---

By John Burton
Chair, California Democratic Party

Cruel doesn’t even begin to describe the cuts proposed in the revised May budget to eliminate California’s $24-billion budget deficit.

Nearly two million Californians will lose health insurance if the Healthy Families program for children is eliminated and Medi-Cal is cut by $1 billion. More than 1 million women and children will be left without any means of subsistence if the CalWORKS program is ended. California kids and young adults will suffer if the Cal Grant program is axed and billions more dollars are cut from public education. Another 5,000 people will land on our unemployment rolls, struggling to pay rent and buy groceries, if plans go forward to lay off 5,000 state workers. The grim list goes on.

The defeat of five budget-related propositions on the May 19th special election ballot was not a mandate for a cuts-only or mostly-cuts budget that will force the aged, blind, and disabled further into poverty. Nor was it a mandate for a budget that will hurt everyone from school kids to park lovers.

Rather, California voters sent the message that they want lawmakers and the governor to work together toward a budget that realistically looks at the services we all need and how to pay for them.

Last December, legislative Democrats passed an $18-billion plan to reduce the state deficit. If the governor had not vetoed that sensible package, California would have no need to even discuss the Draconian proposals now on the table.

This only underscores why it’s so critical to elect a Democratic governor in 2010. The California Democratic Party will do everything in its power to make this happen.

---

---

"There is no question that the Governor and Legislature understand the gravity of the situation our state is facing. These are going to be tough choices and we must work together in order to find real solutions.

"I look forward to working with the Governor to quickly fix the problem, but don't agree with his proposal to borrow money from local governments. I will continue to work towards solutions that minimize the pain in my district, to our schools and to working families.

"Budget negotiations are continuing to be done in a very public way and I am paying close attention to the comments and suggestions being offered by my constituents as we move forward.

"In addition, while it is easy to get distracted with short term fixes to the state’s problems, we cannot let this opportunity to produce long term reforms go wasted or we will only find ourselves back in this same dilemma years down the road."

---

---

AB 580 by Assemblymember Alyson Huber passed the State Assembly yesterday is headed to the Senate.

AB 580 requires the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) regulations for onsite water treatment systems (OWTS) to include regulatory tiers based on the demonstrated risk posed to public health and the environment by the system. The vote was a unanimous 74 – 0.

Requiring regulatory tiers will put an end to the one-size-fits-all approach to septic regulations that are unnecessarily costly to homeowners in rural areas of the state. Rural and urban areas have different needs when it comes to sewage treatment, and regulations that are necessary in urban areas are not always effective, efficient, or necessary in rural areas, and often require homeowners to pay enormous and unnecessary costs.

AB 580 will allow regulations to be tailored to the individual needs of local areas "based on the demonstrated risk."

---

---

By Randy Bayne As Democrats begin lining up to take on Dan Lungren next year, the Republican smear machine is beginning to chug into gear. A few days ago, on the heels of Gary Davis’ announcement that he is running to for the 3rd district Democratic nomination, the National Republican Campaign Committee made a pathetically desperate attempt to link him to rising unemployment rates. Please excuse my even mentioning it. My readers deserve so much better, but I wanted you to see the desperation gripping a political party teetering on the edge of irrelevance.

While the NRCC creates an unemployment straw man, they ignore the very real hypocrisies taking place in their own party. Lungren has been the real hypocrite. California’s one-time chief law enforcement officer, last month voted against hiring 6,718 more cops to patrol our streets and keep us safe. This is the same Lungren who, as California’s Attorney General, helped write California’s three-strikes law and took credit for a 30 percent drop in crime.

Question: Just how tough on crime can you claim to be when you vote against putting nearly 7,000 cops on the street?

It isn’t tough on crime at all, but it is hypocritical; which is, evidently, nothing new to Lungren. When visiting the district, he tells constituents one thing, then goes back to Washington and votes differently. He takes credit for inserting funding and projects into bills for the folks back home, then votes against the bills, as he did for projects in Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove and Amador County.

The Republican campaign hopes you won’t notice the very real hypocrisies of their candidate. Their desperation campaign strategy is clear. Divert your attention away from Lungren’s hypocrisy by blaming Democratic candidates for problems resulting from failed Republican policies implemented by the previous administration.

Voter registration in CD-03 continues to shift away from the GOP. As of the latest report, Democrats have closed the voter registration gap in the district to 1.85%. A sizeable chunk of CD-03, the 10th Assembly District, has flipped from Republican to Democratic. With Lungren winning only 49% of the vote in 2008 to Bill Durston’s 44%, and the district going to President Obama in that election, Republicans know their hold on the seat is tenuous at best. Two good candidates, Amerish Bera and Gary Davis are vying for the Democratic nomination, and Republicans are certain of  one thing – their grip on CD-03 is weakening at an alarming rate as rank-and-file Republicans continue to leave the party, and if the trend holds the district may soon follow AD-10 into the Democratic column.

So worried are the Republicans that the NRCC is launching a revamped “incumbent retention program” they hope will help vulnerable Republican raise cash, writes Josh Kraushaar at Politico. They’re calling it the, “Patriot Program,” of all things. Among those on the list are three Californians, Lungren, Brian Bilbray, and Ken Calvert, “members who have not been stellar fundraisers in recent elections.” They also “haven’t been included in past incumbent retention programs because they weren’t seriously targeted by Democrats in recent elections,” writes Kraushaar.

Republicans are losing their grip on CD-03, and others. They know it, and have every reason to panic.

---

---

Bill Approved By Assembly Now Moves to Senate

Assembly Member Alyson Huber recently announced a bill she authored has passed the Assembly and will next be heard in the State Senate. Assembly Bill 640 would enhance current sentences on individuals convicted of selling methamphetamine by imposing a minimum jail term of 120 days as a condition of probation. AB 640 advanced to the Senate after passing the Assembly floor with overwhelming bipartisan support, 77-1.

"Methamphetamine use is at a crisis point in the state. Californians make up 40% of all meth treatment admissions nationwide. One of the ways we can break the cycle of use is by cracking down on the dealers that sell the drugs," said Assemblymember Alyson Huber. "We must put to an end the ability of drug dealers to return directly back to our streets after being convicted of selling methamphetamine. If the meth pushers are behind bars, drug addicts and drug infested communities can cleanup and break the cycle of drug abuse."
 
Current law requires those convicted of the sale of cocaine, heroin, or PCP to serve at least 180 days in jail as a condition of probation, but existing law does not have a similar provision for those convicted of the sale of methamphetamine.  Therefore, a person convicted of the sale of methamphetamine could be granted probation and not serve one day in jail.
 
Supporting AB 640 are CountySheriffs from Huber's Assembly District, Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan and San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore. In addition, the California District Attorneys Association, California Peace Officers' Association, California Police Chiefs Association, California State Sheriffs' Association, Peace Officers Research Association of California and the San Joaquin County District Attorney James Willet are also supporting AB 640.
 
Visit www.assembly.ca.gov/Huber.

---