New state lawmakers are being sworn in today as the 2009-10 legislative session officially convenes at noon. I’d say it’s a “back to school” sort of day, but the Legislature never really left.
What I’m referring to, of course, is California’s woeful state budget, which is projected to be $28 billion short by the middle of 2010. Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a special session of the (lame-duck) 2007-08 Legislature to address the shortfall, but it went nowhere. A vote on a tax increase last week failed without a single Republican vote.
Now the lawmakers are back, this time with 28 new Assembly members and 11 new senators, and they’re going to try again. The budget will be the 800-pound gorilla facing this Legislature — all other issues will take a back seat.
Taxes will play a central role in the debate. So far, we’ve seen proposals to triple the vehicle license fee (AKA the “car tax”) and raise the sales tax or income tax. Republicans hate them all — and Democrats (who are in the majority) are going to need GOP support to get anything passed. (Be on the look out for a graphical analysis I’ll be doing of the various tax proposals in the next day or so.)
Joining this fray are new Orange County Assembly members Curt Hagman, Diane Harkey and Jeff Miller. (Assembly members Bob Huff and Mimi Walters are moving up to the State Senate.)
Hagman, the former mayor of Chino Hills, told me he’s rarin’ to dive into his new role as a lawmaker, but so many details remain up in the air. He doesn’t know where his permanent office will be. He doesn’t know his committee assignments. He didn’t even known if the Legislature was going to meet this month.
“I don’t think anybody knows what’s happening,” he said, adding, “I have to learn to be flexible. I’m used to calling the shots.”
Well, I can tell you, Schwarzenegger held a press conference at his LA office today to declare a fiscal emergency and to announce that he’s calling another special session to address the budget deficit. Walters, one Orange County’s two new State Senators, told me, “I think you’ll see both houses meeting during the month of December.” (Walters, by the way, is the only female Republican in the State Senate. “I’m not sure the men are going to know what to do with me,” she says.)
Things are so fluid right now that Walters’ replacement in the Assembly, Harkey of Dana Point, told me “I brought clothes for the week,” just in case session was called.
Yikes. We wish ‘em luck. They’re going to need it.
Do you remember when Arnold declared a ‘fiscal emergency’ right before the House passed the original $700 billion bailout bill? He said he would need help for the feds to keep the state solvent. Then after the bill passed Arnold retracted his statement and said the state had enough money to get by? Apparently it was an accounting error! LOL! Now he’s up to his same old bag of tricks. Scare the people into giving him what he wants! None of our leaders are believable anymore. You can’t trust anything they tell us! It’s all about ulterior motives! A true decline of the mighty empire!