Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled in support today from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, educators and business leaders for a package of initiatives they say would address California’s economic hardships and establish long-term solutions to prevent future budget meltdowns.
“This is the only way out of the morass of budget battle over the last decade,” Villaraigosa said. “This is the only way forward. If we don’t pass these initiatives, California will go into bankruptcy. We have a responsibility. This is the right thing, at the right time for this state.”
Baca, a Republican, said passage of the measures, Propositions 1A through 1F, would guarantee a stable funding source for public safety, and help “ensure that Californians are always adequately protected.”
The measures would increase the size of the state’s rainy day fund, limit future state spending, borrow $5 billion against the lottery; reduce funding for early childhood education and mental health services; and freeze state elected officials' salaries when the budget is late. The governor, a Republican, praised the bipartisan support for the measures as he stood with the Democratic L.A. mayor. A special election is scheduled for May 19.
“In order to win this initiative, one of the most important things is that … everyone buys in,” said Schwarzenegger at the news conference, which was held at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been out of state quite a bit lately vacationing, fundraising for ballot measures and mugging for the adoring national news media, wanted to make sure Californians knew he was thinking about them on his travels, so he hauled back a big gift.
Now sitting in front of the public entrance to the governor’s Capitol office is a giant bronze bear. The statue of the official state animal, which the governor purchased at a gallery in Aspen, Colo., was installed this morning.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear declined to say how much the governor paid for the piece of art, but he said no taxpayer dollars were used. The governor came upon the bear, a work by sculptor Steven Bennett, while taking a stroll through town.
“He thought it would be appropriate to put out front,” McLear said.
-- Evan Halper
Photo: CHP Officer Shawn Bien stands near the statue outside the governor's office. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
Updated at 2 p.m.: Gov. Schwarzenegger has signed the budget.
Updated at 12:44 p.m.:The budget signing has been delayed until 2 p.m.
Updated at 11:20 a.m.:The budget signing has been delayed until 1 p.m.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed the budget package passed by lawmakers that ended the state's slide toward insolvency and three months of Capitol gridlock.
The spending plan wipes out a nearly $42-billion projected deficit with tax hikes, deep program cuts and borrowing. It hinges on $5.8 billion contained in several ballot measures that voters must consider May 19 in a special election. The governor signed the budget at 2 p.m. in his Sacramento office.
Once that is complete, state officials can again begin paying tax refunds, vendors and public assistance recipients, though those checks could be delayed several more weeks until there is enough money in the Treasury.
The state government may be in a budgetary death spiral, and its leaders are squabbling like spoiled siblings.
At such a moment, what else to do but hold a feel-good event in the best political tradition? With schoolchildren standing by, some of the state’s top officials paid tribute at the Capitol this morning to Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, the Bay Area pilot who in January guided a US Airways flight full of passengers to safety on the Hudson River in New York City after the plane’s engines went out.
At today's event, staged by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sullenberger and his wife entered to the theme song from Top Gun and stood in front of a huge blow-up of an honorary California license plate reading, “Hero.” (He later received an identical one in a frame.)
Grappling with a state budget stalemate that has left them $105.6 million in the hole this month, Los Angeles County supervisors this morning threatened to withhold tax revenues from the state to pay for local social services.
“We’re declaring our own Boston tea party,” Supervisor Gloria Molina said at this morning’s board meeting, adding that withholding money from the state would send a message to state legislators to take immediate action and "make their pain more acute.”
Supervisors directed the county's auditor controller, its CEO, William T Fujioka, and county counsel to explore the legality of withholding money -- including reimbursements and property and sales tax revenue -- from the state. The board plans to reconsider the option during closed session next week.
As a result of California's cash crisis, state Controller John Chiang announced today that his office would suspend tax refunds, welfare checks, student grants and other payments owed to Californians starting Feb. 1. Chiang said he had no choice but to stop making some $3.7 billion in payments in the absence of action by the governor and lawmakers to close the state’s nearly $42-billion budget deficit. More than half of those payments are tax refunds. The controller said the suspended payments could be rolled into IOUs if California still lacked sufficient cash to pay its bills come March or April.
