers are hoping a higher power can help close a deal to extend the duration of temporary tax rates set to expire.

Hundreds of people from across the state gathered at the Capitol late this morning for a march and prayer rally in support of a budget that protects funding for education and social services.

"We're here because we believe balancing the budget is the moral thing to do," the Rev. Sharon Stanley, of Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, told the crowd. "And supporting the hopes and aspirations of the young people that we love and sharing responsibility for caring for them and caring for the poor is the moral thing to do."

Speakers at the rally, held on the Capitol's south steps and organized by a coalition of faith-based and community groups called PICO California, urged lawmakers to support Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal that the Legislature approve extending higher tax rates temporarily and set an election to ask the voters to decide at a later date whether to approve them for a longer period of time.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told the crowd that Republican votes needed to pass the tax proposal "don't appear to be forthcoming," but reiterated his pledge to move forward with a budget vote by the June 15 deadline with or without a bipartisan agreement.

"Those votes could come between now and five o'clock, or between now and midnight, or between now and four in the morning, and I have said, 'Call me any time, day or night,' But I will tell you this, if those voters aren't there, the majority party will in fact use its majority power to do the very best we can to pass a budget on time that protects the most vulnerable in California," the Sacramento Democrat said.

Video by Hector Amezcua.

Short on votes to extend higher tax rates for one year, the Senate today approved a bill to give counties and local school officials more power to seek tax increases on their own.

"We mean business, and we take our responsibility very seriously to provide the resources to schools and to people who risk their lives in uniforms," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who authored the measure, told reporters after today's floor session. "One way or another, we're going to provide the opportunity for those institutions and those public servants to do their jobs and to serve our kids."

Senate Bill 23 1X, would give county supervisors and school officials the ability to ask voters to increase taxes on a variety of goods and services -- including income, sales, alcohol, cigarettes, medicinal marijuana and oil -- to fund local services.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today he wants the fate of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax extensions to be tied on the ballot to the pension and spending cap proposals that Republican legislators want as part of the deal to call a statewide special election.

"It needs to be linked, no question," the Sacramento Democrat said, adding: "If you're really willing to move towards the middle and you're really willing to try to make a deal, then you ought to be living with the result that says it all goes up or it all goes down."

Republican Sen. Bob Huff, the vice chair of the Budget Committee, said through a spokesman that, like the contents of a possible special election ballot, the number of measures and whether they would be linked are matters that aren't "carved in stone yet."

The Senate plans to continue to tackle this question and other issues as members of the upper house prepare to meet Friday and through the weekend ahead of the June 15 deadline for approving a budget. Cast your vote on the issue in the poll below, and feel free to share your reasoning in the comments field.

With a deal to close the budget deficit with the help of tax extensions yet to emerge, members of the Senate have been asked to come to the floor this week prepared for story time.

The office of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who had set tomorrow as a goal to hold a budget vote, has informed members on both sides of the aisle that this week's floor sessions will include sharing testimony from school and public safety officials on the adverse effects of an all-cuts alternative.

"The pro tem is asking all senators to call their sheriffs and the superintendents of their school districts in their Senate districts and get short letters from each of them, describing the cuts they will have to make, worst case scenario (if the Senate must pass a budget without continuing existing revenues)," Kathy Dresslar, Steinberg's chief of staff, wrote in an email to the chief of staff for the Senate Republican Caucus.

"Our floor session on Wednesday and Thursday will include reading these letters aloud on the floor of the Senate," her email added.

A spokeswoman for GOP Senate leader Bob Dutton has yet to issue a response to Steinberg's request, though it's unlikely that Senate Republicans, who have largely opposed Gov. Jerry Brown's tax proposal, would take to the floor to wax poetic on the dangers of more cuts.

Steinberg spokesman Mark Hedlund said the intent of the request "is to have an opportunity to hear from stakeholders about the impacts of the budget."

Tomorrow's scheduled floor session has been tentatively canceled, and members have been instructed to remain on call for possible sessions during the remainder of the week. Hedlund said that Steinberg is still aiming to take up budget bills this week.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today moved to keep alive a bill to give local governments more power to seek taxes as budget negotiations continue, pledging to pursue the controversial measure absent a deal to close the remaining $9.6 billion deficit.

Senate Bill 653 would allow local governments, county boards of education and community college districts to ask voters to raise taxes on a variety of goods and services, including sales, income, alcohol and oil severance taxes.

Steinberg said today he will amend the contents of the bill into a budget trailer bill -- a move that allows him to keep the measure active without a floor vote before Friday's deadline for passing bills out of the house of origin.

The Sacramento Democrat called the majority-vote bill "one of the few tools to fulfill our most important responsibility" of ensuring funding for education, public safety and other vital services. But he told members on the floor that he will drop the effort if Republican support for Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax extensions emerges as part of a budget deal.

"If we can reach this agreement over the next week, which I believe it vital for public education and public safety in this state, I will then not move 653," he said. "But clearly we are not going to reach a handshake agreement on the state tax extension in advance of tomorrow's bill deadline."

Taxpayer groups and businesses and industries that could be targeted by taxes have rallied against the measure, saying it will burden taxpayers and hurt economic growth. Read the full bill at this link.

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

Gov. Jerry Brown said in unveiling his revised budget proposal today that any election to ask voters to ratify higher tax rates should be held "as soon as possible."

But Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, told reporters any election on taxes and other budget-related proposals "ought to be as far off as is reasonably possible."

How soon is soon enough to be one of the many issues up for debate now that Brown's updated plan has been released.

Brown said at a morning press conference that he sees the fall as a logical time to ask voters to approve continuing higher sales and vehicle tax rates.

Steinberg, who noted that Brown did not name a target election date in his proposal, said a buffer on the tax vote would give schools and other public services more funding stability in the coming fiscal year.

"2012 to me in the normal election cycle would be an appropriate time to have an election if an election is necessary," the Sacramento Democrat said.

But before an election date is set, Brown and Democrats will still need to secure the two GOP votes in each house to extend the taxes and call an election. GOP Republican Sen. Bob Huff, vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee, called the governor's proposal "short on reforms," saying his colleagues will still need to see serious proposals on a spending cap and other GOP-backed structural changes in order to support the plan.

"Republicans are going to be reluctant to (vote) on something business as usual," the Diamond Bar Republican said. "Unless you fix the underlying problem that takes into account Sacramento, the Legislature's appetite to spend more than we take in, unless we fix that underlying problem, I do not see that there's going to be Republican votes for this."

Steinberg, who praised Brown's proposal as a balanced approach focused on a long-term solution, was optimistic his house would hold a floor vote on the budget "well before" the June 15 legislative deadline for approving a budget.

"We're on a very fast track, we don't have to start from scratch, a lot of the work in terms of analysis and also negotiation has been done... and we intend to finish," he said.

Watch Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg discuss why he believes Gov. Jerry Brown's revised budget proposal remains the only credible option for solving the state's long-term fiscal problem.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar and the vice-chair of the budget committee, says Brown has not offered the serious reforms needed. He also said the $6.6 billion in unexpected revenue this year and small cuts to state boards and commissions are unsustainable solutions.

Opponents of legislation to give local governments more power to raise taxes are ramping up their efforts to derail the bill, launching a statewide radio and mail campaign against the measure.

Senate Bill 653, introduced by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, would give counties and school districts the authority to enact a variety of revenue streams with local voter approval, including income, sales and oil severance taxes. The bill was approved last week by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee and will be heard Monday by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Californians Against Higher Taxes is pushing back against the measure with a 60-second radio ad warning that the bill "opens the floodgates for politicians to invent entirely new local taxes on products and services."

"The last thing we need are new and even higher local taxes," an announcer says in the spot, which is running on two Sacramento-area radio stations.

Coalition spokesman Scott Macdonald said the group is also sending mail pieces to "voters in areas where we think there's more sensitivity to these issues" of taxes.

McDonald characterized the radio buy and mail campaign as "moderate" but said the group would turn up the dial if the bill continues to make its way through the Legislature.

"If they are serious about it, we'll get serious about it," he said.

Steinberg said through a spokeswoman that his measure simply gives "local communities another option besides hoping that the minority party supports the Governor's budget proposal."

"I believe the sponsors of this scare tactic would better direct their resources and efforts to convincing enough Republican legislators to vote for the state revenue necessary to save education and public safety," he said in a statement.

Californians Against Higher Taxes was a key supporter of Proposition 26, the 2010 voter-approved measure that raised the legislative vote threshold to two-thirds for some fees. The coalition's 2010 campaign committee was largely funded by the California Chamber of Commerce and other business groups, though the current effort is considered "issue advocacy" and not subject to donor disclosure requirements.

Listen to the full spot at this link.

Editor's note: This post was updated at 5:21 p.m. with a statement from Steinberg.

The Senate Governance and Finance Committee today approved legislation that would lift longstanding limits on what taxes local governments can propose raising.

Senate Bill 653, by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg would allow counties and school districts to adopt a wide range of taxes -- including income, vehicle, alcohol, cigarette and oil severance taxes -- with voter approval.

Steinberg said the intent of the bill is to give local governments more flexibility to fund key services like schools and public safety if lawmakers are unable to reach a budget solution that includes a statewide revenue stream.

