Dateline Sacramento (1/7/2009)

Dateline Sacramento

News with a View from the California Capitol

January 7, 2010

They’re Back: Legislators Return to Sacramento

In 2009, the Legislature found its members mired in bitter disputes as it attempted to close a $60 billion budget deficit, address the state’s water crisis, and reduce the inmate population in California prisons.  The Legislature’s inability to work together to find viable solutions forced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to convene seven different emergency sessions to address the myriad problems facing the state.  Regrettably, the upcoming 2010 legislative session appears to be a continuation of last year’s ineffectiveness despite legislative and gubernatorial efforts.

During the recent legislative recess, the Legislative Analyst Office reported that the budget approved in July did not solve the state’s budgetary problems.  California’s projected deficit over the next 18 months is $20.7 billion, including a $6.3 billion deficit in 2009-10 and a $14.4 billion deficit in 2010-2011. After making targeted program cuts, raising taxes, shifting moneys, and using budgetary gimmicks in 2009, finding new solutions will become even more arduous because the state could potentially lose several pending court battles challenging the constitutionality of cost-saving budget remedies, such as the implementation of mandatory furloughs.

Decisions regarding the budget will also determine the legacy of the new Speaker of the Assembly and Caucus leader, Assemblyman John Perez (D-Los Angeles) who replaced Karen Bass. While homosexual special interest groups are quick to praise Perez as the first homosexual Speaker of the Assembly, his ability to work effectively with the minority party and the governor to address the state’s fiscal, pension, and water crises will determine if such praises are deserving.

Because last year’s budget crisis signaled doom for many of the pending bills, legislative committees are now hastily reviewing two-year bills (those bills introduced in 2009, which must pass their “house of origin” before the January 31, 2010 deadline; bills which tend to be more controversial or have encountered unanticipated opposition and require greater deliberation). However, like last year, the budget will inevitably determine the viability of the majority of legislation being considered.

While legislators are feverishly attempting to pass their 2009 legislation, January also starts the season for new bill introductions.  Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced in his Wednesday morning State of the State address that the immediate focus of the Legislature will be the passage of the “Race to the Top” legislation—legislation which will remove barriers to California’s eligibility to compete for a portion of the $4.32 billion in federal “Race to the Top” funds (monies allocated to states to help improve the nation’s underperforming schools,)

Already, the Assembly narrowly approved several controversial “Race to the Top” reform bills, which now move to the state Senate for consideration and then to the governor’s desk for final approval.  The main elements of the bills would do the following:

1. Provide penalty options for consistently underperforming schools that include: school closure, conversion to a charter school, replace the principal and up to 50% of the school staff, or replace the principal and offer operational changes that include merit pay.
2. Allow parents, at up to 75 failing schools throughout the state, to trigger the previously mentioned penalty options by collecting signatures from more than half of the students’ parents.
3. Allow students at 1,000 of the worst performing schools to enroll in other school districts.

Education special-interest groups and the teachers union’s opposition to the reform measures remain fierce, resulting in an uncertain future in the Senate.  Nonetheless, Senate leaders and Governor Schwarzenegger will continue to negotiate over the next few days in an effort to find a resolution. 

The continued efforts of the governor and legislative leaders to find solutions to the state’s prison overcrowding problem will present Speaker Perez and legislators with more challenges. After last year’s Appeals Court refusal to approve the Schwarzenegger plan to reduce California’s prison population, the governor and legislators will return to the negotiation table to search for a compromise solution.  However, overcoming Democrat and union opposition to Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to use private prisons to house inmates may prove to be a difficult task.

Further, despite passage of a water bond in the previous session, water remains a top concern of the Legislature and state.  The court’s restriction of California’s water flow has resulted in thousands of fallowed acres and reduced water for most Southern California cities.  The ensuing water shortage has wreaked havoc on California’s economy, in an already depressed market.  As tensions rise among local governments, water agencies, property owners and agricultural interests, water supply and management will become the second top priority of the Legislature after the budget.  The ability of the new Speaker and legislators to address these very contentious issues will help determine the success or failure of the new legislative session.