Gov. Schwarzenegger will ask lawmakers this morning in his State of the State address in Sacramento to forgo their salaries if they fail to pass a budget on time. Read more about the State of the State address and excerpts from his speech.
Photo: In his address, the governor asks lawmakers to resolve California's fiscal crisis, calling the deficit a 'rock upon our chest.' He asks lawmakers to forgo pay if they fail to pass a budget on time. Photographer: Ken James/Bloomberg News
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the new Legislature into work on its first day, declaring a fiscal emergency in response to the state's deteriorating finances.
"Without immediate action, our state is headed for a fiscal disaster where everyone will be hurt," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference this afternoon in his Los Angeles office. He urged Californians to press lawmakers to "get off their rigid ideologies."
The state projects a $28-billion deficit by mid-2010, but at the current rate is on track to run out of cash by February or March.
Schwarzenegger called lawmakers back to Sacramento after they adjourned in August to deal with the same set of issues. But that emergency session ended unsuccessfully last Tuesday when a Democratic proposal to cut billions of dollars from schools, healthcare, welfare and other state services and triple vehicle license fees failed to win Republican votes necessary for passage.
Just days after developer Rick Caruso announced he won't challenge Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor of Los Angeles in next year's election, word comes that Caruso will play a role in local government.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Caruso, 52, to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission today.
The governor also named actor-producer Tab Hunter, 77, to the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo Board of Directors.
The Montecito resident starred in more than 50 films and his recording career included the song “Young Love.”
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today directed the state's Office of Emergency Services to prepare for potential flooding in Southern California burn areas that could receive heavy rainfall as early as this afternoon.
The governor's office said the state will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help local agencies provide assistance. The areas most at risk include portions of Orange County, Sylmar and Santa Barbara County, which were affected by the Freeway Complex, Sayre and Tea fires, respectively, in recent weeks.
“The recent fires have left many communities, particularly those near and below steep canyons, very vulnerable to flooding, mud-flows and debris-flows,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. “The state stands ready to help local governments protect lives and property. It’s also important that residents of those communities take steps to prepare now if they haven’t already done so and evacuate immediately when asked to do so by local authorities.”
Forecasters predict as much as half an inch of rain per hour this afternoon through Wednesday evening when the large storm will be at its strongest. Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties remain on flood watch from this afternoon through Wednesday evening.
All the effort Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has put into polishing his image as a green governor and a global leader on the environment is failing to impress at least one national publication.
Field & Stream has branded Schwarzenegger its biggest outdoor "Villain" of the year in its holiday double issue. The magazine’s editors say Schwarzenegger has earned a stocking of coal this holiday season for proposing to slash funding for steelhead and salmon restorations and to close state recreation areas.
"Worst of all," says a statement from the magazine, "he’ll 'be back' in 2009."
--Evan Halper
*Updated: Response from the governor's office after the jump.
Photo: Schwarzenegger speaks at the Governors' Global Climate Summit in Beverly Hills earlier this month. Nick Ut/Associated Press.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to President-elect Barack Obama this week and would be willing to work for the Democratic administration once his term expires if asked, the Republican governor said in an interview broadcast this morning.
"I will help in every possible way the administration to be successful," he told Fox News. "So whatever they need, I'm there."
The only qualification, Schwarzenegger said, would be permission from his wife, Maria Shriver.
"Before I make any move, the next move that I make, I'm going to go to Maria and say, 'Maria, you tell me what to do,' " Schwarzenegger told Brian Kilmeade in the interview, which was taped Wednesday.
Shriver is a Democrat who backed Obama for president.
Schwarzenegger spokesman Matt David said the conversation took place Sunday, and that Obama had called the governor. Schwarzenegger had previously called Obama after the election to congratulate him but did not get through.
So much for poking fun at Barack Obama’s scrawny arms.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, this morning sounded downright giddy about the impending ascension of Obama, a Democrat, to the White House and the departure of his fellow Republican, President George W. Bush.