"We cannot leave our communities with just one uncertain option when it comes to closing the 2011-12 budget and putting this fiscal crisis behind us," the Sacramento Democrat told the committee.

Opponents argued that the shift would hinder economic development for businesses and services that would have to comply with varying tax rates and hurt residents by creating unequal levels of funding for services.

Gina Rodriquez of the California Taxpayers Association warned that the bill would create more than 1,000 separate taxing authorities, what she characterized as a fragmented revenue structure that pits "county against county, school district against school district."

"(The Legislature) should be responsible for what the state looks like as a whole," she said.

Opponents also raised concerns about implementing and enforcing the local taxes.

The measure passed on a 6-2 party-line vote.

A top adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown suggested Wednesday the governor would veto legislative tax proposals that do not require voter approval, but the California Teachers Association remains steadfast in its belief that lawmakers should pass taxes without going to the ballot.

Brown aide Steve Glazer posted on Twitter this morning that if there's two-thirds legislative support for taxes, "there's 2/3 to override Gov veto."

California Teachers Association President David Sanchez said later that the Education Coalition, which includes a variety of school organizations, still does not believe taxes should be settled at the ballot. Sanchez first made this point two weeks ago, and CTA launched a statewide ad last week urging lawmakers to solve the budget without further cuts.

Sanchez emphasized that a fall election would be a disaster for school districts because they need confidence in their 2011-12 funding level before the school year begins. He again said it would be difficult to persuade voters to pass taxes in September.

Contrary to the position taken by Brown, Sanchez posited that it would be easier to persuade Republicans to pass taxes in the Capitol outright because they'd only have to make a tough vote once this year rather than deal with more cuts should voters reject taxes.

"If you extend taxes by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, it's done and over with," Sanchez said.

Brown's special election remains popular among voters even after his first attempt to call one in June fell short. A Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll last week showed that 60 percent of voters support having an election, though fewer voters -- 52 percent -- support the higher tax rates Brown has proposed for the ballot.

One idea under consideration is for the Legislature to maintain higher tax rates past June and then call a special election in September in which voters consider whether to extend them further.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday at the Sacramento Press Club he is supportive of bypassing an election to get more tax revenues. But he added that arguing about the mechanism to increase taxes was of lesser importance than getting at least two Republicans in each house to support them, one way or another.

"I'm not looking to distance myself from the governor," Steinberg said. "If we can get the revenue and make an agreement with the Republicans without an election, of course that would save the schools and it would save the universities and it would save the police services. But let's get an agreement first with the Republicans."

Torey Van Oot contributed to this report.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg today said he is willing to consider calls to target GOP districts with steeper cuts if legislative Republicans will not vote for taxes or to put taxes on a statewide ballot as part of a budget solution.

"When it comes to kids or the vulnerable, I wouldn't want to make distinctions between who lives in a Democratic district and who lives in a Republican district, but when it comes to sort of basic services, convenience services that affect adults... I have an open mind," Steinberg told reporters after speaking at a Sacramento Press Club luncheon.

The Sacramento Democrat said he thinks a targeted-cuts scenario like the one state Treasurer Bill Lockyer laid out in an interview with the Bay Area News Group-East Bay's editorial board comes down to "basic fairness."

"You don't want to pay for government, well then, you get less of it," he said.

Jann Taber, spokeswoman for Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton, said any blame for an all-cuts approach should be placed on the Democrats for rejecting the proposals already offered by Republicans.

"If they're threatening cutting services in Republican districts it's because they're unwilling to stand up to the public employee unions and allow voters to vote on a spending cap and pension reform as part of a budget deal," she said.

Legislation that would force the owners of the Sacramento Kings to repay a $77 million loan from the city up front if the franchise moves to Anaheim advanced in the state Senate today.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved on a 3-1 vote Senate Bill 652, which would prohibit professional sports franchises in the state from signing a relocation agreement with another California city if they have outstanding debts to the home city or if the move would breach an existing financial agreement.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who authored the bill, acknowledged that it is "no secret that the impetus for the bill was the proposed or potential relocation of the Sacramento Kings from Sacramento to Anaheim."

The Sacramento Democrat said while the team's current owners "have always paid their debts and been good stewards," the legislation is "intended to ensure that any sports team honors their financial commitment to their home communities."

"(If) anyone is seeking to make a cold business decision about where they want to relocate, public policy in California ought to be that the city from which they consider leaving is made whole before they in fact do leave," said Steinberg, who voted as a city councilman to approve the 1997 loan to the Kings.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today he plans to introduce legislation this week to force the owners of the Sacramento Kings to repay a $77 million loan from the city if they decide to move the team to Anaheim.

The Sacramento Democrat told radio station KFBK (1530 AM) that the measure would state that "no California city can sign a lease with a professional franchise unless that franchise has paid off its existing debt to another city."

"Some might think that has something to do with our Sacramento Kings. It might, but the policy is really what is important to me," Steinberg said in an on-air interview. "California, we're one state. We shouldn't have one city picking off another."

Steinberg acknowledged that the decision to move the Kings boils down to a private business agreement, but said "when there's public money at stake like there is in Sacramento, I think it's proper to say, 'Let's have the debt paid off.' "

The Maloof family, which owns the team, has until April 18 to ask the National Basketball Association board of governors for permission to move the team. The city of Anaheim has taken action intended to draw the team, including approving $75 million in bonds for upgrades to the city's Honda Center.

Steinberg's bill is not the only effort to ensure the loan is repaid. One of the Maloof brothers said that they "have no intention of leaving that town without paying our debt," and the city of Sacramento has asked them to put their assurances in writing.

"They're making a cold business decision -- the city has its right to protect its bottom line," Steinberg said. "This is no sentimentality here."

Listen to the full interview at this link.

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Nov. 13, 2009. Michael Allen Jones/ Sacramento Bee file photo

Senate Democrats are turning for the second year to a New York City-based public policy research firm for advice on how to craft their talking points on taxes.

Members and staff are scheduled to attend a Tuesday morning messaging and strategy session put on by representatives from Demos, which bills itself as a nonpartisan organization that "combines research, policy development, and advocacy to influence public debates and catalyze change."

"This will not be an abstract or academic exercise," reads an email memo distributed by the office of Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley. "You will receive specific advice and they will report on their research on how to communicate about tax and budget issues: What to say, how to say it, who to say it to, and how to communicate complex economic issues to reach the widest possible audience with the right message."

The off-site meetings, which will be held in a California Labor Federation conference room, come as legislative Democrats and Gov. Jerry Brown are mulling their next steps to close a projected $15.4 billion budget deficit. Brown has proposed asking voters to continue $11.2 billion in 2009 tax increases. With a June election to extend those taxes before they expire no longer an option, some unions are pushing for other tax increases, including higher tax rates for the top 1 percent of earners, to be included in the budget package.

While the presentation was set up for members of the Senate Majority Caucus and staff, the office of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said the visit was suggested and arranged by Hancock's office.

"When one of our members has something they'd like to present to the caucus, we accommodate," Steinberg spokesman Nathan Barankin said.

Hancock spokesman Larry Levin said his boss took the initiative to organize the meetings after learning about work Demos has done advising legislators and initiative campaigns in other states. Those efforts including working to "inform public perception of taxes, and to promote a fair tax system that supports effective government structures," according to the Demos website.

Though there is no shortage of budget experts and communications consultants on the payroll at the Capitol, Levin said Demos provides a different perspective for members to consider.

"They were just very impressive in terms of their research and the presentation and how to communicate issues," Levin said. "They're not pollsters and they're not communications people. They're not operational political people. They're a research and policy development independent group."

Levin said Demos is not being compensated by the Legislature but that the visit is part of a California junket sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation, a Bay Area philanthropic and advocacy organization. Last year's visit was funded in part by contributions from individual legislators' campaign accounts, he said.

Sara Ying Rounsaville, vice president of public affairs and communications for The San Francisco Foundation, confirmed that the organization helped arrange and fund Tuesday's trip to Sacramento through its public policy and advocacy program, which supports efforts "designed to achieve social justice and promote progressive social change." The full trip agenda includes Demos workshops for grant recipients and other foundations in the Bay Area and a second Sacramento presentation involving the California Budget Project,which advocates for low-income residents.

"We have a real interest in having an informed and engaged Bay Area population and we include in it our elected representatives in Sacramento," she said.

Rounsaville said organizers sought to target "interested legislators and staff" for the program. Senate Republicans, who were not invited to the Tuesday session, didn't seem to think the added insight would do the Democrats' much good.

"Clearly the Democrats are concerned that California voters are not going to support their tax hike, as they should be," said Jann Taber, spokeswoman for Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton.

Torey Van Oot and David Siders contributed to this report.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced this afternoon he halted negotiations with legislative Republicans over a deal to place taxes on the ballot to help resolve California's remaining $15.4 billion deficit.

A June election appears to be off the table entirely. Brown is no longer pursuing a two-thirds vote for a June tax election, while Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told reporters he will not pursue a majority-vote option, either.

"Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state's massive deficit," Brown said in a statement this afternoon. "The budget plan that I put forth is balanced between deep cuts and extensions of currently existing taxes and I believe it is in the best interest of California. Under our constitution, however, two Republicans from the Assembly and two from the Senate must agree before this matter can be put to the people."