Once again, 2010 will present the Legislature with great challenges and opportunities.  Continued budget deficits, prison overcrowding, and water remain critical issues the Legislature must tackle. With the Legislature’s approval ratings at historic lows, there is great opportunity for California’s elected representatives to improve their image and the state by actually solving problems.  

The Changing Faces of the Pro-life Movement

As the 37^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade approaches later this month, our nation once again is polarized on the issue of abortion.  While politicians huddle in Washington, D.C., attempting to force abortion-tinged health care into law, public support for the legislation continues to lag.  Poll after poll demonstrates an unwillingness by the American people to embrace the public funding of abortion.  Most recently, a Rasmussen Reports poll showed that 53 percent of Americans favor a complete ban on abortion coverage in any health-insurance plan passed by Congress.  Last fall, a Quinnipiac University survey found 72 percent opposed to paying for abortion coverage under Congress’ health-care proposal.

America today is a different place than it was on January 22, 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing women a right to an abortion.  The activists who cheered that day are now grandmothers, and the younger generation today is no longer as supportive of abortion.  Pro-abortionists lament their messaging – coined at a time when women’s rights and reproductive freedom dominated their policy debates.  Today’s 18-30 year-olds, they say, never had to contend with a world where abortion was illegal; the old messages no longer ring true.  

While the old guard of abortion activists downplays a generational divide on the issue of abortion, polls tell a different story.  Last year, Pew Research found that, among women over 50, there was stronger support (58 percent) for abortion than by women aged 18-29 (52 percent), and a 2007 poll by Harris Interactive found only 45 percent of those in the 18-30 group supported “abortion rights” compared to 54 percent in the 43-61 group and 53 percent of those over 62.

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, interviewed in a recent New York Times piece about abortion’s generational divide, explained, “Not only is this the post-Roe generation, I’d also call it the post-sonogram generation.”  Yoest noted that for many women, their baby’s first video now occurs in the womb.  “They can take the video and do the music and send it to the grandmother. We don’t even talk anymore about the hypothesis that having an abortion is like having an appendectomy,” said Yoest.

While many states – California included – have written abortion restrictions into their state laws and constitutions, attitudes and times are changing.  Abortion rates in the United States have fallen to their lowest level since 1974.  In a January 2008 report, the Guttmacher Institute, the pro-abortion research organization formerly associated with Planned Parenthood, noted abortions had declined from 1.31 million in 2000 to 1.21 million in 2005.  Because Guttmacher draws its statistics from the abortion providers themselves, its accuracy is trusted more than government statisticians who rely on state agencies – not all of which (California included) require the reporting of abortion numbers. 

January, with its pro-life emphasis, provides a time to reflect and decide how you can help return our culture to one where every child is welcome in life and protected in law.  As what has come to be known as the National Sanctity of Human Life Week approaches January 17-24, please actively participate in honoring the memory of the millions of lost preborn lives.  Perhaps you could volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center or attend one of the many life prayer breakfasts across the state.  Need help deciding?  See the resources below.

Resources and Opportunities:

·         Focus on the Family’s www.heartlink.org or "Be a Voice for Life" 

·         Walk for Life West Coast January 23, 2010 San Francisco

·         40 Days for Life Spring Campaign begins February 17, 2010

·         California ProLife Council Prayer Breakfast and Rally January 27, 2010 Sacramento

Religious Freedom Sunday Is This Sunday, January 10^th

The right of every American citizen to practice his/her religion and express his/her religious beliefs in the public square is fully protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...

Yet, since the 1960s, promoting the acceptance of sexual liberty – which has no similar constitutional protections – over religious liberty has gained momentum in the public square. Under the guise of “equality” and “tolerance” activist courts and progressive legislatures regularly align with special interest groups, which advocate their “politically correct” values over the Judeo-Christian values which established our great nation.