Schwarzenegger played a pre-taped video message from the president-elect at a climate-change summit he is sponsoring at the Beverly Hilton with leaders from around the state and the globe. The governor has tangled on climate change with Bush, whose administration has blocked California’s request to have stricter tailpipe emissions standards than federal guidelines mandate.
“I'm excited to report ... that in January, all of this will change, because now there is a new administration coming in,” Schwarzenegger told the delegates.
The governor, who backed Republican presidential candidate John McCain (remember him?), said he was “in sync” with Obama, and the president-elect returned the favor in his message.
“When I am president, any governor who is willing to promote clean energy will have a partner in the White House,” Obama said.
Obama also posted a link Monday on his transition website that asked people to help with the Southern California wildfires through the state’s volunteer agency.
Oh, and never mind about that puny physique, Mr. President-elect. Schwarzenegger has already backed off from the remarks he made campaigning with McCain in Ohio, where the governor holds his annual bodybuilding competition.
“This is one of those jokes that went over very well there,” Schwarzenegger told ABC-TV Channel 7 last week. “So it was not meant to be an insult in any way. It was meant to lighten up the place and to make everyone laugh.”
Traffic on the California website jumped from 15,000 hits a day to 179,000 on Monday.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is seeking a federal disaster declaration from Washington, which could unlock more emergency recovery funds. He's already issued his own emergency declaration for Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the wake of the wildfires. From his letter:
I request that you declare a major disaster for the State of California as a result of extremely high winds and wildfires beginning November 13, 2008. At this time, impacted counties include Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara. Winds exceeding 70 miles per hour have worsened fire conditions by fanning the flames, causing them to spread with frightening speed. This wind and fire event has already consumed more than 40,000 acres; caused widespread human injury; destroyed and damaged homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and infrastructure throughout the region; and it continues to threaten the lives and safety of many Californians.
See the full text of Schwarzenegger's request after the jump.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was on the fire lines again today and signaled a possible regulatory reform out of the 2008 firestorm.
"We should start building mobile homes with fire retardant materials," said Schwarzenegger, referring to the destruction of more than 500 mobile homes in Sylmar that he added "were like matches."
But there has been some debate about how well the state has followed through on lessons learned from previous fires. After the massive 2003 fires, the governor appointed a blue-ribbon commission designed to figure out how to prevent the huge amounts of property damage and loss of life (more than 20 dead) from those blazes. The panel came back with many suggested improvements -- with a price tag so high no one could fully calculate it. Last year, The Times' Megan Garvey and Rong-Gong Lin II investigated and found many of the recommendations from the 2003 fires went unheeded. Details:
Although some improvements have been made since, fire officials said many of the most expensive improvements suggested by various committees and organizations -– with a likely price tag in the billions of dollars -– have not been completed. “We still don’t have any additional firetrucks on the road,” said Dallas Jones, who was director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services between 1999 and 2004 and is now secretary-treasurer of the California Professional Firefighters union. “How many years are we since the '03 fire siege? It takes years, sometimes, to build fleets of equipment, and so far, nothing.”
Of course adding regulations to mobile home construction is a lot less expensive than huge equipment purchases and firefighting hirings.
*Updated:Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor, said that Schwarzenegger proposed a fire safety package, "but the legislature didn’t include it in the final budget. This included a lot of the blue ribbon task force recommendations." More on that after the jump.
--Shelby Grad
Photo: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to the media about the Tea Fire on Saturday in Montecito. Credit: Sandy Huffaker / Getty Images
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already married would not be affected by the initiative.
"It's unfortunate, obviously, but it's not the end," Schwarzenegger said in an interview on CNN this morning. "I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to unveil a plan today for a steep sales tax increase and deep cuts in services to wipe out a budget shortfall that is expected to swell to more than $24 billion by the middle of 2010, according to Capitol staffers with knowledge of the proposal.
The linchpin of the governor's plan is the sales tax increase of 1 1/2 cents on the dollar, which could raise more than $10 billion through fiscal 2009-10. Such a tax is likely to face resistance from Republicans, who blocked a smaller increase proposed by the governor last summer and have vowed to continue to do so.