"Each and every Republican legislator I've spoken to believes that voters should not have this right to vote unless I agree to an ever changing list of collateral demands," the Democratic governor added.

Senate Republicans on Friday released a list of major policy changes they wanted as a condition of voting for Brown's budget proposals. The move was widely seen as disruptive to talks, but the governor had reached out to three Senate Republicans this weekend in hopes of salvaging a deal before deciding to call off talks.

One of the three, Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres, blamed trial lawyers, unions and "other stakeholders" for being unwilling to negotiate on pension cuts, a long-term cap on spending and regulatory changes.

"As a result of these groups' refusal to challenge the status quo, it has become clear the governor and legislative Democrats are not in a position to work with us to pass the measures necessary to move California forward," Cannella said in a statement. "Thus, I do not foresee a path to compromise."

Brown did not specify what he would do next.

"Much is at stake, and in the coming weeks I will focus my efforts on speaking directly to Californians and coming up with honest and real solutions to our budget crisis," he said.

Brown is considering alternative ways to put tax extensions on the ballot, possibly by gathering signatures for a November ballot initiative. He suggested in his release that he may be skeptical of the majority-vote approach, saying the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority.

The governor does not need to call an election to approve higher taxes; he can do so with a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. But he promised voters last year he would seek their opinion before seeking more taxes.

The absence of a June election casts doubt on whether state leaders can resolve the budget before the next fiscal year starts in July. Democrats did not indicate how they would attempt to do so.

"They've done a pretty good job of running out the clock here," Steinberg said, referring to legislative Republicans.

As we come down to a key decision point in the budget process, Capitol Alert introduces one gauge for keeping track of how things are going. On Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said his "mood meter" was more positive. Today, he was using some of the stronger language he uses: "God darn it."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg expressed frustration at the pace and status of budget negotiations today, saying he feels "prepared to pull the plug" and move forward with floor votes on a June tax election if a deal does not emerge in the coming days.

"We are going to get to our floor, we are going to put up the vote and if the vote isn't there then we are going to consider the other pathways," said Steinberg, adding he will support the direction the governor chooses. "It is high time that this come to a close here."

Steinberg's comments, posted at this link, come as time is running out for lawmakers to set a June special election to ask voters to continue higher tax rates for five years to help plug a projected $26.6 billion budget deficit.

Talks continue between Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans whose support he needs for a two-thirds vote to put the proposal on the ballot, though attempting to call the election with a majority vote and launching an initiative campaign are two other possibilities now under consideration.

Budget Committee Vice-Chairman Bob Huff as well as several members of the so-called "GOP 5" group of senators confirmed today that Huff and Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton are now taking the lead roles in negotiations. The two were seen entering the governor's office late this morning.

Steinberg slammed Republicans' negotiating tactics, complaining that despite weeks of talks GOP lawmakers have yet to release a "term sheet" outlining what it will take for Republicans to put up the necessary votes.

"Whether it is fear or just sort of the inability to negotiate in a way that narrows differences as opposed to a way that continually expands them, this is ridiculous," he said.

Members of both houses were told after morning floor sessions to remain within several hours of the Capitol this weekend in case floor votes are called.

But comments from Republicans seemed to reinforce notions that an agreement is not yet imminent. When asked after the session whether he thinks a deal will be reached this weekend, Huff said, "That remains to be seen."

"I don't think we're at a point where trying to describe the state of negotiations is a terribly fruitful exercise," GOP Sen. Sam Blakeslee, a member of the GOP 5 said during the floor session.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is still seeking to reach a deal this week to approve Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed June election on taxes by a two-thirds vote, saying after a morning floor session that his "mood meter" is more positive in light of ongoing negotiations with Republicans.

"The discussions on the specifics are intensifying," he said of budget talks involving some of his GOP colleagues.

As the window for calling an early June election to keep higher tax rates in place narrows, other options for placing taxes on the ballot are circulating. Routes under consideration include a majority vote, which could face legal challenges, or a drive to qualify a November initiative. Steinberg said he has not ruled out any alternative scenarios, but hopes a deal on a two-thirds vote can be reached.

"It's no secret. We're looking at every option because we have to, but the preferred way to go is to make a bipartisan agreement, and that's what we continue to focus on," he said, adding that a resolution will be necessary by week's end.

Watch a video of Steinberg's remarks below:

VIDEO CREDIT: Torey Van Oot, Sacramento Bee

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that the next steps in Gov. Jerry Brown's ongoing effort to call a special election on extending expiring tax rates could emerge as soon as tomorrow.

"I think that you can expect a resolution in terms of direction very, very soon," he said after a meeting of the Senate Rules Committee.

With time running out to put the tax proposal on a June special election ballot, several alternatives are being floated. Options include seeking to qualify the plan for a ballot later in the year through the initiative process or attempting to set a June special election by a majority vote.

"I think the question before the state now is whether there are at least several members of the Republican Party who want to help govern California. We hope the answer is yes, but of course we are preparing for the possibility that the answer is no," the Sacramento Democrat said.

The Senate has scheduled a 9 a.m. floor session for tomorrow, which a spokesman said was called to accommodate an upcoming deadline for confirming two appointees.

Steinberg wouldn't specify whether the impending "direction" will include floor action tomorrow or pursuing a majority vote strategy.

"We are in the process of talking about all the alternatives, so I'm not going to say definitively," he said.

Gov. Jerry Brown said this morning that he expects floor votes on the budget in the Legislature this week, after talks with Republican senators appeared Monday to lose steam.

Brown had asked Democratic legislative leaders last week to delay any vote, citing progress in negotiations with Republicans. Brown lacks the GOP votes necessary to ask voters to extend tax increases, a central part of his budget proposal.

The Democratic governor had been negotiating with a splinter group of five Republican senators, but he declined to say how many of those Republicans he still is contacting, if any.

"I'm talking with some people," he said while walking from the Capitol to the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, where he was addressing a group. "That's all I can say."

Brown, who huddled with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Perez this morning for less than an hour, said he expects budget votes in the Legislature this week, even if those votes only address spending reductions, one part of his budget.

"I think there are some Republicans who are very committed to doing something, but so far there's no, there's no agreement," he said. "We'll have some votes, though, sometime during the week, and then we'll see where we are."

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said he will make an announcement today about when the Senate might vote on Brown's budget. He said it will be "very soon."

"We're going to get to our floor, begin the debate and keep coming back day after day," Steinberg said.

It was less clear what to expect on the Assembly side.

"Still moving forward," Perez said. "We're hopeful to have a resolution soon, but we'll see how conversations proceed."

Brown maintained he will not try to push his tax measure through the Legislature on a majority vote. He said he wants Republican support and that, "No matter how many times you ask me, I'm going to say the same thing."

Brown is proposing a mix of spending cuts and tax extensions to resolve a $26.6 billion deficit.

He criticized Republicans for failing to propose spending cuts they could support.

"Most of the time they want to spend more money, like redevelopment or this project or that project," Brown said. "Those who really want to cut the budget appear to be more in the Democratic majority than in the other party."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said this morning that budget negotiations with Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans will continue throughout the weekend, with a floor vote likely by next week.

"We are certainly shooting for, you know, at the very latest Monday, or early, early next week," Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said as he left the governor's office with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles. "We're going to work it hard through the weekend."

Brown, negotiating with a splinter group of Republican senators, asked Steinberg and Pérez on Wednesday to delay budget votes planned for today, missing his self-imposed deadline but affording him more time to negotiate.

"There comes a point in any process or negotiation where it's very hard to turn back," Steinberg said. "I hope that that's where we're at."

Steinberg and Pérez declined to be specific about negotiating points. The Republican senators have demanded pension, regulatory and other reforms.

Pérez said, "We've got some more work to do, but we're making progress."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said after meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown this afternoon that the Senate will vote Thursday to pass spending reductions in Brown's budget plan, despite lacking Republican support for tax extensions.

"We plan to go ahead and take the governor's proposal up in a serious way, including passing the cuts on Thursday," Steinberg said. "We're prepared to pass cuts. ... If the Assembly passes them as well, they get sent to the governor, and I assume he would sign cuts."

Brown acknowledged Monday he does not have the Republican votes necessary to ask voters to extend temporary tax increases on vehicles, income and sales, a central part of his budget proposal.

Brown, who said Monday that he might not reach his Thursday budget deadline, said today that there has been some "movement," though he declined to say what that might be.

"There's a little movement, yes there is," Brown said after meeting with Steinberg. "Not as much as I want, but it's there."

The Democratic governor said he still is talking to Republican lawmakers. Five Republican senators said Monday that they were at an impasse.

The five senators, Tom Berryhill, Sam Blakeslee, Anthony Cannella, Bill Emmerson, and Tom Harman, said in a joint statement this afternoon that they met again with Brown today "out of a mutual desire to keep the conversation moving forward."

Brown said he remains "reasonably confident" that he will reach a budget deal.

Steinberg said of Thursday's vote, "We're going to put up the governor's plan."

