Free Republic

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger went to the White House on Friday with Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to press President Barack Obama for more federal aid for infrastructure projects. .. Schwarzenegger said a good response would be to increase government spending on roads and bridges and other projects. "This creates jobs," he said. "We had a terrific meeting." ... Schwarzenegger ... Obama "says he wants to pursue the same spread-the-wealth ideas that Europe had decades ago." .. California is "benefiting tremendously" from the economic stimulus package Obama has put together. Obama reciprocated, calling Schwarzenegger "one...

SACRAMENTO State lawmakers are betting that voters eager to avoid a Katrina-style disaster in California will rally behind a $4.1 billion bond on the November ballot to shore up the state's fragile levees. While few experts disagree that California needs to rebuild its aging levee system, an Associated Press review of the bond has found the measure requires voters to take a leap of faith that the state will spend the money the way lawmakers have promised. An extensive examination of the measure, reviews of state and federal studies, and interviews with two dozen water experts, lawmakers and environmentalists have...

California voters will be asked to approve a $4.1 billion levee bond in November. The figure represents a compromise between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had sought about $6.5 billion, and Democratic lawmakers, who had wanted to spend about half that. THE PROBLEM: _ Levee system: A fragile network of 2,300 miles of levees in the state's Central Valley and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is in need of major repairs. The system includes 1,600 miles of levees that were reinforced in the 1960s and 1970s and 700 miles that amount to little more than grassy berms. It was built more than...

More good news for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the wake of Friday’s early morning passage of the $37.3 billion infrastructure bonds package, now set for California’s November ballot. He is getting major credit from Democrats for his role in making the deal happen. And major Democrats will be campaigning with him Monday on a flyaround tour of the state for the measure. Joining the former action superstar, according to multiple sources in both parties, on his jet will be Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, along with the Republican legislative leaders, Senator Dick Ackerman and...

SACRAMENTO – State lawmakers early Friday approved a series of bills that would place a record public works spending plan before voters in November, reviving a proposal that had broad public support but failed to pass the Legislature earlier this year. The $37.3 billion package would be the largest bond issue in California history and now goes to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The governor, who proposed an even larger spending plan in January, called the votes in each house “a landmark accomplishment that will yield benefits for generations to come.” “For the first time in a generation, we are making a...

[Update: Assemblyman Chuck DeVore just called to say that a late-scheduled session has been set in the State Assembly for 5:30 p.m. today...] The Democrats in Sacramento must be really enjoying themselves today. What could possibly be more enjoyable for them than to see Republicans boxed into a corner. In the downstairs office, you have a GOP Governor against whom almost all of the Democrats have endorsed, and across the aisle they have GOP legislators, who stand as their longtime opponents in their quest to massively grow the size and scope of state government. It is being reported in articles...

Lawmakers may vote this week on a bond package of more than $35 billion to relieve highway congestion, build new schools and shore up the state's deteriorating levees. A Senate vote on four public works bonds, which also includes money for emergency preparedness and affordable housing, could come Thursday. If the measures are approved by both houses of the Legislature, voters would have their say on the borrowing program in November. Sources familiar with the closed-door negotiations say there is general agreement on the shape of the package and the size of the bonds. Lawmakers are trying to win agreement...

SAN JOSE -- Legislative leaders Tuesday said they have reached a key compromise over an infrastructure bond plan for California, with Republicans giving up their demand for surface water storage projects and Democrats relenting on their insistence that the package include money for urban parks and natural resource protections. The movement was disclosed at a panel discussion in San Jose on the infrastructure plan that featured the Assembly and state Senate leaders. Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, in a the discussion held as part of the Bay Area Council's day-long look at California issues, predicted that a deal will...

IN JANUARY, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, wounded from total defeat in his special election two months earlier, announced a bold plan to rebuild California's infrastructure. His Strategic Growth Plan for California's Future called for $222 billion in federal, state and local spending, including $68 billion in bonds, in anticipation of the state's growth over the next two decades. "Let us commit to building California so that the (California) dream can remain alive for this generation, for the next generation, and for generations to come," he declared in his State of the State speech. It's now April, and Schwarzenegger's "Strategic Growth Plan"...

There is new evidence that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has misled voters as to the actual need for its gargantuan and highly expensive building program. The district's latest estimates show that enrollment in the nation's second largest school district is declining much more rapidly than previously revealed. The precipitous decline could result in some of the schools now being built with bond money sitting as empty and useless as Saddam Hussein's former palaces. The reaction of most citizens of Los Angeles to the mere mention of LAUSD is intense disgust. After all, this district has built a...

Term limits is calling an end to my legislative career, so this may be my last budget discussion. I thought this might be a good time to give a sort of retrospective of my budget discussions over the years, much like they do when a television show is coming to an end. So — here are the highlights. 1997. My first budget article. “Government is growing too fast. Governor Pete Wilson has proposed growing state government from $49 billion general fund to $53 billion in the 97-98 budget. After several years of difficult times, the state is starting to see...

Everyone knows that it's risky to build large tracts of homes beside flood-prone rivers but developers and local governments, especially in the fast-growing Sacramento area, are continuing to do it with little regard for the potential consequences--because financially and legally, they are protected from the consequences. As long as the subdivisions comply with very outdated federal floodplain maps, or the promoters have obtained some sort of exemption from the Army Corps of Engineers, there are no restrictions or flood insurance requirements. And under a recent state appellate court decision, if a levee fails and nearby homes are flooded, the State...

SACRAMENTO - After a year of sounding like former Republican Gov. Ronald Reagan and calling for new powers to cut spending, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shifted gears. He's begun to sound a bit more like another former California governor, Democrat Pat Brown, who presided over an era when the state built freeways, water projects and universities. "I want to create an infrastructure — a huge infrastructure — that reduces the gridlock of our roads, builds the facilities that our cities and counties need, speeds up the movement of goods ... and delivers more energy and water and all the resources...

OLIVEHURST – Warm rains falling atop a heavy snowpack eight years ago swelled rivers tumbling out of the northern Sierra Nevada, turning pastureland north of Sacramento into a massive accidental lake. The flooding inundated hundreds of homes and left three dead. If ever there were a place housing developers would want to avoid, this would seem to be it. But memories of the New Year's flood in 1997 are short. In recent years, thousands of new houses have mushroomed on the land that was under water then, part of a wave of suburban development in California's vast Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley....

Listening to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speak last week, in an early evening interview session at his celebrated courtyard cigar tent, he sounded at times like the fellow who ran for governor two years ago: Lots of optimism, big dreams, a sense of possibility. He talked of a vision to "create this huge boon and have cranes everywhere." He said he is growing impatient with the slow pace of government, relating with mock astonishment a recent conversation with House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Schwarzenegger had asked Hastert how long it had taken to pass a recent bill that got through Congress. "He...