Sales tax in Los Angeles would shoot up to 10.25% if the governor's newest plan were to be approved. That would include a half-cent sales tax hike that Los Angeles voters apparently passed on Tuesday to fund transit projects. The statewide sales tax rate is 7.25%.
The governor's proposal also includes cuts of several billion dollars to schools, healthcare programs and law enforcement.
California has often been tagged as the "nanny state" for passing laws that some people say interfere with citizens' lives.
But now it has earned the label for a whole different reason, thanks to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Republican governor this week appointed a nanny -- his own children's nanny, in fact -- as a part-time state regulator on the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Lindsay Ann Schnaidt, 32, a Democrat from Hermosa Beach who has worked for the Schwarzenegger family for seven years, will be paid $100 a day when the board meets, several times a year.
"She expressed an interest in serving the people of California like many other Californians do," said Schwarzenegger's spokesman, Aaron McLear. "The governor wants those interested in serving to have that opportunity."
Even as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger keeps track of just how badly our state Legislators have blown the budget deadline (56 days and counting), he's ignoring one of his own, Steve Hymon, our Road Sage, reports:
A deadline has expired for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill, AB 3034, that would have put in place financial guidelines for the $9.95-billion bond on the November ballot for a high-speed rail system in California.
Legislators spent most of the summer squabbling over the proposed route for the bullet train and other perks for their own districts they wanted in the bill. By the time they sent it to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his signature, Schwarzenegger had already said he wasn't signing any more bills until the state's budget shortfall was solved.
Quentin Kopp, the chair of the California High Speed Rail Authority, put out a statement today saying the authority would adopt most of the guidelines anyway. ... The most interesting part, I think, is that he reiterates his promise of the train taking only 2 1/2 hours to run between L.A. and San Francisco.
Steve does the math and comes up with an average speed of 140 mpg for the hypothetical train. (And asks for readers to check his work in case he somehow miscalculated.) The rest of the post -- and lots more transportation news -- can be read in the Bottleneck Blog.
For the second year in a row, our elected officials in Sacramento have refused to give educational financial aid to the California National Guard, making us the only state in the union that doesn't help its citizen soldiers on the schooling front. Nancy Vogel has details:
State military officials say their only hope now is that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger will prevail upon Democratic legislators to include
money for tuition assistance in the budget that is 49 days overdue and
more than $15 billion in the red.
(Skip)
Schwarzenegger has called the lack of benefits "unconscionable" and
proposed spending $3.3 million this year and next to help Guard members
with tuition assistance. That is enough to cover most tuition and fees
at community colleges or a state university for about 2,000 people.
Democrats and Republicans in the Assembly agreed. But Democrats in
the Senate scuttled a bill that would have created the program and then
stripped the $3.3 million from a Democratic budget plan.
Senators said the program's cost doomed it and hundreds of other
spending proposals as the state wrestles with a $15.2-billion budget
gap.
"Given the budget crisis, all bills that had a substantial amount of
money" attached did not pass, said Sen. Jack Scott (D-Altadena).
The rest of Nancy's story is here. And that photo? National Guardsmen fighting a California wildfire.
When a mechanic from Half Moon Bay fueled his cars and trucks with used fryer grease, he got slammed with so many rules, regulations and taxes, he had to give up on his environmentally friendly venture and go back to Big Oil. Evan Halper has the maddening details:
The government rang to notify [Dave] Eck that he was a tax cheat. He was scolded for failing to get a "diesel fuel supplier's license," reporting quarterly how many gallons of grease he burns, and paying a tax on each gallon.
(skip)
He can also get in trouble for carting kitchen grease away from eateries without a license from the state Meat and Poultry Inspection Branch.
Or for not having at least $1 million in liability insurance, in case he spills some of the stuff. Or for not getting permission from the state Air Resources Board to burn fat in the first place.
The regulations are so burdensome that even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, trying to set an example for Californians by driving a Hummer that burns cooking oil he buys at Costco, had not complied.
Grab your blood-pressure meds and read the rest of the story about why it's almost impossible to (legally) make your own biodiesel in California.