UPDATE 4:30 p.m.: This post was updated to include a statement from five Republican senators who said they met again with Brown.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that Republicans opposing Gov. Jerry Brown's tax extension election proposal without signaling a willingness to compromise need to understand that voters elected Brown and a Democratic majority in the Legislature.

Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton said last week in an interview with The Bee that he's "not interested in providing any votes" for the plan, which needs two-thirds approval to pass, and doesn't expect members of his caucus will be either.

Steinberg called the Rancho Cucamonga Republican a "good guy and a good Californian," but said taking the approach of "if I can look at this and say that it will solve the problem, I'll vote for it" doesn't hold up because "his view of how to solve the problem is different from the majority party's."

"That's where compromise is required," Steinberg said, adding: "We get nowhere when you take the position that if we were in the majority we would do things this way. They're not in the majority and that's the decision of the people, so help us create fiscal stability in ways that are, I think, consistent with the views and the values of the majority of California voters as reflected in the last election."

Steinberg said he believes a majority of Republicans "know that this (budget proposal) is the most responsible and down-the-middle framework that has been advanced."

PHOTO CREDIT: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, speaks at the Capitol Bureau on Jan. 20, 2011. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today he hopes the owners of the Sacramento Kings are keeping the impact of the economic crisis in mind as they contemplate the future of the professional basketball team.

"There just isn't a lot of money, and I hope the Maloofs would recognize that and would say look, believe in Sacramento and recognize the loyalty that Sacramento has provided in its fan base and with its great enthusiasm for this team over many years," the Sacramento Democrat said. "This can be worked out. The economy is improving. People see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel here."

News broke in recent days that the Maloofs, who own the team, and Anaheim officials have discussed moving the team to Orange County.

In 2006, after he was termed out of the Assembly and before he was elected to the Senate, Steinberg represented the Maloof family in failed negotiations for public financing for a new arena.

While Steinberg said he hopes "whatever they're talking about in Anaheim doesn't work out and there's a little more time," he echoed Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's comments that city and business leaders' latest effort to construct a new downtown arena will continue -- with or without the Kings.

"I don't think it changes our commitment to try to build a downtown entertainment arena," he said. "When it comes to the world of professional sports, you only have so much control. Sacramento is great with the Kings and if they leave we will still be great."

But he said his underlying message for the team remains: "Don't go."

"This can be worked out," he said. "The economy is improving. People see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel here and stay, stay where you are, we want you here"

What could compel a trio of Senate Democrats as well as environmental and business leaders to come together and start combing through 28,000 pages of state regulations?

"We want to talk about Section one-oh-one-oh-hundred-point-one here today," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said as he scanned one of dozens of binders stacked next to a podium at a morning press conference.

Really?

"No, not really," he said, laughing.

The actual occasion? Legislation the sponsors say will create a better business environment by shedding unnecessary regulations from the books.

Senate Bill 366, co-authored by Democratic Sens. Ron Calderon and Fran Pavley , would give state agencies 180 days to review regulations and identify "duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date," provisions that should be eliminated. The bill would also direct the the state agency heads to join forces for one year to streamline the business permitting process.

"If we can eliminate the duplication, if we can make government more user friendly, helping people and businesses comply with the law instead of making it more difficult to comply with the law, we can make a real difference in growing jobs here in California," said Steinberg, who had outlined the proposal in an earlier interview with The Bee.

The final decision of what regulations to remove from law would require action from either the Democratic-majority Legislature or Gov. Jerry Brown. Steinberg and the bill's supporters, which include the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the California League of Conservation Voters, pledged to keep in place existing regulations that protect consumers, the environment, health and public safety.

"I wouldn't be standing here today if I didn't think we could do both, maintain a strong healthy, vibrant economy and maintain a healthy environment as well. It's not mutually exclusive," Pavley said.

Metro Chamber President and CEO Matthew Mahood said the legislation and other steps to better the climate for business in California could bring his and other business groups on board to support Brown's proposal to ask voters' to extend temporary tax rates set to expire.

"We want to see this regulatory reform happen in a timely manner and if we start seeing the state legislature move in that direction, our board and our members are willing to support the extension of the sales tax and fees," Mahood said.

He said the Metro Chamber and members plan to "push" legislators to "think big" about overhauling the regulatory system, but did not list specifics.

Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton expressed skepticism about the impact the Democrats' bill would actually have, saying "actions speak louder than words so you'll have to see what happens."

"I'm kind of interested to see exactly what they're talking about, because it sounds good but if they don't really go through and actually evaluate these regulations and their impact, then frankly it's not going to do us a lot of good," the Rancho Cucamonga Republican told The Bee Capitol Bureau this afternoon.

Others criticized the proposal for not going far enough. California Republican Party spokesman Mark Standriff said Democrats should embrace recent GOP-backed proposals that would target regulations that have the most impact, not just duplication or ineffective portions of the code.

"This is regulatory spring cleaning," he said of the Senate Democrats' plan. "What the Republicans in the Senate and the Assembly are looking at is real regulatory reform."

VIDEO CREDIT: Binders containing all the regulations currently on the California books are brought into a morning press conference at the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce office. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

A light-hearted blunder by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg could have been grist for a "Wanna Get Away?" commercial.

The 51-year-old Sacramento Democrat was presiding in Citrus Heights over a community town hall meeting about the state budget Saturday when a middle-aged woman, perhaps his age, took to the microphone and heaped praise on him.

"That's very kind," Steinberg told the woman, then he tried to make light of the compliments by turning to the crowd and quipping: "That's my mother!"

Spectators laughed, but the woman seemed taken aback as to how she could be mistaken for someone in her 70s or 80s.

Steinberg, blushing, regrouped quickly.

"Just joking, just joking," he told her, smiling.

"My SISTER! My SISTER!"

The crowd roared.

Minutes later, the two shared a good-natured hug.

Paper Tiger?

In honor of Chinese New Year, the Assembly distributed a paper flier to members Thursday honoring the 12 animals of the Chinese calendar and listing 1938, the year of Gov. Jerry Brown's birth, as a "Year of the Tiger."

Brown is honest, strong, spirited, rebellious, brave and dynamic, according to the flier, provided by the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Council.

The Democratic governor shares those traits with Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton and Assembly GOP leader Connie Conway, both of whom were born in 1950, another "tigerish" year.

Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez's birthdate is in 1969 -- five months after Brown celebrated his 31st birthday -- and he is listed as confident, precise, candid and optimistic within the "Year of the Rooster."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg was born in 1959, a "Year of the Boar," and he is happy, gallant, reliable, courageous and generous, suggested the flier, which did not indicate whether it was printed by a Democrat or Republican.

In keeping with Chinese New Year, Democratic Assemblyman Richard Pan of Sacramento presented Pérez with a drawing of a koi, honored in folklore for swimming against the current.

Symbolic? Indeed.

"We hope, like the koi, we will overcome our fiscal difficulties and bring jobs and abundance to the people of California," Pan said.

This year, by the way, is a "Year of the Rabbit."

PHOTO CREDIT: A white tiger rests inside an enclosure at Beijing Zoo in Beijing, China, Monday, Feb. 8, 2010. AP Photo/ Vincent Thian

Flanked by solar energy business people and investors, legislative Democrats announced today that they're resurrecting a bill to require utilities to buy at least 33 percent of California's electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The bill is designed to inspire investor confidence and complement Assembly Bill 32, California's greenhouse gas reduction law. Voters last November rejected Proposition 23, which would have suspended AB 32.

Legislators presented the proposal as well as related measures as a pro-business effort to help create jobs.

"The budget is and remains our top priority, and it is essential to the economic health of our state that we put our fiscal house in order as quickly as possible," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

"But while we do so," Steinberg said, "we must also continue to provide state and national leadership in our ongoing efforts to strengthen California's economy by supporting emerging industries, improving public education and creating jobs for Californians."

Two other measures described at the Capitol press conference would expedite permits for the location and construction of renewable energy projects in California, and create school curriculum for "green partnership academies" that use grants to provide students with skills to enter renewable-energy jobs.

Another bill would dedicate a portion of state ratepayer funds to loan guarantees that would help homeowners and business owners install energy-efficient technology.

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, today said he will pursue emergency legislation forcing state agencies to review all regulations and recommend a wholesale re-writing of the state's regulatory scheme.

In an interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau, Steinberg said he'll propose "urgency legislation that directs each state agency to review its regulations, identify any duplicative, archaic or inconsistent rules."

Steinberg said lawmakers could then act on the recommendations over the next six months, perhaps expunging some rules from the 5,000-page California Code of Regulations as part of the state budget negotiations.

"To our knowledge, no one, not a previous governor, not the agencies and not the Legislature have ever compelled this sort of retrospective review to ensure that state regulations are streamlined, that they're up to date and that they're consistent with the law," Steinberg said.

The idea drew a positive response from Sen. Bob Dutton, the minority Republican Senate leader, who said that GOP bills to eliminate regulations have met with defeat for years in the Legislature.

"I would like to thank Senate Pro Tem Steinberg for his decision today to introduce urgency legislation to review all of California's thousands of regulations that have contributed to the loss of private-sector jobs over the past several years," Dutton, of Rancho Cucamonga, said in a statement.

