Kali, as usual, is leading the way. If we don't SERIOUSLY get our stuff together, this article will be a picture of the entire country very soon.
Posted on 09/03/2002 2:44:42 PM PDT by snopercod
SACRAMENTO -- Bay Area motorists will face more severe smog checks, workers statewide will receive paid family leave and "sideshow" victims' fears will ease -- but poor drivers will pay more for insurance and Californians still will not have financial privacy.
That could be the impact of just a few of the hundreds of bills decided by legislators during the holiday weekend, amid unusual end-of-session chaos as lawmakers also finally broke a partisan deadlock in order to adopt a 2002-03 state budget.
Other measures, if signed by Gov. Gray Davis, would ask voters to approve a nearly $10 billion bond for high-speed rail service between the Bay Area and Southern California, repeal legal immunity for gun makers, attempt to thwart corporate accounting scandals, address an array of education woes and partially disclose doctors' medical malpractice settlements.
Still other bills approved by lawmakers would modestly reform the payday loan industry, rework laws on home construction defects, discourage homeowner association foreclosures, curb junk faxes, require skateboarders to wear helmets, permit Segway human transporters (electric scooters) on sidewalks, and change the timing of primary elections.
Davis on Monday began weighing whether to sign the measures into law, with some of them posing uncomfortable choices -- especially in an election year -- between con-sumer, environmental or laborgroups and the business interests that have contributed generously to his campaign.
Lawmakers, on the other hand, rejected measures that would have raised the legal smoking age from 18 to 21, bolstered open-government rules, forced all pro sports bodies playing in California to submit anti-doping policies and sought federal help in opposing any elimination of baseball teams -- an effort aimed at protecting the Oakland A's.
In turning aside one of the Democratic governor's thorniest potential dilemmas, the Assembly's moderate, pro-business Democrats and Republicans handed consumer groups and liberal Democrats, such as Sen. Jackie Speier of Daly City, a stinging defeat by blocking her landmark bid to restrict financial companies' widespread sharing of information about their customers.
"This isn't over, not by a long shot," Speier said Monday, vowing to pursue the effort in the upcoming 2003-04 legislative session. Supporters also are considering a statewide ballot initiative effort, as well as local ordinances in San Mateo County and elsewhere.
Assemblyman John Dutra, D-Fremont, proposed amendments to the bill but the Senate blocked that measure after Speier called his version a "sham."
"Regardless of what she said about how much more beneficial it (her bill) would have been, it's not beneficial if you can't enact it into law," Dutra said.
In what consumer advocates called another setback, lawmakers approved a measure by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, that would allow insurers to offer discounts to customers who have continuously purchased auto coverage.
Activists said it would make insurance even more expensive for those who have been uninsured in the past and said they plan to sue, if it is signed, on the basis that it violates voter-approved Proposition 103, an insurance-regulation initiative.
Perata pointed out the possible discounts the system would yield for middle-class, working drivers with continuous coverage.
In an action that would also affect drivers, the Legislature sent Davis a bill to impose more costly and stringent Smog Check II tests on motorists in the Bay Area, which has been excluded because of cleaner air.
The measure, which exempts cars less than 6 years old, was pushed by the air-pollution-plagued Central Valley, which believes the smoggy Bay Area air is blowing inland.
Another of the bills approved by lawmakers -- posing a labor-vs.-business dilemma for Davis -- would make California the first state in the nation to provide paid family leave. Current federal law grants up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for workers.
The new state proposal would create a family temporary disability insurance program to give workers up to six weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or ill family member. The employee-funded program would pay 55 percent of wages, up to $490 a week.
The Legislature also approved a measure by Perata and Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, D-Oakland, arming police with new powers to curb deadly street racing and "sideshows."
The bill would broaden the definition of reckless driving and allow officers to impound involved vehicles for up to 30 days at the owners' expense. Under current law and in some circumstances, authorities can hold a car involved in reckless driving only until the owner pays a fine.
In a move supporters called historic and opponents labeled folly, lawmakers approved a $9.95 billion bond measure to start a high-speed rail system and make other train improvements.
The bill, if signed by the governor and approved by voters in November 2004, would help finance the first leg of a 700-mile high-speed rail system initially linking the Bay Area and Southern California.
The Legislature approved a measure by Perata designed to curb violence by holding gun makers liable for the marketing and use of their weapons.
The legislation would overturn a 1983 law barring lawsuits that accuse gun companies of willful or negligent acts or omissions in the design, distribution and marketing of firearms and ammunition.
n the wake of the Enron corporate accounting scandal, lawmakers approved remedial bills that, among other things, would increase protections for whistleblowers and penalize corporate executes of publicly traded companies who know, but remain silent, about financial fraud.
