DAN WALTERS COLUMN
Newest state budget clash will be bloody
When Mac Taylor, the Legislature's chief budget adviser, declared this week that the state budget enacted just four months ago is already billions of dollars upside down, no one in the Capitol should have been surprised.
ECONOMY & JOBS
CalPERS board members endorse new lobbying rules
Los Angeles Times--Legislation would scrap the pay system for agents who try to persuade the state's public pension fund to invest with their clients. Board members at California's huge state pension fund offered support Thursday for a plan to register as lobbyists the controversial middlemen hired by private investment funds to help get lucrative business from public pension plans.
Foreclosures will keep rising through 2010, report says
Los Angeles Times--Mortgage Bankers Assn. says delinquencies and home repossessions have hit a new high. Blaming job losses for most of the pain, it sees a continued surge in foreclosures through all of next year.
EDUCATION
Schwarzenegger after-school program ties up budget
San Diego Union-Tribune--With California facing another mammoth budget deficit, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst says voters should reconsider some of the billions of dollars tied up in ballot measures they have approved in recent years.
UC regents approve 32% student fee hike
Los Angeles Times--The decision was made with little debate after a lengthy committee discussion Wednesday. Thousands of students and labor union activists protested outside the meeting at UCLA. With the chants of protesters wafting into their meeting room and armed police standing guard, the University of California's Board of Regents approved a 32%, or $2,500, increase in undergraduate fees Thursday, but promised more financial aid to keep needy students from dropping out.
Amid protests, UC OKs 32% fee hike
Sacramento Bee--The governing board of the University of California approved a $2,500 student fee increase Thursday after two days of tense campus protests across the state.
UC regents approve steep tuition hike
San Francisco Chronicle--The University of California regents voted Thursday to raise tuition by 32 percent as angry students pounded drums and blocked exits to the UCLA building where the regents were meeting.
UC regents approve 32 percent fee increase
Mercury News--The governing board of the University of California approved a $2,500 student fee increase Thursday after two days of tense campus protests across the state.
UC regents give final approval to fee hikes
Contra Costa Times--As angry students chanted outside, University of California regents Thursday approved a 32 percent fee increase that will raise the price of a UC education to more than $10,000 per year for the first time
Crowds decry fee increase
Ventura County Star--LOS ANGELES — WESTWOOD — Chanting and holding signs, while others blew whistles and rang cow bells, hundreds of noisy protesters demonstrated for a second day at UCLA on Thursday as University of California leaders approved a 32 percent increase in student fees.
UCR students march, speak out against a 32 percent rise in fees
Press-Enterprise--As about 60 students marched in protest at UC Riverside on Thursday, the University of California Board of Regents approved a committee recommendation to raise undergraduate student fees 32 percent over the next two school years.
HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
California adopts stricter rules for drug abusers in the health industry
Los Angeles Times--Nurses, dentists and other professionals with addictions will be subject to more drug tests, and any restrictions to their licenses will be listed on public websites. In a major shift, California will impose tough new standards on drug-abusing health professionals, strictly scrutinizing those in treatment and immediately removing from practice anyone who relapses.
POLITICS
The Buzz
Sacramento Bee--Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina must be sharing speechwriters, maybe someone from their tech pasts. On Wednesday, guv hopeful Whitman told a San Luis Obispo crowd that government should not try to "boil the ocean."
Meg Whitman on Jerry Brown: Californians have "had it with career politicians"
San Francisco Chronicle--Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman gave an expansive interview to ABC News' Teddy Davis today, covering everything from Sarah Palin to 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown -- and, on that one, she's already swinging away.
Assembly race led to Ayres' downfall
Press-Enterprise--James William Ayres was supposed to be in the California Legislature right now.
PULIC SAFETY
State pulls San Quentin financing from bond sale
Marin IJ-- Last-minute objections from Assemblyman Jared Huffman and Sen. Mark Leno have prompted state Treasurer Bill Lockyer to put on hold plans for issuing bonds to pay for the expansion of death row at San Quentin State Prison.
TAXES
Group rallies for reversal of education budget cuts
San Diego Union-Tribune--Educators and union leaders from elementary to graduate school came together yesterday afternoon to implore the Legislature to restore the steep cuts the state’s education system has suffered during the current budget crisis.
MISC.
Top California officials' pay to be cut 18% in December
Sacramento Bee--Pay for California's top elected officials will be slashed by 18 percent next month, one year earlier than expected, to abide by an opinion issued Thursday from Attorney General Jerry Brown.
California lawmakers, officials face 18% pay cut
Los Angeles Times--Legislative leaders had challenged the authority of the state's independent pay commission after it voted to trim salaries. But Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's opinion says the panel can cut compensation. California's Legislature went to state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown recently seeking relief from a future pay cut and on Thursday received an unwelcome surprise: An 18% reduction for lawmakers and other elected state officials can begin next month instead of a year from now.
State's elected officials' pay to be cut
San Francisco Chronicle--Legislators and other elected officials in the capital will see their salaries slashed by 18 percent next month under an opinion issued Thursday by state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who decided that officials' pay can be cut in the middle of their elected terms.
CONTRA COSTA TIMES EDITORIAL
California Voting Rights Act is severely flawed
THE CALIFORNIA Voting Rights Act of 2002 was signed into law by Gov. Gray Davis with little fanfare or protest. Its intent was to boost minority representation on city councils, school boards and in special districts.
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER EDITORIAL
Some TVs banned – for your own good
The Nanny State struck again this week when a panel of unelected, self-anointed micromanagers decided for your own good they would ban certain large-screen TVs, rather than let you decide whether to buy them.
SACRAMENTO BEE EDITORIAL
Lawmakers must share in sacrifice
It was hardly a secret that the spending plan the California Legislature passed in July did not end the state's fiscal catastrophe. It wasn't until Wednesday, however, that the state got a clear sense of how large that catastrophe has become.
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE EDITORIAL
Set priorities – finally
The news that California faces yet another cavernous budget deficit – estimated by the Legislative Analyst’s Office at nearly $21 billion over the next 19 months – means we are likely to soon see a very familiar debate play out in Sacramento.
VENTURA STAR EDITORIAL
California's short fuse
California got an ugly look Wednesday at a possible future we want to avoid at all costs.
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