Democratic leader Steinberg said his is not an effort to "weaken or undermine public health, environmental or worker safety protections," but rather to make it easier for businesses to "wade through the often difficult, complicated, duplicative bureaucracies that delay economic investment and job growth."

Steinberg, who held a Senate Democratic Caucus meeting this week with high-profile business figures, said he also wants urgency legislation that allows businesses or others to request a "consolidated and coordinated" state review process to obtain permits.

"Government needs to be more nimble," Steinberg said.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg suggested Friday that lawmakers won't pursue an immediate freeze on redevelopment activities, contrary to fears that have prompted cities to approve a flurry of projects in the last week.

Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, said during a meeting with the Bee Capitol Bureau that it is "not a constructive move" for cities to rush money out the door to thwart Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal.

But, he added, "I don't anticipate emergency legislation because I think we're six weeks away from an actual budget vote, and I think that I'd rather not have that difficult debate twice. I think we'll have it once."

Steinberg focused his attention on the $1.7 billion in redevelopment funds that Gov. Jerry Brown wants to tap to balance the 2011-12 budget. He said that piece was "obviously crucial," though he said he's "open to sitting down with the redevelopment agencies" to discuss Brown's proposal to dissolve them.

Senate Democrats holding a closed-door policy conference today and Wednesday are reviewing options for slashing the state budget and listening to the concerns and ideas of Safeway's CEO and other business interests.

"The issue of jobs and the economy in the Capitol bubble sometimes doesn't lead to the most productive solutions," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told the Bee.

He said the Senate Democratic Caucus is hearing "sobering" presentations about the state budget deficit that must be back-filled.

Senators will hear more Wednesday on "what policy makers can do to attract and retain high-wage industries in California," Steinberg said.

Among the speakers: Steve Burd, CEO of Safeway and a Republican; green energy supporter and SunPower CEO Thomas Werner; wealthy Democrat Tom Steyer, founder of Farallon Capital Management; Edward de la Rosa, an investment banker from Los Angeles; and a representative of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

Senators are interested in hearing about green energy and how several bills they have pending could promote job growth in that area. They're also interested, Steinberg said, in hearing about the impact budget cuts could have on the state's economy.

"We're not taking vote cards here today," Steinberg said, commenting on whether the caucus is united in backing Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed $12.6 billion in cuts. However, he said, "there is a common commitment to making the cuts that are necessary."

Economists from the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses made presentations today. The senators are meeting at the UC Davis MIND Institute, part of the school's medical treatment and research complex in Sacramento.

PHOTO CREDIT: Safeway CEO Steve Burd smiles as he sits in a Safeway truck at a Safeway store in Dublin, Calif., Friday, Jan. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/ Paul Sakuma)

Former Los Angeles Times Bureau Chief Virginia Ellis has been appointed to the Little Hoover Commission, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced today.

The independent state oversight panel is tasked with making recommendations for improving efficiency and service in state government. Ellis, who left the Times in 2008, won a string of awards for investigative work while at the paper. She had previously worked at papers in Texas and Florida.

Steinberg announced several other appointments made by the Rules Committee. The full release is posted after the jump.

Days after saying Democrats should have to deal with the budget on their own, Republican Tom Berryhill is set to be stripped of his Senate Food and Agriculture Committee chairmanship.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has penned a letter asking Rules Committee members to approve handing off the Oakdale Republican's gavel to newly elected Sen. Anthony Cannella, R-Ceres.

"Each member of the California State Senate represents nearly one million people and we have a duty, regardless of party or philosophy, to actively engage in the serious work necessary to address the challenges confronting California," Steinberg wrote in the letter.

A Berryhill representative was not immediately available for comment.

Berryhill said he saw no reason for Republicans to propose an alternative to Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal, telling The Bee that the budget "is really not our problem."

"The Democrats own this, and we think that they should be giving us what the solutions are," he said.

In closing his letter, Steinberg wrote that Berryhill "is a man of integrity and substance, and I am confident he will so engage in the months ahead."

Berryhill, a former Assemblyman elected to the Senate in November, was named chair of the committee last week. Cannella, his proposed replacement, is one of two Republican members of the Senate who has not signed the Americans for Tax Reform's no-tax pledge.

The Rules Committee, which Steinberg chairs, is scheduled to meet next Wednesday. The letter is posted below.

Rules Letter Berryhill

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said today that Gov. Jerry Brown's recommended $12 billon-plus in budget cuts - including huge slashes in social services - are different from Brown's Republican predecessor's because they are more "across the board" and include restructuring state government.

"I hate these cuts," Steinberg said at a Capitol press conference. But, he said, "I think this is a realistic budget."

As Steinberg spoke, interests defending childcare and social welfare programs began circulating to react to cuts in Brown's proposal, which also would ask voters to extend tax increases expiring this year.

"There is a recognition in this proposal that we have run out of patches," Steinberg said. "And we have been criticized, understandably so, for the various patches over the years. Our motive was to try to save as much public investment as possible, for education, for health care, for the needy."

"Well," Steinberg said, "the federal funds have run out. The temporary taxes are ending. There are no more patches."

He said Democrats will review the proposals Brown put on the table and may "quibble" with some. But in general, he said, Brown is asking for "sacrifices across the board - including with some of the corporate tax breaks."

The Senate Budget Committee will meet Thursday to begin deliberating the recommendations, Steinberg said.

"While I'm not ready to endorse any particular cut," Steinberg said. "I'm also very clear that I can't in good conscience reject any proposal out of hand."

Steinberg also predicted Republicans, in the end, would be reluctant to allow a tax deal to collapse and trigger deeper cuts than the more than $12 billion Brown proposed.

Seante President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced committee chair assignments for the new session today.

In addition to reassigning gavels, Steinberg changed the structure of several standing committees.

The Revenue & Taxation and Local Government committees were merged, forming the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance. The new committee will be chaired by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis.

The Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee was divided into two committees, with Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, chairing Banking and Finance and Sen. Ron Calderon,D-Montebello, at the helm of the Insurance Committee.

The assignments, posted after the jump, are set to be confirmed at a Rules Committee hearing on Jan. 12. Full committee assignments are expected within a week.

The state Senate will not confirm five people former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the State Board of Education, leaving room for Gov. Jerry Brown to appoint seven new people to the board today.

The result is a shake-up on the board that sets policy for the state's public schools, with the loss of members who supported reforms -- such as the "parent trigger" law that allows parents to overhaul low-performing schools -- and the addition of a member from the California Teachers Association, which opposes such changes.

The Senate never confirmed Ted Mitchell, David Lopez , Alan Arkatov , Benjamin Austin and James Fang. The Senate wanted to allow Brown to form his own education team, said Nathan Barankin, spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

"From our perspective we have a new governor and it's up to the governor to establish his own administration," Barankin said. "That includes selecting the leaders of key policy areas, and that certainly includes education."

Two other board of education members -- Ruth Bloom and Johnathan Williams -- have terms that expire next week.

Brown's appointments include two people who served on the board of education during his first stint as governor as well as a lobbyist for the California Teachers Association.

The appointments, all Democrats, include:

• Louis "Bill" Honig of Marin (shown above), the president of the Consortium on Reading Excellence. He was the Superintendent of Public Instruction until he was forced to resign in 1993 after being convicted of felony conflict-of-interest charges. Honig was found guilty of authorizing $337,509 in state funds to pay local schools to hire his wife's nonprofit foundation, Quality Education Project, to set up parent involvement programs. The charges were later reduced to misdemeanors. Honig previously served on the state Board of Education under Gov. Brown from 1975 to 1983.
• Michael Kirst of Palo Alto, a Professor Emeritus at Stanford University and member of the the state Board of Education under Gov. Brown from 1975 to 1982.
• Aida Molina of Bakersfield, the executive director on academic improvement and accountability for the Bakersfield City School District and a former commissioner with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Molina has been a principal in Bakersfield and the Sacramento Unified School District and an assistant principal with the Galt Joint Union Elementary School District.
• Carl Anthony Cohn of Palm Springs, a professor and the co-director of the Urban Leadership Program at Claremont Graduate University. Cohn previously served as the superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District and the Long Beach Unified School District.
• James Ramos of San Bernardino, Chairman for the San Manuel Band of Indians and a member of the San Bernardino Community College Board of Trustees.
• Patricia Ann Rucker of Elk Grove, the legislative advocate for the California Teachers Association. Previously, she was a teacher in the Del Paso Heights School District.
• Trish Boyd Williams of San Jose, the executive director of EdSource. Previously, Williams worked for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Appointments to the state Board of Education require Senate confirmation and are compensated $100 per diem.

PHOTO: Bill Honig in 1996. Rich Pedroncelli/The Associated Press

Editor's note: This post has been changed from earlier versions to reflect that the Senate failed to confirm five board members. Updated at 4:53 p.m., Jan. 5, 2011.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said after Gov. Jerry Brown's inaugural address today that Brown's post-inauguration period of goodwill could help him to resolve California's budget crisis, but that Brown and the Legislature must succeed quickly.

"He's going to use these first months where he has, you know, I think, a real sense of goodwill, from not only the people, but also from the legislature," said Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "We're going to put this fiscal crisis behind us early ... If we don't put the fiscal crisis behind us early, everything else we do will then pale."

