Gov. Jerry Brown is cracking down on swag. Brown said Friday he was eliminating funding for trinkets and doodads handed out by state agencies, a move he says will save the state $7.5 million dollars. “Not a cent of taxpayer money should be spent on flashlights, ashtrays or other unnecessary items, most of which likely end up in landfills,” Brown said in a statement. “Every taxpayer dollar we save by cutting waste is a dollar that can be used to pay for critical public safety and social services.”

Brown’s office laid the offending merchandise out for television cameras in the state Capitol Friday. There were hand-held fans from the Department of Motor Vehicles, Board of Pharmacy pill boxes –- even little plastic cones from CalTrans.

The announcement came while Senate and Assembly budget committees were approving the blueprint of Brown’s state $84.6-billion spending proposal.

Though the houses adopted Brown's call to cut billions from healthcare for the poor and the state's public universities, the governor highlighted state spending that most deem indefensible in times of systemic multibillion-dollar budget deficits.  Cuts such as eliminating trinkets, cellphones and limiting state cars save mere fractions of the dollars needed to bridge the state’s $25.4-billion budget gap. But these small gestures pay great political dividends. That will be key for Brown as he tries to build trust with voters before asking them to raise taxes later this year.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

When word went out that President Obama was coming to Silicon Valley on Thursday, a number of Democratic politicians rushed to the scene.

Among them were Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom – both newly elected statewide officials with larger political ambitions. But absent was Gov. Jerry Brown who chose to stay in Sacramento rather than vie for a photo op with the president, who flew in on Air Force One to meet with business leaders.

Brown, who once sought the presidency himself, clearly has other priorities these days. His spokesman Gil Duran said that the governor was busy with meetings in Sacramento, and his absence was in no way intended as a snub.

--Anthony York in Sacramento

Gov. Jerry Brown has written a letter to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner asking him to preserve federal funds for organizations that perform abortions.

Brown wrote to Boehner, an Ohio Republican, that, given California's budget cuts, any further reduction of federal money to health clinics "could hardly come at a worse time."

At issue is a House Republican spending proposal  that would cut funds for contraception and cancer screenings to low-income families. The federal money does not pay for abortions, but supports groups that perform them, such as Planned Parenthood.

Read Brown's letter here.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento

Redondo Beach City Atty. Mike Webb said Thursday that he will seek to succeed retiring Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice), becoming the first Republican to get into the race in the strongly Democratic 36th Congressional District.

Webb joins several Democrats who have said they are running in the yet-to-be-called special election to replace Harman, who plans to resign Feb. 28 to lead a Washington think tank.  Most prominent among the Democrats are Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn.

Several others, including some more Republicans, are considering whether to enter the race. Once Harman leaves, the governor will have 14 days in which to call a special election.

Webb, first elected city attorney in 2005, previously served as Redondo Beach city prosecutor.

He said he wants the congressional job "to step up and help solve the serious issues facing our nation and our congressional district."

Jean Merl

Will Proposition 8, the state's same-sex marriage ban, fizzle on a legal technicality? Not so fast. The state Supreme Court decides it will weigh in.

Tuesday's special election amounts to a wash for Gov. Jerry Brown's budget battle: The votes of victors Sharon Runner and Ted Lieu will cancel out.

The state budget process lurches painfully forward: Democratic lawmakers begin to trim spending, but not as much as  Brown has proposed. Republicans are not impressed.  

And he may adhere to commoners' tastes otherwise, but when it comes to dogs,  Brown leans regal. Like Queen Elizabeth, he favors corgis.

-- Jill Leovy

Gov. Jerry Brown has asked the state auditor to help him find ways to cut the state budget.

In a letter to State Auditor Elaine Howell, Brown asked her to "send me a list of the top ten actions you believe California can take to reduce government waste and operate more efficiently. If possible, I would like your list by March 4, 2011, and I would like that list to identify at least five measures that I could implement by Executive Order."

Republicans have called on Brown to target waste and fraud in state government instead of asking for billions in new taxes. Brown has said the state's $25.4-billion budget gap cannot be bridged without increased tax revenues.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Seeking business support for extending state taxes, Democratic lawmakers are offering a plan to finally address a major private-sector grievance: Red tape.

The 28,000-page California Code of Regulations fills 34 binders and weighs 270 pounds. Business groups have long complained that so many rules stifle economic development in the state, and in the past, Democratic lawmakers have been slow to move on their concerns.

But on Wednesday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento and two other lawmakers announced legislation designed to root out outdated and unnecessary regulations and create a one-stop permitting process for business. State agencies would be asked to report back within 180 days on which state regulations are duplicative or unreasonable and should be stricken.

"California ought to be about reaching out and encouraging businesses to come to this state," Steinberg said at a news conference at the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce.

Steinberg denied the legislation was a political ploy. But with the state facing an unparalleled budget crisis, Democrats have a pressing strategic interest in winning support from the business community and moderate voters for a summer ballot measure planned by Gov. Jerry Brown to address the shortfall. The measure would extend for five years some taxes now set to expire.