The marriage battle in California is one such example.

In the year 2000, the people of California passed Proposition 22. The language of the proposition is clear and simple: “Only marriage between a man and an woman is valid or recognized in California.” The measure passed by a margin of 61% to 39%. A large majority of those who voted in favor of the proposition did so because of their religious views and their desire to protect the biblical definition of marriage for future generations.

The California Legislature then responded in defiance by passing bills legalizing same-sex marriage – not once, but twice – first in 2006 then again in 2007. The governor – out of respect for the vote of the people – vetoed both same-sex marriage bills.

Then, in 2008, by a 4-3 decision, the California Supreme Court overruled the will of the people and overturned Proposition 22, calling the historic definition of marriage between one man and one woman “unconstitutional.”

The people were then forced to respond, and did so by passing Proposition 8. In November of 2008, over 7 million Californians voted to place the definition of one-man, one-woman marriage into the state’s constitution.

Unfortunately the battle is not over. The trend continues in California and across the nation.

In response to this trend, the Manhattan Declaration was released in November of 2009. This monumental document was created to send a clear message to decision makers nationwide. Thus far, more than 319,000 people have signed the document in the first few weeks. We hope you have also, but if not, go to ManhattanDeclaration.org today, read the document, ponder it, and, if you agree, sign your name to it. It defines a Christian worldview on three specific issues: Life, Marriage and Religious Liberty.

A Great Opportunity This Sunday

This Sunday, January 10^th, marks Religious Freedom Sunday. On that day especially, we encourage you to share the content and importance of the Manhattan Declaration throughout your networks, asking others to sign on in support. It would send a strong statement to lawmakers nationwide to have 1 million signatures by the end of January.

Resources are also available for Religious Freedom Sunday from Gateways to Better Education and the Alliance Defense Fund. These two organizations have teamed up to provide churches across the country with resources to promote religious freedom in our nation’s schools.

We also encourage you to lift up the Proposition 8 Legal Defense team in your prayers this Sunday. The federal trial challenging Prop. 8 begins on Monday, January 11^th in San Francisco. We’ll have an exclusive update from the courthouse in our next Dateline Sacramento publication. Thank you.

Local Links

IMPERIAL COUNTY –Imperial County Supervisors have voted to approve a resolution supporting the passage of Proposition 8, the constitutional ballot measure reaffirming the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, which is being challenged in federal court.  Read more at KSWT.com.

ALAMEDA – The ongoing state budget crisis just become more problematic as an Alameda Superior Court judge has invalidated Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order mandating 3 furlough days for three public service unions.  Read more in the Miami Herald.

SAN DIEGO – The Mount Soledad Cross still stands but the battle to remove it from public property rages on. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit heard the case on Dec. 9, but no decision is imminent since the three judges are waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the Mojave cross case “Salazar v. Buono.”  Read more at sdnews.com.

Truth Project Opportunities

RIVERSIDE – California Family Council continues to expand its offerings of the acclaimed Truth Project group leader training seminars.  Training in biblical worldview is a prerequisite to living out authentic Christianity in today’s postmodern culture, with its subjective claims of truth. 

The next Truth Project Group Leader Training Seminars:

Saturday, January 9, 2010 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Host Church: Adventure Christian Church

6401 Stanford Ranch Road

Roseville, CA 95678 (Placer County)

Saturday, January 16, 2010 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Host Church: Covenant Presbyterian Church

1855 Orange-Olive Road

Orange, CA 92865 (Orange County)

Saturday, January 30, 2010 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Host Church: Calvary Chapel of Livermore

545 North L Street

Livermore, CA 94551 (Alameda County)

Proyecto La Verdad Group Leader Training Seminar:

Spanish Language

Saturday, February 6, 2010 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Host Church: Santa Maria Foursquare Church

709 N. Curryer Street

Santa Maria, CA 93458 (Santa Barbara County)