Well, I haven’t done an open thread in a while, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t just as worthwhile. I’ll be a little quiet for the next week or so, but feel free to chatter away.  So, a few pieces to chew on…

* The CA State Law Enforcement Association is having their annual Foundation Golf Tournament, with the proceeds going for college scholarships. It’s in Napa on Oct. 7. You can get more details here.

* New York is beating us on the Marriage Equality race in more ways that one.  The latest polls in CA show the barest of majorities in support, but New York is up at 55%. One way or the other, Prop 8 will be gone by the middle of this decade.

* Well, even though our economy stinks, at least Apple is popular with looters. Hooray for California (and the nation’s) largest corporation!

* Sacramento put $22 million towards keeping their redevelopment agency open for the fiscal year.

* Patients are now getting a more team-based response to chronic conditions.

Links:

* Gov. Brown will likely end the drought declaration.

* School superintendents say that November is too late. They need the tax extensions before then.

* The endorsements in CA-36 keep coming.  Speaking of CA-36, check out Courage Campaign’s CA-36 Forum.

* John Myers has a great recap of the current status of the budget fight.

Links:

* The Census Data came out today. I haven’t had the chance to review it, but well, there’s lots of it. The state has grown by a couple million since 2000 and has changed its composition.  More details as I analyze a bit further.

* Tomorrow, the owner and the “safety officer” of the labor company that was monitoring the conditions during the death of Maria Isabel in 2009 are expected to settle on a plea deal that will get them no jail time whatsoever.  UFW has additional details on the story as well as a contact form to send the DA an email opposing this deal.

* Yay, the Senate will pass the cuts on Thursday.  Sooo…hurting the middle and lower class, check.  Still waiting on where the “shared sacrifice” part comes in.

* We had been getting some good news on the revenue front.  Turns out it might just be that more money was withheld than in previous years, and tax refunds are bigger than expected.

Here are some interesting links:

* The Bee has a little balance the budget game.

* Joel Fox thinks aloud about motives for potentially eliminating the February 2012 primary.  I wasn’t a particularly big fan of three elections back in 2008, so I’m all for it again.  However, he is likely right that those two elections pose a big risk of conservative gamesmanship on the initiative front.

* Higher Education seems resigned to cuts.

* The San Quentin death chamber is getting an inspection.  While we are talking about all of these cuts, when do we get to cutting the death penalty?

So, you want some links? I’ll give you some links!

* The staff of the redistricting commission must also meet the conflict rules. In case you thought anybody was going to have some experience in this committee, well, forget about it.

* Check out this video –>.  You can make of it what you will. Yes, that is Sen. President Pro Tem. Darrel Steinberg and a bunch of former legislative leaders.

* The SEIU deal is better for workers than the furloughs.

* Sen George Runner stepped down to take his BOE seat tomorrow. Gov. Elect Brown will set an election to replace him.  

Links:  

* Mail-in voting increased again in California in the November 2010 election.  Some are worried about that for a number of reasons. Fraud, transience, and other issues still trouble states like Oregon that have gone mail-in entirely.

* Jerry Brown has decided to shut down Laura Chick’s Inspector General Office that was responsible for watching stimulus dollars.

* John Wildermuth picks Jerry Brown as “Californian of the year”.

* The UC Regents passed a plan to deal with the pension problem, which was standing at about $21 Billion.

Links:

* John Howard takes a look at the anti-consumer MICRA legislation that Jerry Brown signed back in 1975.  The measure capped pain and suffering damages at non-inflation adjusted $250K and protected insurance companies over the rights of patients.  Victims of medical malpractice in the state are left to virtually fend for themselves as it just doesn’t make economic sense for talented attorneys.

* The California Supreme Court is going to let the top-2 election litigation go through the normal appeals process rather than dealing with it directly.

* The Bay Area Council has a report out on Clean Tech and entreupeneurialism.  

* Capitol Weekly takes a look at the “rookie class” of legislators.

* One South Carolina man is thankful for what the State of California did for him decades ago.

Some links in no particular order:

* The crime victims fund, started under Pat Brown, has now been around for 45 years, with a total payout of over two billion dollars.

* In theory, when you don’t pay the sales tax for an online purchase, you are supposed to pay the use tax.  Unfortunately, not enough Californians are actually doing that, and we’re losing over a billion dollars per year. George Skelton wants California to get serious about collecting, working through our own state measures and/or working with the federal government to end the sales tax moratorium.

* CTA’s David Sanchez has some advice for Gov.-elect Brown: focus on funding and the State Board of Education.

* The rough census total from California? About 39 million people in the nation’s largest state.  If we were a nation, that would make us roughly the world’s 30th largest country.

* Worker’s compensation? Yeah, it’s supposed to be about helping injured workers. Sure would be nice if it actually did that.

Some other news:

* Senator Mark Leno will be the next Senate Budget Chair, replacing the termed out Sen. Denise Ducheny.

* Speaker Perez wants to strip Vernon of its status as a city.  The City of Vernon has been plagued by corruption issues.

* The Mayor of Santa Ana would get a big finders’ fee if state buildings are sold, as the Governor has been pushing.

* Joel Fox remembers Joe Cerrell, an LA political powerhouse for many years.

My apologies for the lack of content today.  But let’s get to what happened today:

* Remember how we have been complaining about the over-representation of Republicans on the redistricting commission? Well, it continues. Despite their 10+point registration disadvantage, in their first meeting, the panel elected Republican Claremont City Councilman Peter Yao as the chair of the committee.

* Let the legacy defining begin. Steve Wiegand of the Bee looks at Arnold’s record. Meanwhile, Arnold himself is still on the job, looking at the task of making “ugly cuts.”

* Team Whitman is skipping out on the traditional unpacking of the governor’s race.

* After claiming victory yesterday, Matier and Ross say Kamala Harris is now “at the center of Democratic stars” along with Gavin Newsom.