State Legislature - Week of November 20, 2009

 

Federal Mediators Begin Fire Safety Stakeholder Meetings.  This week representatives from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service met with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and other San Diego area “fire safety stakeholders” in response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC’s) Order that SDG&E meet with stakeholders before once again seeking Commission permission to implement a proactive de-energization plan. Cox, Time Warner Cable, and CCTA participated in the meeting along with fire officials, water and school district officials, public advocate groups, and representatives from the offices of Senator Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murrieta) and Senator Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego.)  A reporter from the San Diego Union also attended.
 
The initial meeting sought to establish ground rules and to determine the general interests of parties.  The group also wrestled with the issue of whether the objective of the meetings should be to address SDG&E related fire issues or to consider general San Diego related fire safety issues. Participants were not prepared to exclude either from consideration.

The next mediated meeting is scheduled for December 18th where the group plans to narrow its focus. CCTA will plan to participate.

 

 

Legislature to reconvene January 4, 2010

 

Legislative Analyst Forecasts $20.7 Billion Budget Deficit.  The Office of the Legislative Analyst, the Legislature’s independent fiscal office, this week estimated that the state will end the current fiscal year (July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010) with a $6.3 billion General Fund deficit and grow to $20.7 billion by June 30, 2011. The budget deficit is caused by both growing state expenditures and the failure of previous budget actions to reduce costs. According to the Legislative Analyst, it will be extremely difficult for the state to adopt any future balanced budgets without including revenue options. Given the current state of the economy, the Analyst does not recommend “further stressing the economy with additional tax rate increases above their current levels.” However, the Analyst recommends the possible eliminations of special tax credits, deductions and exemptions such as the new Single Sales Factor or Net Operating Loss deduction.   You can view this report at:  http://www.lao.ca.gov/2009/bud/fiscal_outlook/fiscal_outlook_111809.aspx

 

Assemblyman Anthony Adams Recall Fails. The Secretary of State announced on Friday that the recall effort against Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia) failed to gather the necessary signatures to qualify a recall vote on the ballot. In order to qualify for the ballot, proponents needed to submit 35,825 valid signatures. Although the recall organizers submitted 58,384 signatures, the Secretary of the State estimated, based on legally required random sampling of signatures gather, that only 24,579 signatures were valid. This recall effort against Assemblyman Adams was initiated after the Assemblyman provides one of the three necessary Republican votes to pass the temporary income tax increase last February.

Federal Update

 

CALM Act.  On Thursday morning H.R. 1084 The CALM Act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act), authored by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo from the Silicon Valley was approved by the Energy and Commerce Committee on a voice vote.

In her statement before the Committee Eshoo said that the bill protects consumers from the abusive practice of blasting commercials and went on to say that until her bill had been introduced little action had been taken in this area by business although it had been discussed as a problem for many years.

Her bill as amended accepts industry standards which were adopted on November 4th of this year. She felt that the FCC needed to have enforcement powers in this area to make sure that industry sticks to these standards.

Committee Chairman Henry Waxman(D-Ca.) gave a brief opening statement in favor of the legislation. No other Californians spoke on the bill.