Steinberg said politicians have many positive things to focus on, such as green energy and job creation, but that "first we have to show the people that we can put this fiscal crisis behind us, and put it behind us in the first six months."

Asked about Brown's intention, according to sources, to put a tax-extension matter on the June ballot and to propose dramatic reductions to virtually every area of state service, Steinberg said, "I don't like them (the cuts), but I'm prepared to work with my caucus and to work with the minority party and to work with the governor to do what has to be done."

He said Democrats would not "just take the governor's budget proposal and pass it on Day 1," but he said they would accelerate their review of his budget proposal and "work together to get it done."

"I don't like those cuts," Steinberg said. "But I'm not going to reject them out of hand."

Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, said Republicans had better start cheering for Brown, too.

"I want Jerry Brown to be successful. If he is, the state's successful," he said. "I think every Republican out there should hope he's successful, as well. We can't afford an unsuccessful governor."

Newsom said Republicans and Democrats must both be prepared to accept massive spending reductions. Everyone is "in for a rough ride," Newsom said. "We all need to get in together."

Legislative heavyweights wearing "I'm Not a Girlie Man" T-shirts sang a budget-themed version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at his wrap party last week.

Taking the stage in front of Schwarzenegger and hundreds of supporters and staffers were Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, former Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines, former Senate Republican leaders Jim Brulte and Dick Ackerman, and former Assembly Speakers Bob Hertzberg and Fabian Núñez.

The Republicans wore red. The Democrats wore blue.

Among the gifts they said Schwarzenegger gave in their "Big Five" negotiations were "eight accounting gimmicks," "five bucks for schools," "three furlough Fridays," and "two vetoed bills."

The party, at Sacramento Convention Center, was paid for by private sponsors and included appearances by various stars. Among them was Vanessa Williams, who also sang.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg gave a special performance Wednesday night at the Sacramento Press Club Gridiron Gala. Here's a video by Bee photographer and videographer Hector Amezcua:

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, has written to state university chiefs to object to new fee increases after legislators restored and boosted state funding this year to the embattled systems.

During tough budget negotiations, Steinberg said in a letter Thursday, "we provided more than $600 million in additional funding to backfill for cuts made in recent years while also funding for increased enrollment, class sections and vital student services."

"Consequently, I am deeply concerned about the recently adopted fee increased by CSU and UC and the impact they will on our students, their families and our economy," the letter said. "Passing more costs on to students and families threatens to price more Californians out of a quality higher education."

The UC regents on Thursday voted to hike tuition by 8 percent next year - on top of a 32 percent increase approved last year. The California State University board of trustees earlier this month voted to raise fees by 5 percent in January and 10 percent in the fall.

Steinberg's letter is addressed to Russell Gould, chair of the UC regents; Mark Yudof, president of the University of California; Herbert Carter, chair of the CSU board of trustees; and Charles Reed, CSU chancellor.

Read the letter here

California State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg celebrated California's strong Democratic showing in Tuesday's election, but invited Republicans on Wednesday to "come on in" and help reshape that state's troubled government and budget process.

"I'm so glad that I live in California," he told reporters at the Capitol. "It was obviously a difficult night for Democrats across the country. But in California I think the voters sent a different message. The voters, I think, said to us that they don't want to engage in the divisive tea party type of politics. They want us to govern in a way that addresses their lives."

He said Democratic Gov.-elect Jerry Brown's victory shows Californians want someone with experience and "intellectual depth to be able to work to help tackle California's complex problems."

Voters gave state Democrats another present Tuesday with Proposition 25, which allows legislators to pass a budget -- but not taxes -- with a simple majority instead of approval by at least two-thirds of legislators. Steinberg called Proposition 25 "a game changer" and said there is no reason now for legislators and Brown to not approve a budget on time.

But Steinberg conceded that voters sent a "mixed message," because they "gave with one hand, and took with the other."

As a crowd behind him cheered Jerry Brown's lead in the gubernatorial race, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said this evening that if Brown wins and Proposition 25 passes, life will be a lot easier in Sacramento.

Brown is a Democrat, the Legislature is controlled by Democrats, and Proposition 25 would lower the threshold for the Legislature's adoption of a state budget from two-thirds to a simple majority.

"If Prop. 25 passes tonight, you will see a significant change, because the budget will, in fact, get done on time," Steinberg told reporters at Brown's election night party in Oakland. "It will allow us, as I said, to focus on so many other positive agendas, whether it's the environment, whether its renewable energy, whether it's education."

Steinberg seemed pleased by the prospect of a Democratic administration. The incumbent, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is a Republican.

"I'm really looking forward to working with him (Brown)," Steinberg said. "I mean, I think he has a real intellectual depth. I think he will, he will dive in, he'll be very detail oriented, and I look forward to that. The problems are complicated. And he'll do very, very well."

When Sen. Rod Wright was indicted on charges of perjury and voter fraud last month, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg came to his defense.

"Rod Wright has my full support and is presumed innocent," Steinberg said at the time. "He will remain in his position in the Senate and I intend to personally contribute to his Legal Defense Fund."

Steinberg made good on that pledge, contributing $10,000 from his re-election committee to Wright's legal fund, according to reports filed this week.

Wright, a Democrat, is accused of fraudulently claiming he lives in an Inglewood rental complex in the 25th Senate District he represents. Prosecutors from the Los Angeles County district attorney's office allege Wright actually lives in a home in Baldwin Hills, part of the 26th Senate District. He is also accused of lying about his residence during a 2003 city council run, according to grand jury testimony transcripts unsealed this week.

Wright, who has pleaded not guilty, is next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 10. The "Taxpayers for Rod Wright Legal Defense Fund" committee has raised $68,000 to help pay for his legal bills, according to campaign disclosures reported on the secretary of state website.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood speaking on the Senate floor on Thursday, August 20, 2009. Hector Amezcua, Sacramento Bee.

Who's your governor today?

If you guessed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, you'd be wrong. If you guessed Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, you'd also be wrong.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is now in charge.

Maldonado is now in Miami, where he and his father are shooting a documentary of his life for the Spanish-language network Telemundo, according to spokeswoman Amanda Fulkerson. And Schwarzenegger is in London, taking some time off today before meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron and British troops tomorrow.

That means California's third-in-line, the Senate pro tem, is in charge.

We don't know what footage Telemundo will use as part of the documentary, but surely it has to include Maldonado's appearance at the 2008 Republican National Convention. We hope he removed the gum from his mouth before speaking into the camera this time.

Fulkerson says Maldonado is due back in California later today.

Democrats believed that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would line-item veto about $500 million in spending items, but they were never told which particulars he would cut, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday.

The Sacramento Democrat said he never thought the Republican governor would veto as much as $962.5 million.

"We presented the governor a list of items that we believed were worthy of protection and these items were on the list," Steinberg said, referring to child care for low-income parents, child welfare services and mental health services for special education students.

"The governor did not make any iron clad deal promises on the list, but that's sort of beside the point," Steinberg added. "We negotiated an agreement, and he ultimately has the constitutional authority to blue pencil. But he also has the responsibility to make sure he uses that blue pencil in a way that is judicious and in a way that is compassionate. And this is gratuitous."

Under the $256 million child care cut, former welfare-to-work participants now employed in low-income jobs would lose subsidized care for their children starting Nov. 1. Steinberg held a press conference Wednesday at a Discovery Tree School in downtown Sacramento to protest the vetoes.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg will try to reverse Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item budget vetoes when the next legislative session begins in December, according to his spokeswoman, Alicia Trost.

Schwarzenegger vetoed $962.5 million in spending when he signed the budget Friday. The governor targeted many of his line-item vetoes at programs for low-income Californians, including child care for the working poor. Schwarzenegger said his vetoes were necessary to ensure the state has a prudent reserve of more than $1.3 billion.

Democrats reacted with anger, as some lawmakers said they were misled into voting for a budget that they believed would protect social service programs.

Steinberg's strategy does not rely on overriding the line-item vetoes, which would take a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Instead, it seems that Steinberg intends to ask Democrats to reauthorize spending for the programs slashed by the governor.

It's unclear to what extent Steinberg's plan relies upon passage of Proposition 25, which would reduce the state's budget requirement of a supermajority vote to a majority vote. Even without passage of Proposition 25, lawmakers could appropriate funds for education on a majority vote - including the $256 million in child care funds that Schwarzenegger vetoed.

Steinberg's strategy also seems to rely on having a new governor take office who would sign such appropriations. In other words, Democrats would need Jerry Brown to win in November and then send their legislation to Brown once he takes office in January.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won one budget battle this week - the location of today's meeting with legislative leaders in Southern California.

The governor will host leaders at his private Oak Productions office in Santa Monica today at 1 p.m., according to Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, initially wanted to have the meeting at the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles.

For those unfamiliar with the governor's Santa Monica office, Washington Monthly described it in 2005 as follows:

It is quite unlike any governor's office anywhere in the country, that much is certain. The walls are lined with movie posters and photographs of Schwarzenegger in all manner of political and commercial poses. Outside the door to his inner office stands a life-size mock up of Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, his face half gone and a red laser eye gleaming. Inside the office, amid a jumble of movie memorabilia, rests a stuffed crocodile. Overall, the effect is interior design by a very rich, very extravagant 16 year-old.

