A Place Where the State Might Be Able to Cut Costs

California is now accepting bids through June 25 at 1:30 in the afternoon for “Knife Sharpening Services.”

That’s the title of Solicitation OSP 2012-8.

There are 14 pages of dos and don’t, wherefores, lists of necessary attachments and other requirements if a business wants to apply for a state contract.

Among them is compliance with a Sweatfree Code of Conduct, three references and adherence to the “Darfur Contracting Act” in which a bidder must certify they are not a “scrutinized” business as defined in Public Contract Code section 10476.    Read more »

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What Budget Did the Legislature Pass on June 15?

 Examining the prepared statements and floor speeches of various lawmakers in the wake of the passage of a budget bill June 15 it’s hard to tell what was actually voted on.

Sen. Bill Emmerson, a Hemet Republican who is the vice-chair of the upper house’s budget committee, said the spending blueprint was “full of borrowing and gimmicks.”    Read more »

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Video of Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg on the June 15 Budget Vote

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Kudos to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen

In an interview aired June 14 on KCRA-TV, the Biggs Republican, vice chair of the Assembly Budget Committee,  displayed his mastery of the Lexicon of Common Budget Words and Phrases by describing the budget as not only “kicking the can down the road” and “business as usual” but adding that the process lacked sufficient “transperancy.”    Read more »

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Budget Bills Being Considered in the Senate

 Here are the budget bills being considered in the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee on June 14.

They can be viewed individually here    Read more »

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Legislative Democrats Begin the Process of Passing a $131 Billion Budget

On June 12, Democrats begin the process of sending a budget to Gov. Jerry Brown.

The Assembly Budget Committee has scheduled a hearing – the lower house says it can be watched or listened to here — to discuss the “Legislature’s plan,” which the committee says differs from the revised budget the Democratic governor unveiled in May by “less than 1 percent in total spending.”    Read more »

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Two Memorable Encounters with Ray Bradbury

It’s not always best to meet an idol. Sometimes the actual person doesn’t live up to the idealized.

This was anything but the case on two occasions shared with Ray Bradbury, each some 20 years apart.

The first was during the Deukmejian administration in the mid 1980s and Bradbury was a dinner speaker kicking off a tourism conference in Sacramento.    Read more »

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Happy Birthday Governor Deukmejian!

Courken George Deukmejian, California 35th governor, was born in Menands, New York on June 6, 1928.

Running as Attorney General on a law-and-order platform in 1982, Deukmejian sharply expanded California’s prison building program – and the number of inmates behind bars. He also remade the state Surpeme Court in his iamge after voters ejected Chief Justice Rose Bird and two other justices in 1986.    Read more »

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A Look at One Form-E-Mail Regarding the Budget

Thank you for contacting my office with your concerns about the Governor’s May Revision and subsequent budget cut proposals, especially those of the (INSERT CONSTITUENT CONCERN HERE).

It is important to point out that over the past year, we have reduced California’s structural budget deficit from $19 billion to about $8 billion.    Read more »

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California May Crack Down on Abandoned Mattresses

A new state program would be created to reduce the number of illegally dumped mattresses under legislation narrowly approved by the state Senate May 31.

The bill – SB 1118 by Sen. Loni Hancock, a Berkeley Democrat — would require mattress makers to collect used mattresses with their brand name and force mattress retailers to pick up old mattresses when a consumer buys a new one.    Read more »

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