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As had been rumored, State Controller John Chiang told lawmakers in Sacto today he'll be sending out IOUs starting next week. (I'll also paste in text of the news release below.)

Here's a link to technical info about the "registered warrants."

I'll be poking around trying to find out how this might affect the city of Bakersfield, which is passing its annual budget tonight.

- Gretchen Wenner, staff writer

Release text:

State Forced to Issue “IOUs” Without Immediate Budget Fix
PR09:021
6/24/2009
Contact: HALLYE JORDAN
916-445-2636
 
SACRAMENTO – Today State Controller John Chiang announced that he will be forced to issue registered warrants – also known as IOUs – beginning July 2 if immediate budget and cash solutions are not quickly adopted by the Governor and Legislature.

“Next Wednesday we start a fiscal year with a massively unbalanced spending plan and a cash shortfall not seen since the Great Depression,” Chiang said. “The State’s $2.8 billion cash shortage in July grows to $6.5 billion in September, and after that we see a double-digit freefall. Unfortunately, the State’s inability to balance its checkbook will now mean short-changing taxpayers, local governments and small businesses.”

The Controller was forced to delay payments for 30 days in February to manage a smaller cash crisis.  But the magnitude of this shortfall – which is nearly five times larger – cannot be temporarily covered by payment delays.  The option to pursue short-term, high-cost loans from Wall Street to cover the cash shortfall was taken off the table by Governor Schwarzenegger earlier this month.

The State Controller met with the Governor and Legislative leaders this week to warn them of the consequences of further budget delays.  In addition to the burden on those who receive the notes, resorting to IOUs sends a signal that California has exhausted all other options to manage its cash flow.

Payment categories protected by the State Constitution, federal law and court decisions will receive regular payments in July.  All other general fund payments will be paid with IOUs. These include payments to local governments for social services, private contractors, state vendors, income and corporate tax refunds, and payments for State operations including legislative per diem.

The warrants will carry an interest rate set by the Pooled Money Investment Board. The Controller has requested an emergency meeting of the Board on July 2 to set the rate. Any rate adoption will become effective immediately.  The warrants will have a maturity date of October 1, 2009.

If IOUs are issued next month, the State Controller will launch a customer call-center to answer questions.  The Controller’s Web site, www.sco.ca.gov <http://www.sco.ca.gov> , will be updated regularly with the latest information on the State’s cash position and related developments.  The Controller's Web site also has several new Web pages <http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo_ne... with information about registered warrants.

###
 

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All but three of the state's 40 senators have agreed to a 5 percent pay cut...with one of the last holdouts being Bakersfield's Roy Ashburn, the Sacramento Bee reports.

 UPDATE: Ashburn explains why he's among just three holdouts.

Assemblyman Danny Gilmore also volunteered for a 5 percent cut, his office said today.

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Here's Dean Florez's latest weekly report from Sacramento:

Last week in Sacramento, we continued the work of going agency by agency, commission by commission, weeding out unnecessary spending and finding overlapping functions that could be combined for a savings to taxpayers that will help protect the most critical of services during these trying economic times.

The Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee met and proposed such common sense changes as consolidating the Board of Geologists and Geophysicists with the State Mining and Geology Board, so we can protect health and education.

Last Tuesday, I led a hearing of the Senate Food and Agriculture Committee to realize similar cost-saving reforms at the California Department of Food and Agriculture. 
Among the reforms I proposed for CDFA were: abolishing marketing functions and allowing marketing commissions to re-establish themselves as private non-profit corporations; transferring pest control and fertilizer issues to the Department of Pesticide Regulation; transferring food safety functions to the Department of Public Health; and returning oversight of fairs and expositions to California’s counties.

While it was a good discussion with industry, I was very disappointed Secretary A.J. Kawamura refused to participate and defend the $100 million we spend on his agency each year. I think his silence best articulated the case for realizing cost-savings by cutting executive management who do not feel they need to take part in this critical process.

Last week I had the opportunity to honor a great mentor to Valley students, Fresno State softball coach Margie Wright, who was recently recognized for a sixth time as the Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year.

