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Dateline Sacramento (8/20/2009)


Dateline Sacramento
News with a View from the California Capitol
August 20, 2009
 
Budget Deal Part II: Corrections Cuts Will Be Ugly
On July 28, 2009, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law the budget agreement that addressed California’s estimated $26 billion deficit. Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders postponed voting on the specific $1.2 billion cuts to Corrections in order to work on a plan that would not result in the early release of prisoners. Today, after legislative Democrats reached an agreement with Governor Schwarzenegger, the Legislature will be voting on a Democrat plan to reduce the Department of Corrections budget. 
The plan, which is expected to garner only Democrat support, appears to be consistent with the prison reform framework outlined by Governor Schwarzenegger. The prison reform framework would save an estimated $1.2 billion by adopting the following proposals:
  • Changing four misdemeanor/felonies offenses to strictly misdemeanors:
    • Writing bad checks
    • Petty theft crimes
    • Receiving stolen property
    • Grand theft crimes raised to $2,500 and a $2,500 vehicle theft threshold;
  • Creating alternative custody options for lower-risk offenders. These options include house arrest with GPS monitoring. Eligible inmates include the following:
    • Inmates with 12 months or less remaining on their prison term
    • Elderly inmates
    • Medically infirm inmates;
  • Commuting of prison terms for deportable criminal aliens;
  • Elimination of funding for non-court-ordered inmate and parole programs;
  • Elimination of the Special Repairs Budget;
  • Shifting AB 900 construction funds to existing capitol building projects; and
  • Reductions to the contract medical budget.
Legislative Democrats’ proposal, ABX3 14, incorporate all of the governor’s framework remedies, including the early release proposals that almost derailed the July budget deal. The measure also includes two additional controversial components: the creation of a sentencing commission, and community corrections provisions. Legislative Republicans oppose these provisions and concerns have been raised by California’s law enforcement agencies. 
If the measure is enacted, it will save the state budget $924.5 million, including the $400 million savings approved in the February budget.  With approximately $3 million in savings accomplished through governor and administrative actions, the state will meet their $1.2 billion budget reduction target.
Water Takes Center Stage
The Legislature returned from their summer recess prepared to spend the remaining four weeks of Session addressing more than 700 pieces of legislation, resolving the $1.2 billion budget cuts to the Department of Corrections (as discussed above), and addressing California’s water crisis. During these last few weeks, California’s water crisis will take center stage. Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) stated this week that striking a deal on water is one of the top priorities for the next three and a half weeks. 
Informational hearings on California’s dire water situation have already begun and committee hearings are scheduled to meet regularly until the end of next week. At that point, a joint conference committee of the Senate and Assembly will convene in an effort to come to a compromise that resolves our dire water situation.
Three years of drought has ravaged California’s surface and groundwater storage supply. The prolonged drought, coupled with continued federal restrictions on water movement have left California farmers and ranchers throughout the Central Valley with severe water shortages and fallowed farm lands.
Water scarcity, court rulings protecting threatened and endangered species, and efforts to restore habitats by restricting water pumping in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has magnified the state’s water crisis. Currently, approximately 3 million acres of useable farmland is going uncultivated due to water project restrictions. Without a reliable water supply, farmers have had to reduce their crop production, which directly affects their ability to create jobs and generate revenue.
While the Central Valley is one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions, the lack of a stable water supply and reduced crop production has resulted in skyrocketing unemployment. Over the past year, the jobless rate in some of these communities has exceeded 30 percent. 
Over the next several weeks, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Legislature, and the Obama Administration will attempt to devise a plan that will address the immediate and long term water needs while also restoring the Delta’s ecosystem.  Failure to create a reliable water storage plan will worsen the state’s economy, and threaten California’s remaining water supply.
Proposition 8 Begins Journey Through Federal Courts
Yesterday in San Francisco, Chief Judge Vaughan Walker of the U.S. Federal District Court held a case management hearing in the case of Perry v Schwarzenegger. This lawsuit was filed against Proposition 8, the people’s initiative passed in November 2008, which placed the definition of marriage as only between a man and a woman into the Constitution of the State of California.
The plaintiffs in the case are two same-sex couples who claim that the state’s amendment protecting traditional marriage’s definition conflicts with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which provides equal protection to all. Two well-known attorneys, Theodore Olson and David Boies, who battled against each other in the Bush-Gore election controversy, have joined forces to argue on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund has been granted “intervenor status” to defend the proponents of Proposition 8 and ultimately the majority vote of the people of California. Although it is the duty of the California Attorney General and the state’s governor to defend the California Constitution, both AG Jerry Brown and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will likely offer a tepid argument against Prop 8.
In the hearing, Judge Walker first heard arguments by additional groups seeking to intervene on the side of plaintiffs or defendants. Those groups included the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), Lavender Seniors of the East Bay, and the Campaign for California Families. Judge Walker denied all of these groups’ arguments for special circumstances to intervene, stating that the established legal parties in the case already represented these groups’ issues.
However, Judge Walker did grant intervenor status to one additional party, the City and County of San Francisco, which claimed that the interests of “government” were not yet represented. In their argument before the judge yesterday, the attorneys for San Francisco argued that if traditional marriage remained in the state’s constitution and same-sex marriage remained unlawful, the homosexual population would not be viewed as “normal.”
Judge Walker continues to advance an expeditious timeline for a trial of the facts, recognizing that a case of this magnitude will “touch down” only briefly in his court as it proceeds to higher federal courts. The “discovery” of facts is set to close by November 30 of this year, with a trial set to begin on January 11, 2010.
Local Links
SANTA ANA – Five Facebook users, including two children under 13, filed a civil lawsuit Monday alleging that the social networking site is violating California's privacy laws and misleading members about how their personal information is used. The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court, asks for damages and attorney's fees and includes a request for a jury trial. Read More on the ABC News website.
SACRAMENTO – Recently released California test score results show half of students in grades 2 to 11 are proficient in English and language arts, while 46 percent are proficient in math. According to the No Child Left Behind Act, every student in the nation is required to be proficient by 2014. California students have shown improvement during the past seven years, with proficiency growing from 35 percent to 50 percent in English and from 35 percent to 46 percent in math. Read more in the Monterey County Herald.
OXNARD – Recent years have seen a dramatic growth in the number of home schooled kids, with more than 1.5 million Americans now choosing to educate their children at home.  Those who track home school’s growth contend that home school education growth is between 5 to 12 percentage points per year. As of spring 2007, 2.9 percent of all school-aged children in the U.S. were homeschooled. Although the Supreme Court ruled in 1925 that parents have the right to home school their children, the home schooling movement didn’t really gain traction until the 1980s and ‘90s. That is when many decided they wanted their children to be grounded in a Christ-centered education, something not available in the public schools. Read more on KDAR website.
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 seminar:
 
Saturday, September 12, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Host Church: Arcadia Presbyterian Church
121 Alice Street
Arcadia, CA 91006
 
For more information on attending or hosting a seminar, call California Family Council at 951.354.8362 and ask for Trudy. 
Register online for seminars at: www.CaliforniaFamily.org.
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