The "Rule of 8" established by the Senate Republican Caucus says that until a majority of Senate Republicans are ready to sign off on a budget, no GOPers go up. Of course Senator Maldonado demonstrated his lack of solidarity by voting with all of the Democrats and against all of his Republican colleagues … so I guess its more of a "guideline" than a rule (h/t to Capt. Barbosa).

Well just a few minutes ago, on a breakdown that mirrored the leadership vote to retain Dick Ackerman as leader last year, Senate Republicans voted 8-7 to allow Ackerman (along with Maldonado) to go up on the budget.

The moving parts that allowed this to come about was a CEQA fix that includes not only development with a nexus to the transportation bonds but also to water bonds. I understand there may have been some tightening up of the nature of blue-line cuts being made by the Governor.

More analysis will be forthcoming … let’s see if this all translates to an actual budget on the Governor’s desk. I will close by saying that the efforts of Senate and Assembly Republicans have made some modest but important improvements to… Read More

Well, I have some bad news and some good news this morning for FlashReport readers. The bad news is that it would appear that we are getting a lot closer to a budget deal (this is bad news because it will not come with a reopening of the Assembly-passed document that, at well over a hundred billion dollars, represents a fat, bloated state bureaucracy in serious need of downsizing and privatization). The good news is that Senate Republicans continue to negotiate from a position of strength to make the proposed budget better than it is right now. I spoke this morning with Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, who said that his caucus will meet again this morning at 10 a.m. to brief and prepare for another round of negotiations. Ackerman shared with me that the main area of discussion is still around the CEQA issue. For those who are catching up to this budget-impasse mid-game, this has to do with the fact that last year Democrats passed and the Governor signed a bill that requires a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases. That said, while the law was passed that sets target goals, the implementing regulations to get there have not been put in… Read More

Update: Assembly adjourns at 10PM, no action taken on floor.Senate stops discussions til tomorrow, session for both houses is at 11AM.

Big 5 met, things are moving, Senators getting closer to agreement, we’re waiting around on trailer bill biz, looks like another one of those late-nighters, with bills going both directions amongst Assembly and Senate.… Read More

The Governor announced nine different LA County Judicial appointments today. The score was 5 GOP, 3 Dems and 1 decline to state. See press release here. Not impressive and doesn’t make a dent in the 2 to 1 ratio (Democrats in the lead) he has appointed since the recall. See previous post.… Read More

Drudge Report now has a link up to an ABC 7 News story about Democrat California Congressman Bob Filner’sphysical altercationwith a United Airlines employee near the baggage claim area of Dulles International Airport last night.

ABC 7 reports:

"ABC 7/Newschannel 8’s Jay Korff learned that police were called to the baggage claim area around 6 p.m. when a passenger attempted to enter an area authorized for airline employees only.

"ABC 7/Newschannel 8’s Kris Van Cleave spoke with several witnesses who say they saw Filner push aside an United Airlines employee and refused to leave the office.

"When officers arrived on scene, they found Filner waiting outside the office and informed him the airline employee would be pursuing charges.

"Investigators say the employee appeared before a Loudoun County Magistrate Sunday evening… Read More

It appears that substantial enough progress may have been made in negotiations to achieve a 2/3rd vote in the Senate on the budget. Not being a policy wonk, I will sum up the essence of the deal as this: (1) the Governor blue-line vetoes 700 million in non-gimmicky real cuts, (2) the CEQA reforms demanded by Senate Republicans are achieved for two years, at least as far as infrastructure bond issues are concerned, and (3) some clean up takes place in numerous trailer bills that were flawed as a result of a speedy passage in the Assembly.

My source gives the caveat that the Assembly has not been involved in this negotiation, but he is hopeful they will approve this deal.

We’ll wait to see how this all pens out. At the end of the day, we’re still talking about “putting lipstick on the pig” when we talk about this fat, bloated budget. Still, it is better for the effort of Assembly Republicans and looks to be better yet for the work of Senate GOPers. Still, nothing I would vote for…but that would take a lot more giving than Perata and Nunez would or could produce…

As I pen this, Senate Republicans are still… Read More

Much of the budget negotiation wrangling that has been taking place the last couple of weeks is over the intolerable situation where, with the adoption and your signing into law of the "Global Warming Solutions Act" (also referred to by it’s bill number, AB 32), liberal Attorney General Jerry Brown is now able, using government attorneys, sue anyone trying to build anything.

The lesson to be learned here is that you are ill-serving yourself, and the people of California, when Democrats craft and you sign legislation, excluding Republican legislators from the process. In the State Senate, AB 32 was passed on a 100% party line vote, with NO REPUBLICAN SENATORS voting for it. Still, you signed it, and trumpeted his new era of "post-partisanship" (this is defined by you, apparently, as capitulating on Democrat issues unilaterally).

The very issues that Republicans have been bringing up now are those that they brought up at the time that AB 32 was being considered in the legislature. But the… Read More

Yes, I admit I long for the days of Pete Wilson as Governor. But , Pete has moved on to bigger and wealthier things. The LA Business Journal profiles Pete Wilson and several other Government affairs attorneys in their Who’s Who in L.A. Lawreport(Think Hertzberg, Frommer). See article here.… Read More