In 24 years at Fresno State, Margie has led the Bulldogs to the NCAA tournament every year, including 10 trips to the Women’s College World Series and a National Championship. I was proud to recognize Margie for the example she has set for young women in the Valley, and the leadership qualities she has instilled in them.

After a Father’s Day weekend that kicked off with getting to cheer my own student-athlete daughter Faith on at her swim meet, it’s back to Sacramento.

Over the next weeks, I will be working to advance my remaining bills through the Assembly to the governor’s desk, and keeping you up to date on that progress here. Here’s hoping you all enjoyed a wonderful Father’s Day.

Dean Florez, D-Shafter, is the California Senate Majority Leader. His weekly report from Sacramento appears here on Tuesdays.

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 State Sen. Dean Florez on Friday joined California senators volunteering for a 5% pay cut. (Separately, Florez earned some Dan Walter's ink regarding the Lt Gov race.)

Assemblywoman Jean Fuller was on board earlier.

...but a couple of the graduates at last Saturday's CSUB commencement wanted to share their displeasure with Dolores Huerta's speech there. I edited them down a tad:

My graduation on Saturday was the culmination of 5 years worth of hard work. Family and friends from all over the U.S. to witness my huge achievement. The ceremony began with an excited crowd of eager students anxious to listen to the final lecture of most of their lives. I, for one, was extraordinarily excited to have someone announce my accomplishments, sing my praises, and tell the world that this was my day. Instead, I sat there and listened to a speech that more closely resembled a eulogy than a commencement. I was constantly reminded of our countries on-going economic failures and layoffs.I was told that society was progressively getting worse and worse. More importantly I was asked to repeat political statements which I do not agree with.

I am not an obtuse indiviual and I recognize that there are economic, political, and ethnic issues within America. I do not, however, need to be reminded of our countries perceived failures, and I emphasize perceived because these are her political views, on my date of graduation. As a Sociology major I am more than familiar with the inequality and problems our country faces. I do not need someone expressing them on a day when I am supposed to leave feeling hopeful and confident that the education I just received will help me get ahead in life.

I for one plan to write a letter to Dr. Mitchell discussing my outrage at this speech. I know many of my fellow graduates within my department, many of whom share a Latin heritage with Ms. Huerta, were as equally offended as I was.

Josh Webb
Sociology graduate
 

Going into Saturday morning, us graduates felt a sense of pride being recognized for the previous four years of hard work and perseverance. It was our day, nobody else’s. When we took the long walk together from DDH to the amphitheatre, I saw people arm and arm, smiling faces, picture flashes and waves to the crowd; the typical stuff you would expect to see during a commencement. The event started off awesome, that was until Dolores Huerta distastefully took the podium. As her speech progressed, I couldn't help but feel our sense of accomplishment was quickly becoming overshadowed by biased political Jargon. This lady single handedly robbed us of our moment.

The positive mood that I just described was quickly overcome by tension, disgust and negative attitudes. Where I previously felt happy to share this moment with hundreds of fellow candidates, I soon experienced what can best be described as "division". We became separated as we all felt differently about her speech. Some graduates began using racial slurs when she spoke of  "KKK, Arian brotherhood and White supremacy", other graduates started yelling at her to get off the stage when she brought up "pro-choice", some started to argue among each other as the tension grew thicker as she spoke about the troubled economy. I had no option but to hang my head in disappointment.

When the ceremony was officially over my friends asked me to take pictures but I couldn't, I wanted to see my family so I agreed to meet them later. I ventured through the crowd of several thousand and couldn't help but overhear constant talks of Huerta's speech, it was the only thing on people's minds. While I was spending time with my family, my father just looked at me and shook his head and said "Son, I'm sorry that had to happen", enough said.

Dolores Huerta, you had no business doing what you did at our graduation. You did not only ruin our moment and the atmosphere of the venue, but you diverted the attention from the other speakers who did an amazing job. You should never be allowed to speak again at a graduation ceremony. As to the response you gave the Californian about "I was trying to open them up to new topics", don't worry, we are well aware of ALL of them, we've heard about them on Limbaugh and read it in the New York Times. This is just a lame excuse to divert the attention away from yourself and not take responsibility for your actions.