Legislative leaders are having an unusual budget road meeting in Santa Monica because the governor came down with a cold and was unable to fly to Sacramento this week. Today marks the 84th day of the budget impasse. On Friday, leaders will break the record for budget tardiness that was set in 2008.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic and Republican legislative leaders huddled for about three hours today to hammer out a long-delayed budget deal and bridge a $19 billion deficit.

The only concrete result appeared to be the governor taking off the table a proposal to borrow money from the California Public Employees' Retirement System to balance the budget.

The Big Five will meet again at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow.

"The governor told the leaders that we're not going to do that," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear about the CalPERS idea. "It's just not the responsible thing to do."

Senate President Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, expressed some optimism that legislators could reach a deal by as early as tomorrow.

"We're hopeful to be done tomorrow or the weekend," Steinberg said.

Republican legislative leaders did not speak to press after the meeting.

McLear, however, said Democrat and Republican leaders hadn't made substantial process and blamed legislators for "not doing their job." Schwarzenegger returned yesterday from a six-day trip to Asia 77 days after the legal deadline for passing a budget had passed.

"No major breakthroughs at all," McLear said. "Just kind of working through all the issues."

McLear and Steinberg agreed that the impasse revolved around how much in cuts to make. Steinberg added that the governor needed to first finish collective bargaining agreements with state employee unions.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's forthcoming trade mission in Asia seemed like an obvious opportunity for Democrats to attack the GOP governor, given that he will be on a six-day overseas trip while the state lacks a budget and IOUs loom in the horizon.

And given the references to Schwarzenegger's "vacation" coming out of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's office last month and today, it seemed like attacks were inevitable.

But Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez softened their approach Tuesday following a 90-minute meeting with Schwarzenegger and GOP legislative leaders. Pérez even offered an economic argument for why the governor should go.

The change in tone seemed to be a budget peace offering.

"We live in the modern times, and if the governor is there or here, we can engage in important conversations," Pérez said. "Our objective is to try to get to resolution as quickly as possible. One of the things we've said is, we want to make sure we have budgetary solutions that make sense for the economic prosperity of the state. So the last thing we want to do is be an impediment to securing the trade relations and the benefit of those relations at the same time."

Steinberg acknowledged that it would be easier to solve the budget in face-to-face talks, but he added, "Look, we'll make anything work. As John said, with technology, we can get the job done either way."

Democrats have floated a new version of their tax swap to raise as much as $1 billion in the current fiscal year.

Assembly Republican Leader Martin Garrick, R-Solana Beach, said Republicans still have to examine the new proposal. But he added that any change would not take effect until 2011, in which case the plan would raise significantly less money than Democrats had hoped for. If the plan does not take effect until 2011, it would raise $250 million in the current fiscal year, according to Steinberg's office.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger throws shirts into the crowd at a California Grown event in Hong Kong on Nov. 19. 2005, the last day of his six-day trade mission to China. Sacramento Bee file photo/ Brian Baer

Don't call Tuesday's budget exercise a drill. So says Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who was so afraid of that characterization that he referred Monday to the criticism as "the D-word."

"We should not end this formal legislative session without having a full floor debate and votes on our respective visions of California," Steinberg said. "I know the 'D-word' gets used all the time, and I reject that."

Plenty of people have been scratching their heads about why legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to hold floor votes tomorrow on competing budget plans. After all, neither Republicans nor Democrats have the requisite votes to pass their plans off the floor, and two Democratic members who have health issues will remain at home.

But, stuck at an impasse, the "Big Five" leaders feel that a floor vote may be just the thing to get their compromise juices flowing.

"I think it could be cathartic," Steinberg said. "And you know, hopefully it will lead sooner than later to a negotiated solution. The thing is, we would all like to be done with this. I don't think there's any political benefit to this continuing. But the differences are very real, and they relate to our respective views about the importance of public investment in making California great."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said earlier this week that $1.2 billion in new federal aid for teachers is "separate from the budget," a change from remarks a couple weeks ago.

The Sacramento Democrat previously suggested that California should consider a new federal aid package as beneficial for the state budget particularly because the $1.2 billion for teacher jobs was unexpected relief.

But education groups argued that the federal teacher aid should be considered on top of any money state leaders already planned to give schools. They want the money to be ignored in the budget process.

In an online town hall Tuesday, Steinberg said he agrees with that position. He pointed to urgency legislation that he and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez introduced last week that would provide schools the money before the budget is passed.

"That is separate from the budget," Steinberg said. "Even if you take that $1.2 billion, and you add it to our funding level for K-12 education, it barely gets you there in terms of keeping the per pupil spending ratio what it was last year. ... We're going to fight for as high a level of education funding as we can, even in these difficult times."

PHOTO CAPTION: Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) sits in the principal's office at Smythe Academy Middle School in Sacramento on Thursday, August 12, 2010. Randall Benton/ Sacramento Bee

The stakes were high, with President Barack Obama and Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman getting involved.

But in the end, state Senate Democratic leader Darrell Steinberg said today, his party's defeat in a key Central Coast Senate election Tuesday boiled down to one thing: timing.

"I think the die was cast with the special election date being set in the middle of summer rather than November," Steinberg said after Democrat John Laird lost to Republican Sam Blakeslee.

Laird, a former Santa Cruz area assemblyman, agreed. He disputed the GOP version of Blakeslee's victory in the 15th Senate District as a no-new-taxes and cut-spending-only mandate.

"The low turnout of an August election was just too high a hurdle," said Laird, who called Blakeslee, a San Luis Obispo assemblyman, at midnight to congratulate him. With all precincts partially or fully reporting, Blakeslee topped Laird 49 percent to 44 percent.

One of the defining cuts of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed May budget was the elimination of welfare-to-work.

The proposal would make California the only state without a welfare program and cost the state more than $3.7 billion in federal funds to save $1.2 billion in state expenditures. For those reasons, many people considered the elimination a negotiating ploy.

Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers still say publicly that the state can't afford CalWORKs, which is heavily subsidized by the federal government but not required. Democrats have used the elimination as a prime example of why they think Schwarzenegger's May budget isn't very realistic.

But in an interview last week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg suggested that Republicans have backed away from the CalWORKs elimination in private talks. He noted that Republicans are now asking for $500 million in CalWORKs cuts - short of the $1.2 billion CalWORKs elimination.

Don't fret, jobless Californians. Democratic legislative leaders are here to save the day.

While they can't "guarantee" approval of a package of job-creating bills or the signing of a budget solution that will keep CalWORKS up and running, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez want to make sure California's unemployed look their best in their quest for a job.

The two top lawmakers are joining Men's Wearhouse to launch the chain's national "Suit Up for Success" clothing drive.

Lawmakers, lobbyists and staff are encouraged to donate "gently used" business attire to help job-seeking citizens "dress for success," according to a press release.

"Looking professional not only affects the people who see you, but how you see yourself," Men's Wearhouse CEO George Zimmer said in a statement. "The State Capitol Suit Drive gives job-seekers an extra boost of confidence as they re-enter the market."

Given the styles we see in the chambers, we're not sure taking fashion cues from state legislators would actually boost an applicant's chances. But well-dressed do-gooders can drop off their clothing on Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1121 L Street. More info on the actual event is posted at The State Worker blog.

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said today that a new Democratic tax swap proposal would raise taxes on middle-class Californians, counter to Democratic claims last week that it would lower taxes for all income groups.

The plan envisions raising state taxes on income and vehicles but lowering the state sales tax. Democrats said taxpayers would save by virtue of federal deductions and lower costs at the cash register.

But LAO State Finance Director Jason Sisney told a Senate committee the proposal would generally result in higher taxes for taxpayers earning between $20,000 and $200,000 a year. Sisney did not say how large the tax hikes would be for each income level, but he said the proposal would increase taxes overall by $1.6 billion in 2011-12.

Top-flight Democratic consultant Gale Kaufman has fallen out of favor with Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The Senate leader has removed Kaufman as a consultant on the Senate's most competitive battle in Senate District 12, a swing seat currently held by termed-out Republican Jeff Denham. Assemblywoman Anna Caballero originally hired Kaufman during the Senate primary and paid her $15,000 in April, records show.

Caballero's general election race against Republican Anthony Cannella is expected to be an expensive endeavor - not to mention a profitable one for consultants.

But two spring developments opened a rift between Kaufman and Steinberg, Democratic sources said. First, Kaufman served as the Democratic consultant on an independent expenditure campaign that helped Juan Vargas squeak out the narrowest of Democratic primary victories over Steinberg's preferred candidate, Mary Salas, in the 40th Senate District.

At the same time, Kaufman is the longtime adviser to the California Teachers Association, which mounted a public campaign against Steinberg in his own Sacramento district related to the state budget. The teachers' union paid for billboards, lawn signs and mailers urging voters to call Steinberg and tell him to support the Assembly's budget proposal. The Assembly plan provided more money for schools but required a legally risky, multibillion-dollar borrowing maneuver.

Kaufman and Steinberg representatives declined to comment for this report. Senate Democratic caucus adviser Jason Kinney said: "Anna Caballero is in an incredibly important race, and she's assembled one of the best political teams to work on it."

