Technically, the session is over in Sacramento, but of course, with no budget, the work will go on.  More on that in a moment, but let’s take a look at the bills that have passed thus far.

Hundreds of bills passed through their respective houses and made their way to the Governor’s desk.  Among those passing:

• AB 1945, which cracks down on insurance company rescission policies

• SB 1301, the California DREAM Act, allowing children of illegal immigrants to access financial aid for college

• SB 375, a major land use bill that would improve transportation planning and reduce urban sprawl (this is a real coup)

• AB 583, the Clean Money pilot project bill that would make the 2014 Secretary of State election a Clean Money race.

UPDATE: More bill passage from the indispensable Frank Russo:

• AB 1830 (Lieu): This is the good version of the subprime mortgage bill that passed in a weaker state earlier this year.

• AB 180 (Bass): Another mortgage bill that seeks to go after predatory lenders and “foreclosure consultants.”

• SB 1440 (Kuehl): This is a big one.  It sets a minimum requirement that insurers spend at least 85% of their premiums on health care.

• SB 840 (Kuehl): The single-payer bill, which will be promptly vetoed by the Governor, sadly.

• A couple toxic chemicals bills: AB 1879 and SB 509.

• AB 2939 (Hancock): Allowing cities and counties to implement stricter green building guidelines than state law, which are already tightening through SB 375.

Among the bills that failed:

• SB 1522, a health care reform bill which would have standardized the individual health care market and made it easier to comparison shop, as well as set a floor for basic minimum care.  That those who most strongly pushed for comprehensive health reform would fail to pass this common-sense fix makes no sense to me.

• SB 110, which would have created an independent sentencing commission to review and revised sentencing guidelines and parole standards.  Another failure of leadership in our prison crisis, as lawmakers refuse to loosen their grip on the rules which they’ve abused and led to this disaster.

As for the budget, now the legislature, out of session by constitutional mandate, must work on nothing else.  Sen. Perata has called the bluff on the Republicans, asking them to formally submit their unspeakably cruel budget plan so that the whole state can see their priorities for what they are.

There was a strange colloquy near the end of yesterday’s Senate session (Republican Senator Jim Battin is pictured at right), where the Republicans were clearly caught flatfooted, flustered in their responses like school kids admonished for not doing their homework, and having a hard time coming to grips with what Perata told them. This is a reprise of what Perata did last year when Senate Republicans held the budget up and when he asked them to come up with their own proposal.

Perata: Right now, the bill that I brought up yesterday is kind of an orphan. You have your opportunity to present a bill that you outlined today in your press conference. I appreciate the fact that there is a substantial amount of work to be done on that bill. We know, because we started ours 8 months ago. So you’ve got a lot of work to do. But we’re very confident you can do it. Every day we will be here to see how we’re doing […]

Republican Senator Jim Battin: I just want to make sure I understand what your expectations are. So what you want from our caucus is a full budget document, is that correct?

Perata: Yeah. A budget.

Battin: And every day we are preparing that, you want to meet.

Perata: Yeah. You know what I don’t’ want to do is to be caught in that position where people are getting confused whey we don’t have a budget. Now every day we meet, we can say, “you’re working on it.”

Battin: And you also want to have the trailer bills as well?

Perata: Yeah. A budget.

Battin: You would actually allow us to bring it up for a vote on the floor?

Perata: You betcha.

Battin: So my expectation is that it will fail…And then what?

Perata: Let’s not prejudge. You may come up with a piece of work that will knock our socks off. So let’s see what you will do.

It’s a neat trick, and good for political purposes.  I don’t know how it gets us closer to a budget.  Schwarzenegger still wants the sales tax hike, Yacht Party Republicans are still dead-set against it, and Democrats are trying to compromise and on the edge of cracking.  But they seem to believe, this time around, that the budget can be blamed on Republicans in November and there’s a benefit in campaigning on the issue (I think that’s why Perata wants a real plan).

So nobody knows how this ends.  And the victims are the public employees, the long-term care workers, the schools, the health clinics, the everyday Californians that did nothing wrong and don’t deserve this anxiety.