Gary Simmons

Sorry, I didn't get to posting a link to the full story I did on Dolores Huerta's controversial graduation speech at Cal State last weekend. I was able to talk to her and the school spokeswoman.

So here it is.

Also, I've gotten some interesting e-mails on the story. Here are some, names omitted as I don't know if they were for public consumption:

First up:

I am another parent who was disgusted with Huerta.  It was NOT a graduation speech but rather a political rant.  She was out of place and certainly hijacked the graduation.  My father-in-law was one of the many who loudly booed her.  He was very upset with her liberal views and references to Africans.  After having lived in Africa for 30 plus years, he was offended with her ignorance of the people of Africa.  There were more than 20 African Americans sitting near us and they were hollering for Huerta to sit down.  They, too, were offended by her abusing the graduation ceremony platform to push her agendas.

Second:

i'm the guy who recorded the video on youtube

saw your article, nice

Third:

Dolores is a American Hero and Icon and she is in her late Seventies, for these parents and students to be offended by her speech does not surprise me whatsoever.
 
Their is labor problems in Kern County and the press and the community refuses to acknowledge that they exist.
 
Last year a Pregnant 17 yr old girl was killed by her employer for not providing her with water and proper medical attention. Yet this community is more concerned and ready to persecute a crazy ole lady who has a bunch of dogs being treated inhumanly which I think is funny because this pregnant girl and her baby were murdered and they were treated like dogs, isn't it ironic in the last year tens of thousands of people are killed every year due to work related injuries.
 
If this people cant stand the truth then they should were earplugs when she speaks ,how much motivation it should be to go out there and protect the unprotected.
 
To live in Community that choose to wear binders because its inconvenient to hear the truth is a community that needs change and more people like Dolores Huerta. This community claims to want to protect the unborn yet when this beautiful young girl and her unborn baby were murdered in the fields of Kern County, their was no protest or call for action by anyone in this community.
 
God Bless America and we do need to start protecting workers and compensating them for the sacrifices they make and provide them and especially their children Medical, optical and dental benefits.

And:

Please consider this another COMPLAINT. We have NEVER felt compelled to go this far with a complaint..............EVER.
 
Dolores Huerta should be ashamed of herself. That was not a commencement speech, it was her own political/racist agenda, given to a captive audience. That CSUB let it go on so long, says little for the university. What CSUB allowed to happen was just plain wrong.
 
We were truly disgusted with the graduation ceremony....because of Dolores Huerta.

Did Dolores Huerta hijack Cal State Bakersfield’s graduation?

That’s what several Letter to the Editor writers, a You Tube video poster and a friend and of a friend of mine are saying about the farmworker advocate’s commencement speech Saturday.

They’re complaining she was waaaay too political. A You Tube video of the speech shows she argued that minimum wage should be $25 an hour, that there should be marriage equality (for gays), that farmworkers should get better medical coverage and pay and that millionaires shouldn't be getting government bailout money.

She urged people to get their news from places other than Rush Limbaugh, such as from the New York Times, The Nation, Mother Jones and The Progressive.

The crowd booed at Huerta when she spoke of union issues and laughed at her when she addressed white supremacists.

“We can say to those people like the KKK...’Get over it. You’re Africans, right? Get over it. We are all Africans of different shapes and colors.’”

Cal State spokeswoman Kathy Miller said she hadn’t heard any complaints about Huerta’s speech but she’s checking with the president’s office to see if it did.

Take a look at the video and tell me what you think.

 — Government team leader Christine Bedell

Our story on the tattered flag at Hart Park has really hit some nerves.

Eva Hayward wrote in to say her husband took down to county Parks and Rec Wednesday a flag they had bought at a silent auction that had flown over the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

It might be too big a flag, though, the county folks said.

A man, Mike Rand, called me to say he's offering up a 6-by-10 flag that he recently purchased.

And we got some letters to the editor. One said she has gone to a number of businesses saying they needed to replace their flags and most did. Another said he thought the old Hart Park  tattered flag was beautiful.