But the most significant piece of legislation to emerge from hearings regarding the state's Oracle contracting flap died. It would have required that sales representatives of private vendors doing business with the state disclose details of their activities in public reports.
Lawmakers passed a charter school reform bill intended to curb recent abuses by restricting them from operating satellite campuses hundreds of miles from the school districts in charge of overseeing them.
Another measure adopted by legislators promises parents, teachers and other school employees a vote in setting California school policies.
The bill would require the state Education Board to include one public school teacher, one nonteaching "classified" employee, one parent and one member with expertise in teaching English as a second language.
In other education-related measures:
- If you are a prospective school administrator, a new fast-track credentialing law could let you "test out" of time-consuming university courses.
- Students who lug heavy backpacks may feel relief under a bill that would require school boards to help find ways to reduce excess textbook weight.
The Legislature gave its approval to a bill by Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, requiring some public disclosure, for the first time, of doctors' medical malpractice settlements.
The bill would require the Medical Board of California to disclose information about physicians' legal history, in addition to education and license status, to help patients research doctors.
Lawmakers approved a bill by Perata that moves toward regulating the payday loan industry, which has come under fire in recent years for allegedly targeting low-income consumers with high-interest loans.
The bill would require lenders to abide by annual auditing and reporting requirements that currently apply to other small lenders.
The Legislature approved a bill by Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco, that gives home builders the chance to fix problems before lawsuits are filed. Proponents said it would help jump-start the condominium construction market and result in more affordable housing.
Lawmakers also adopted a measure that seeks to protect homeowners from losing their homes to their community associations. It would require the associations regularly to warn members that failure to pay monthly dues can result in the foreclosure of their home without a court action.
A bill approved by lawmakers to curb junk faxes would rescind a state law that allows companies to send unsolicited faxes as long as they include a phone number or address by which receivers can require a halt to the faxes.
The bill allows a tougher federal law to take effect, which bans companies from faxing unsolicited ads without permission.
A measure sent to the governor would require anyone under 18 to wear a helmet when riding scooters, skateboards and in-line or roller skates. The parents of violators would be subject to a $25 fine.
California already requires helmets for bicycle riders under 18.
Legislators adopted a bill by Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, that would legalize the use of sidewalks by a 65-pound, two-wheeled electric vehicle called a Segway Human Transporter. Foes say the people movers threaten pedestrians, particularly the blind or deaf.
An approved measure would move state primary elections from March to June, but keep the March date for presidential primaries. Supporters say the later primary would boost public participation and give challengers a fairer shot against incumbents.
Some of the other bills approved by lawmakers would:
- Require warning labels on some dietary supplements and ban their sale to minors.
- Ban 18-wheelers from idling in front of port terminals for more than 30 minutes.
- Require computer manufacturers and retailers to collect a $10 waste recycling fee for every computer they sell in California. Supporters say the legislation would make California a leader in addressing the problem of e-waste disposal.
- Clear the way for issuing driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants who have filed for a change in their immigration status.
- Discount the marriage license fee for couples who complete a premarital education course.
- Require public utilities to get 20 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2017.
- Create a nonemergency number alternative, 311, to the emergency 911.
In Doofus's case, the manure is inside his boots, not on his desk.
And just in case you didn't think that manure had a reproductive organ, it sticks up proudly above his shirt collar.
That moron governor, who in large part is economically illiterate, in three short years, not only spent the $10 billion surplus, he managed to leverage the state (read: taxpayers) into a further $20 billion or so debt. So now, the new "budget" reflects a $40 billion dollar increase in spending/debt financing.
And these idiots who call themselves Republicans argued over table scraps and in the end, managed to "trim" $700 million and they call that success! So now we have a $99.3 billion budget instead of a $100 billion budget.
SOB's every one of them.
They can forget that $10 billion transportation boondoggle; voters have already nixed that one before. After the fall election is over, and these criminals are safely back in their seats in Sacramento, you can rest assured they will be writing legislation designed to raise the income tax; there is no other way of raising $40 billion.
And the debt is much bigger than the press is letting on. Check out the table at the beginning of this thread: Is Gray Davis Looting California Retirement Funds?
The future value of all these (Unconstitutional, BTW) loans is $108 billion.
Davis is borrowing not only from CalPERS to balance the budget, but also from the State Teachers Retirement Fund, The Dentists retirement system, and CalTRANS (Which the voters specifically forbade via Prop. 2 in 1998).
Kali, as usual, is leading the way. If we don't SERIOUSLY get our stuff together, this article will be a picture of the entire country very soon.
HEHEHE!!
calgov2002:
 calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
Wouldn't you just fall asleep, instantly?
D
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