Scaled-Back Prison Bill Done, Water Bill Not

Notes from yet another long session in the Legislature:

The Senate could wait no longer for the Assembly to get their act together, so they passed a reduced prison package along the Assembly’s lines, one that falls $200 million short of projections and does not have a sentencing commission.  The Governor has announced he’ll sign the bill.  It’s marginally worthwhile for the parole reforms, but really nowhere near what’s needed.  And so the federal judges will in all likelihood order a mass release, and because little is being done to address root causes, the cost of prisons and the population as a whole are both still likely to increase.  The cowards in the Assembly who think they have designs on higher office after this travesty should know that this vote will have importance, but not in the way they think.

The bill to waive CEQA requirements (California Environmental Quality Act) to put a football stadium in Southern California – without an NFL team, mind you – did not get by Darrell Steinberg, despite lots of energy and effort from special interests.  He’s giving the various parties more time to negotiate a settlement.  Sports stadiums are among the biggest corporate welfare projects we have in America.

The much-ballyhooed water deal has been scuttled, as Karen Bass announced she did not have the votes to move it.  The Speaker may ask for a special session on water, and the Governor would probably move that as well.  The middle-of-the-night rush obviously didn’t work, so some transparency would be preferable.

Still waiting on the renewable energy standard bill, which would put California in the vanguard of the nation in terms of its portfolio (33% by 2020).

4 thoughts on “Scaled-Back Prison Bill Done, Water Bill Not”

  1. to let Arnold arm-twist his way to bad ideas.  Bond debt for those surface dams he wants?  Sheeesh…

  2. And not a drop to drink, as the old quote goes. I grew up in Southern California and lived there 33 years. We used water as if there were no tomorrow. We literally never thought about it, never talked about it, never worried about it. My family still lives in the L.A. area and I’ve seen no change on my visits south.

    While my garden has died due to daytime watering restrictions in Santa Cruz County, my brother’s is still lush and tropical. I must say, I’ve seen the same when I’ve visited Fresno County several times this summer.

    I’ve also passed agricultural fields with big sprinklers going in the middle of the day–something that would get you fined where I live. In the meantime, California goes up in flames because of the drought. Somehow, nobody seems to connect the two–despite the fact that news reports keep saying it. So the lawns in our desert towns are lush and green. The fields are watered overhead in the middle of hot summer days. And the state burns.

    Really, what are we thinking?

    Because he was the sponsor of at least one of the bills, and represents me, I called Senator Simitian’s office. Eventually I wound up with a staffer who specializes in water issues. He told me the scientists who have studied Delta issues told them they’d done exactly the right things to secure both water and the environment. But he couldn’t explain what those things were. The bills weren’t final. The language was only preliminary. The goals sounded good. But the devils are often in the details.

    Because of all the last-minute rewrites, I finally had to call and say I can’t be sure you’ve met all these lofty goals. I don’t know what’s in these things, and I doubt you do either. I want you to vote no. I don’t know yet if he did. But I do know this is hardly ever the way to get good legislation.

  3. their precious overtime isn’t going to be touched. Special interests win again.

    they are still 200million short. A dysfunctional legislature fails yet again.

    And the feds are going to step in, while arnold whines about it-more phoniness, yet again.

    The parole reforms are just a start. personally, I’m happy to be released from my parole due to a cannabis charge. no one should go to jail for marijuana anyway, and I’m ready to get past this whole fiasco.

  4. Sounds like CA’s new mantra… mirroring the ad campaign used so successfully by the beltway/Wall Street cabal… now it gets center stage in CA budget initiatives.

    Instead of cutting payroll and operational costs associated with running over-crowded prison facilities… and excessive OT… Sacramento keeps acting under the illusion that CDCR is too big to fail.. so tax payers, suck it up and keep bailing out system that is fraught with costs over runs ..and staff that will continue to maintain their six-figure life styles.  Too big to fail.. will be the dying mantra of state that refuses to do teh right ting budget wise.

    The Boy Scouts of America is ran better than CA..but then they have adult supervision.    

Comments are closed.