That team includes consultant Larry Sheingold.

Photo Credit: The Sacramento Bee, Randy Pench

After two days of recounting, former Assemblyman Juan Vargas is maintaining his paper-thin lead over Assemblywoman Mary Salas for the Democratic nomination in the 40th Senate District, which covers the state's southernmost region in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties.

Vargas had a 22-vote lead over Salas in the final electronic tally of the June 8 election. She sought a recount in San Diego and Riverside county portions of the district. The first two days of precinct-by-precinct manual recounting produced a handful of vote changes but no net difference.

Although the duel is between two Democrats, it pitted Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who backs Salas, and his union allies against a coalition of business groups that support Vargas as a more moderate, business-friendly Democrat. The district has an overwhelming Democratic voter registration so the eventual nominee is certain to succeed Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny, the Senate's top budget negotiator, who is being forced out of the Legislature by term limits.

Both counties are posting daily updates. San Diego's, covering just the second day of recounting, can be found here. Riverside's, a running total, is available here.

Rex Babin is the political cartoonist for The Bee. You can see a collection of his work here. Read Bee colleague Susan Ferriss' story on Steinberg's leadership challenges here.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's bill to overhaul teacher layoffs and reassignments survived its first legislative test today despite the opposition of teacher unions.

The measure is one of several points of friction between Steinberg and the unions, especially the powerful California Teachers Association, which has used billboards and mailings to criticize the Democratic head of the Senate.

Steinberg's Senate Bill 1285 was approved by the Assembly Education Committee on a 6-2 vote after a lengthy hearing. It's aimed at modifying the long-standing seniority system that, Steinberg and his allies say, creates high turnover and uncertainty in low-performing schools with high numbers of poor and nonwhite students.

"It's about civil rights," Steinberg told the committee.

The California Teachers Association is ramping up the budget pressure again on Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

This time, the union is explicit in its preference for a budget idea put forth by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez more than for Steinberg's Senate proposals.

A mailer is scheduled to go out Tuesday in Steinberg's Sacramento district addressed to "dear residents of the 6th State Senate District, Sacramento," according to CTA spokeswoman Sandra Jackson.

It contends that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to slash $4 billion more from education and that Democrats, "led by Speaker John Pérez," have developed an idea called the California Jobs Budget that "saves schools and students from these devastating cuts."

Jackson said the letter also says: "You can help by asking your senator, Darrell Steinberg, to join parents and educators and community members in supporting the Assembly's California Jobs Budget that will protect our students and create new jobs to help put California's economy back on track."

The mailer will include a card with a similar message that constituents are invited to sign and send to Steinberg.

In May, the CTA sent out a mailer to Steinberg's constituents and erected billboards in Sacramento to put pressure on him. The message was to hold the line against more cuts to education.

"Stop the blame. Stop the cuts," the California Teachers Union exhorted in a billboard and mailing campaign last month aimed at California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

Over the weekend, the Sacramento Democrat fired his own surgical strike with a "Dear Educator" letter to offer his side of the story. In a two-page letter, the mailing paid for by campaign funds seeks to remind teachers that Steinberg is on their side.

The ballroom at the Radisson Sacramento was filled with raucous laughter -- and raunchy jokes -- as lawmakers and politicos gathered Tuesday night to roast Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The annual roast, which benefits the California Center for Civic Participation, attracted high-profile roasters as well: Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, Senate GOP leader Dennis Hollingsworth, Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Chief of Staff Susan Kennedy and a surprise guest -- the governor himself. Former state Sen. Sheila Kuehl served as the master of ceremonies.

The roasters zinged Steinberg on his nice-guy approach and his receding hairline. But they also spent a lot of mic time making below-the-belt jabs at one another.

The audience was stacked with lawmakers and familiar third-house faces. Here are a few of the lines that got them laughing, as well as the "poem" Hollingsworth was inspired to pen for Kennedy after seeing the acrostic veto message Schwarzenegger delivered last year to Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco.

The memory of a Capitol staffer has brought a Republican assemblyman and the Senate's Democratic leader together to create a memorial scholarship fund to assist former foster youth.

The Julianne Huerta Memorial Scholarship fund is being coordinated by GOP Assemblyman Roger Niello of Fair Oaks and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

The scholarship honors Huerta, a Capitol fiscal and policy analyst who died in December 2008 after a five-year battle with breast cancer. The fundraising kicks off June 9 with an event at Capitol Garage.

Niello described Huerta as someone who maintained a positive, caring attitude even while undergoing chemotherapy in advanced stages of her disease. She was not married and had no children of her own, but she loved foster kids and dreamed of creating a scholarship for them, he said.

"She was an inspiring person," Niello said. "Quite frankly, I became so fond of her and she had such a feeling for foster kids that I just couldn't imagine not doing what I could to see that her wish would be honored."

The four legislative leaders who hammered out the February 2009 budget deal were honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award this morning.

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation selected Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, former Senate Republican leader Dave Cogdill and former Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines for showing courage in reaching a deal to close a $40 billion budget deficit in February 2009.

In presenting the award Caroline Kennedy, cousin of first lady Maria Shriver, commended the four lawmakers for setting aside differences to make tough choices and reach compromise.

"In today's climate of deeply partisan politics crossing party lines is all too rare," she said.

Lawmakers characterized the deal, which included steep cuts to social services and schools and temporary tax hikes, as difficult but necessary.

The Senate Rules Committee today recommended rejecting Board of Education nominee Jeannie Oropeza. The full Senate will likely vote on the nomination Thursday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated Oropeza last month for one of four open seats on the board. Oropeza, a Republican, works on education budget issues for the California Department of Finance. She also previously worked as an education budget consultant in the Assembly.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said that while Oropeza was qualified for the post, her day job at the Department of Finance created a conflict of interest.

"The point of a four-year, individual term is that it be independent," Steinberg said. "If Ms. Oropeza's day job is defending the governor's budget and helping the governor create policy, how can she under any circumstance act independently of those positions as a voting member of the Board of Education?"

Hoping to squeeze out more federal funds, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced today that they will meet with White House officials and congressional leaders next week in the nation's capital.

The two leaders, at a joint news conference, stressed that their goal is to seek billions legitimately owed to the state, not a handout.

"We're not going to Washington, D.C., to ask for a bailout of California," Pérez said.

They released a list of specific health-related programs for which they hope to secure additional funds from the Obama administration, addressing issues from medical care for the poor to federal matching funds linked to a new quality assurance fee to be imposed on hospitals by the state.

California Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today he has asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to work with him to review all state contracts with Arizona and possibly break them because of Arizona's new immigration police law.

"That bill is a gross civil-rights violation. We hope it will be overturned by the courts quickly," said the Sacramento Democrat, who sent a letter to Schwarzenegger today.

The new Arizona law requires local police officers to demand proof of legal status in the United States when officers believe there is reasonable suspicion that someone is an illegal immigrant. Latino and immigrant rights groups say the law will lead to racial profiling and vow to sue to stop it.

"It's a civil-rights issue whenever you set somebody aside because of the color of their skin or where they come from," said Steinberg, who is a lawyer. "And that applies to both legal immigrants, citizens and undocumented immigrants. I mean, how do you define reasonable suspicion? There's only one way under that law. And it's somebody who looks Mexican. Period."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, suggested Tuesday that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger bears blame for budget inaction after the governor rejected the most significant parts of a budget package Democrats have sent him in recent weeks.

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation just named the four legislative leaders from last February's contentious budget deal as this year's recipients of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.

The award-winning leaders include Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, former Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, former Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill and former Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday he doesn't plan to pursue a general tax hike again this year, largely because he doesn't think Republicans will sign on.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will not support tax hikes. GOP legislators also remain unlikely to support them after members suffered political consequences for supporting $12 billion in temporary tax hikes.

The Sacramento Democrat, appearing at the Sacramento Press Club, acknowledged the political difficulty of increasing taxes on sales or income this year to help close the state's $19.9 billion budget deficit.

"I don't plan to put forward a general tax increase, because I don't think we'll pass it," Steinberg said. "I'm not interested in my hair on fire when it's not going to lead to an actual, productive result."

He said Democrats instead will look instead at reducing corporate tax benefits, including those won by Republicans in the last two years of budget negotiations. The Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday took steps in that direction by rolling back affiliate tax-credit sharing and deductions for past operating losses as part of a complex gas-tax swap proposal.

The Senate is embracing the age-old resolution to slim down in the New Year.

In terms of committee sizes, at least.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg announced today that he has cut the membership of the Senate's standing committees. The move is intended to improve the efficiency of the legislative process and give members more time to focus on their committee work.

"Senators have a tremendous amount of talent and expertise," Steinberg said in a statement. "The new committee structure will allow them to dedicate even more of their time and energy to the most pressing issues confronting California and provide greater oversight of state government operations."

Committee leadership has stayed the same with one exception. Republican Sen. Dave Cox will replace Democratic Sen. Pat Wiggins as chair of the Local Government Committee. Democratic Sen. Christine Kehoe, was appointed to fill the vice chair spot previously held by Cox. On the budget subcommittee, Sen. Carol Liu has replaced current chair Sen. Gloria Romero.*

See the revised committee rosters after the jump.