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OT- July 21, 2003-MONDAY MORNING MEMORANDUM
By Assemblyman Ray Haynes


Getting Their Priorities Straight

Two events occurred this last week that demonstrate just what is
wrong with California's state government. First, the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell suspended the high school exit exam. The
exam would have made sure every twelfth grader has at least a tenth grade
education upon graduation. Second, that same Superintendent decided to sue
Republicans in the Legislature for holding the line on tax increases and
trying to bring some sanity to the budget process and run-away spending. It
is evident that Mr. O'Connell seems to be failing in his job as the head of
our state schools, given the fact that forty percent of the twelfth graders
in this state do not have a tenth grade education. Rather than focus on
that, he decided to inject himself into the budget debate.
California under the reign of Gray Davis and his Democrat friends
here in California is in a mess. The cost of housing has increased
dramatically, commuters sit for hours in freeway gridlock, commodities such
as water, gasoline, electricity and natural gas are in short supply because
of our regulatory schemes, and now our budget is falling apart. So-what is
the Governor's response to this entire mess, blame the Republicans and ask
the Superintendent of Public Instruction to sue us in the hopes of getting a
solution without requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Mr.
I-want-a-bipartisan-solution has decided to forget a constitutional solution
and have the court make us do it. The Governor, of course, doesn't have the
guts to do it himself, so he put O'Connell up to it. O'Connell is a
long-time Democrat legislator, whose votes in the Legislature helped create
this mess. The Governor's theory of the lawsuit is that the best way to get
a solution to the budget crisis is to make sure fewer people are involved in
the decision. The two-thirds vote requirement, which basically requires the
Governor to consult with more people to obtain a budget agreement, is too
onerous, if fewer people get input, the state will get a budget. It would
be a bad budget, but they would get a budget.
Superintendent O'Connell just persuaded the State School Board to
postpone the high school exit exam. We know about forty percent of the high
school students set to graduate could not demonstrate that they know what a
tenth grader ought to know. For years, while he was in the Legislature,
O'Connell was the chair of the Senate Budget subcommittee, chief architect
of how California's schools were financed. We spend over $50 billion a year
on schools. Since I have been in the legislature, the average spent per
student has risen from $4200 per student to $8500 per student. We keep
sending the system more and more money, but the product isn't getting any
better.
Now the man responsible for making the system work joins up with
California's most incompetent Governor, and sues the Legislature to avoid
the Constitutional requirement of a two-thirds vote on the budget. Jack
ought to worry about his own job. If he had done his job in the
Legislature, or if he were doing his job as the Superintendent of
Instruction, perhaps our children would actually have a twelfth grade
education when they graduated from the twelfth grade.
Instead, he sues. O'Connell's job is to make sure the schools are
doing their job. It is not his job to sue the Republicans, who, quite
frankly, are doing their job, trying to protect the taxpayers from wasteful
government programs and misplaced government priorities. O'Connell's
lawsuit is just more proof of how the priorities of the ruling Democrats
have gotten mixed up. He should do his job, we'll do ours, and everything
will work better. The reason things are not working now is that some of
those leaders, like O'Connell, and his buddy, Gray Davis, are just not doing
their job.


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The Man Who Isn't There
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/07/17/ED252890.DTL
07-17-03
A caravan of big-rigs drove by the state Capitol Tuesday morning, the
drivers leaning on their very loud horns in protest of a proposed
diesel-fuel rule. When when I interviewed Gov. Gray Davis later that day, he
tells me he never heard them. Apparently, Davis doesn't hear at lot of
things. He doesn't hear the anger of voters clamoring to recall him from
office He doesn't hear the whispers in the Capitol that he is irrelevant in
budget negotiations. He doesn't hear a little voice inside his head that
should be yelling: "You've got to start kicking butt and taking prisoners,
you lump."

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Recall effort gets a boost
Two court rulings could help chances for getting the measure on fall ballot.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/recall/story/7061665p-8009709c.html
07-19-03
Efforts to recall Gov. Gray Davis got a big boost Friday after courts in
Northern and Southern California made rulings seen as strongly increasing
the likelihood of a fall election.
Recall backers were ecstatic, predicting the election could be certified as
early as next week and then set for a date between Sept. 30 and Oct. 14.