Steinberg’s bill got a tentative nod from the Sacramento chamber's president, Matthew Mahood. Meaningful reform of state regulations may persuade his group and other business organizations to support the ballot measure, Mahood said.

But Mark Standriff, a spokesman for the California Republican Party, panned the effort, saying Steinberg and Sen. Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills, who has also signed on to the bill, lack credibility. The pair "built their careers by crafting job-crushing regulations that have kept California's economy at a virtual standstill," he said, adding: "The Democrats' plan has all the credibility of a Charlie Sheen 'Just Say No' campaign."

-- Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento

Three members of the House have added their names to Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn's endorsements list as she makes a bid for the congressional seat soon to be vacated by Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice).

The Hahn campaign on Wednesday announced endorsements from Democratic Reps. Xavier Becerra, Karen Bass and Lucille Roybal-Allard, all from Los Angeles. 

The announcement comes a day after Secretary of State Debra Bowen said she will enter the race to succeed Harman, who plans to resign Feb. 28 to lead a Washington think tank. 

Once the seat is empty, the governor will call a special election, probably for June.  But as soon as word of Harman's plans got out last week, Hahn launched her campaign and has lined up dozens of endorsements from officeholders and local labor, community and environmental leaders.

Several others also are considering getting into the race to succeed Harman in the largely coastal 36th Congressional District, which was drawn to favor Democrats. Bowen and Hahn are by far the most prominent of the Democrats who have said they will run.

-- Jean Merl

Gov. Jerry Brown has suggested getting rid of a retirement perk for state employees that one investment specialist calls "an absolute fleecing of the taxpayers."

Also, Brown seeks support for tax extensions from business leaders.

And Republican Sharon Runner and Democrat Ted Lieu were in the lead in Tuesday's special elections for open state Senate seats.

Developers and supporters of a proposed football stadium in downtown Los Angeles met Tuesday with Gov. Jerry Brown and legislators to show that the project is politically and financially viable.

To demonstrate that viability, AEG President Tim Leiweke was accompanied to his meetings with state officials by labor leaders and an executive from Farmers Insurance, which recently agreed to a $700-million naming-rights deal for the proposed 64,000-seat stadium.

Brown, who was elected last year with strong labor support, heard about the project’s job-creating benefits from a delegation that included Maria Elena Durazo, the executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, and Robbie Hunter, president of the ironworkers union, Local 433.

"I met with the governor and our state legislative leaders to make the case for why this project is so important to help put working families back to work in good jobs,'' Durazo said.  

Brown was noncommittal.

"He has not taken a position on the project," said Evan Westrup, a spokesman for the governor.

Leiweke briefed the state leaders on the plan but did not make any legislative proposals for state help, according to officials who met with the delegation.

"At this time there is no formal proposal to be discussed for this project," said Michael Roth, a spokesman for AEG.

But some lawmakers expect legislation that would grant the Los Angeles stadium the same immunity from environmental lawsuits that was granted to a competing stadium project in the City of Industry.

Democratic legislative leaders have been dismissive of the chances for a bill customized for AEG. However, legislation has been introduced by a Republican senator that would give immunity from environmental lawsuits to 25 development projects throughout the state to be selected later. The bill by Sen. Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres) was not introduced with the Los Angeles stadium project in mind, but AEG could apply to be considered for a waiver under the process proposed by the bill, according to a spokeswoman for the lawmaker.

-- Patrick McGreevy

Gov. Jerry Brown announced a state hiring freeze Tuesday as part of his plan to cut more than $360 million in government costs.

Agencies could receive exemptions from the freeze if they are able to meet their savings goals in other ways, but “the hiring freeze will be in effect until agencies and departments prove that they can achieve these savings,” Brown said in a statement Tuesday.

Past governors have tried to curtail state hiring with limited success. Gov. Gray Davis first announced a state hiring freeze in 2001, but exempted the governor's office, Legislature, judiciary and agencies that deal with health and safety. State employment rolls grew by more than 6,500 in the six months after Davis' freeze was enacted.

Brown also left room for exemptions in his executive order Tuesday. But his spokeswoman said any new state hires would have to be approved directly by the governor’s office.

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Gov. Jerry Brown has abandoned an effort by his predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to lower state workers’ paychecks to the federal minimum wage during a budget impasse.

During the budget stalemate last summer, Schwarzenegger tried to slash the pay of roughly 200,000 state workers to $7.25 per hour. But state Controller John Chiang refused, arguing that his outdated computers couldn’t handle the task. The Schwarzenegger administration sued.

This week Brown agreed to drop the case. “It was going to a protracted and expensive trial,” said Lynelle Jolley, a spokeswoman for Brown’s Department of Personnel Administration. Legal fees in the case had already reached $928,000 by the end of 2010, she said.

Chiang called the case “a frivolous waste” in a written statement. State workers would have been entitled to their back-pay after a budget was signed, so the order “would not have saved the state one penny,” he said.

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, effectively used the minimum-wage threat to leverage a handful of unions into making contract concessions last summer. Among those were provisions protecting them from any future minimum wage order. Unions, which are among Democrats Brown and Chiang’s biggest financial backers, cheered the decision to drop the lawsuit Tuesday.

-- Shane Goldmacher in Sacramento