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Anti-Tax Groups Vow To Fight Easing Voting Rules For Budget
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/7054446p-8002548c.html
07-18-03
State anti-tax groups vowed Thursday to fight "with everything we've got"
state schools chief Jack O'Connell's effort to set aside California's
stringent vote requirement for raising taxes. O'Connell, the superintendent
of public instruction, said Thursday that he plans to ask the state Supreme
Court to lift the state's separate two-thirds vote requirements for raising
taxes and passing budgets. O'Connell's effort is modeled after a Nevada high
court decision at the behest of Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn that held that
Nevada's requirement to fund education superseded the state's two-thirds
vote requirement for raising taxes.

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Wrenching tale of grief
Crash survivor addresses court before 2 street racers get prison sentences
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sat/metro/news_6m19racer.html
07-19-03
From his wheelchair, his speech so unrecognizable he needed an interpreter,
18-year-old Michael Hanson struggled to speak to a silent, packed San Diego
courtroom yesterday. Watching were the two street racers responsible for his
plight and the death of his brother and his brother's girlfriend. "They
deserve death because they killed Brian and Shanna," Hanson said. "I was in
the hospital for over a year. I have brain damage now."

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Bills to Change Fetus's Status Gain Support
Measures Expanding Crime Victim Designation Called Backdoor Curbs on
Abortion Rights
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13622-2003Jul18.html
07-19-03
Momentum is building behind legislation that would make it a federal crime
to harm the fetus of a pregnant woman, spurred in part by outrage over the
slaying of Californian Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner. The
measure, dubbed the "Laci and Conner's Law," seeks to treat fetuses in such
cases as victims separate from their mothers, with all the rights of
individuals. It would apply to federal crimes, which take place in areas
such as national parks, military installations and Indian reservations, and
would carry a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

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Charter ruling is near
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/7061622p-8009686c.html
07-19-03
A Sacramento Superior Court judge will rule early next week on whether the
nonprofit St. HOPE Corp. can continue planning to turn the now-closed
Sacramento High School into a charter campus.
At issue is whether appeals filed by the Sacramento City Unified School
District board of trustees and St. HOPE triggered an automatic stay of
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Trena Burger-Plavan's ruling, which
invalidated St. HOPE's charter petition.
If she rules that a stay is in effect, the Oak Park agency can continue
hiring teachers and enrolling students until a higher court rules on the
matter.
The plaintiffs who sued to stop the charter, including a group of parents
backed by the local and state teachers unions, argue that the appeal did not
trigger a stay and that St. HOPE is violating the ruling by prepping the
campus and enrolling students onsite.

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New Power Plant For Edison
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-power18jul18,1,2410991.story?coll=la-h
eadlines-business
07-18-03

Southern California Edison Co. said Thursday that it was moving to build its
first major power plant in more than a decade - another sign that
California's ill-fated electricity deregulation experiment is over. Edison,
a subsidiary of Rosemead-based Edison International, said it acquired an
option to take over construction of a stalled 1,054-megawatt power plant
near Redlands that was being built by AES Corp. before the Virginia company
ran into financial problems.
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Trucking Firms Will Get Hit Hard
http://www.sacbee.com/content/business/story/7054321p-8002486c.html
07-18-03
Among the millions of Californians dreading the coming rise in the state's
vehicle license fee, those with arguably the most to fear are trucking firms
and businesses that maintain vehicle fleets. Companies that juggle the costs
of buying, maintaining and paying various fees for multiple motor vehicles
stand to see a significant increase in those costs when the state-ordered
vehicle tax hike kicks in. State officials have said California drivers
whose vehicle registration expires on Oct. 1 and thereafter will pay triple
the fees drivers now pay, or an "average" of $160 more per car.

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House Backs Regulating Mexican Ids
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/politics/6321932.htm
07-17-03
Mexico's issuance of a consular ID card that is proving popular with
Mexicans living in the United States, particularly those here illegally,
could face U.S. regulation under a measure endorsed by the House. The
provision affecting Mexico's matricula consular, inserted into the State
Department authorization bill approved Wednesday, is drawing fire from the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus and others who deride it as "anti-Hispanic."

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Full legislative text, analyses and votes are available on the State web
server at:
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Assemblyman Haynes' office can be reached at [phone] in Temecula
or in the Capitol at [phone]
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