— Government team leader Christine  Bedell

UPDATE: County Parks and Recreation Director Bob Lerude said various people brought in four replacement flags Wednesday. They'll be used at other facilities as the Hart Park flag was replaced Tuesday.

People are really patriotic about these things!

If you're a state employee and see wasteful government practices, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants you to report it on this Web site.

"The knowledge of Californians who work in and around state government is a critical component to ensuring that we are operating efficiently and people are getting the most for their tax dollars," he said in a press release.

While you're at it, report it here or to cbedell@bakersfield.com. Might be a good news story there.

Here's Dean Florez's latest weekly update from Sacramento:

Last week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called for serious reform and rooting out the waste in government, saying the money saved will be money we don’t have to cut from health and education.

Taking that promise to heart, the Legislature’s policy committee chairpersons are promptly beginning top down reviews of the agencies we oversee, looking not only for cost-savings, but for opportunities to merge some functions and eliminate other agencies all together.

I have called a hearing of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture, looking to see if it makes sense for agriculture to remain the only single industry in California with its own Cabinet-level, $100 million general fund agency.

At the surface, it seems there are agencies in place to handle the business and regulatory functions, while the Department of Public Health may be best positioned to handle the food safety aspects.

CDFA will have the opportunity to make their case as we begin our review at 9:30 a.m. on June 16 in Sacramento.

Last Tuesday, the Senate approved my SB 250, The Pet Responsibility Act, to encourage spaying and neutering of pets. The measure reduced euthanasia rates by 60 percent when adopted in Santa Cruz, giving me hope it will make a great dent in the $250 million we as taxpayers spend to house and kill unwanted pets in California each year.

On Wednesday of last week, the Center for Kern Political Education chose a great day to host high school and college students, along with faculty, for a day at the Capitol. They arrived during the deadline week for all bills introduced in the Senate to pass a vote of the full Senate and be sent to the Assembly for consideration. 

On the day of their visit, the Senate passed SB 550 by a vote of 24-10, to require grocers with scanner capabilities to program recalled items into the system. Checkers will then be alerted to refrain from selling those items, offering consumers one last line of defense against food-borne illness. 

That same day, the Senate passed SB 173 (26-12) to establish regulations for the recall of food items that could cause illness.  We also passed my SB 212 (31-7), creating guidelines for preventing the spread of communicable diseases in schools.

Dean Florez, D-Shafter, represents the 16th Senate District. He is also a candidate for lieutenant governor.

The Fresno Bee, in this pretty entertaining post, is saying former Fresno Mayor and Republican Alan Autry is NOT planning to run for the state Senate seat held by Dean Florez, D-Shafter.

Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio's Democratic candidacy is looking more and more like a cakewalk every day.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

Everybody, chew on this one for me, please.

For a couple weeks the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been trying to get me to write about the fact Kevin McCarthy hasn't denounced Newt Gingrich for calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist. (Gingrich later took that back, BTW).

The McCarthy-Gingrich connection? Gingrich is to speak at a Republican fundraiser to benefit GOP Congress members. And Gingrich and McCarthy are buds.

Well, I've had a lot on my plate and not done anything on this. Now the DCCC has launched an online campaign calling on McCarthy and other GOPers  "to denounce shameful rhetoric against Sotomayor."

So what do you think, when should a politician be held to account for something a political colleague/buddy had to say? How about in this case?

— Governnment team leader Christine Bedell
 
 
 

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Sam Thomas, a former Kern High School District trustee, said Friday he's filed a statement of intention to run for the state Assembly seat now held by Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield.

Thomas, a Republican living in Bakersfield, served on the high school board from 1998-2006. He's a Southern Baptist preacher at Omega Community Church.

Fuller said this week she doesn't know whether she will run for a third term or for the state Senate seat now held by Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield.

Thomas declined to compare himself to Fuller or get into very specific policy interests. He said his priorities are local government control; upholding traditional family values; and "just doing the right thing."

"I feel I can be of a tremendous service," Thomas said.

I asked Bakersfield City Councilman Zack Scrivner the other day whether he will run for the seat if his boss, Fuller, runs for the Senate. He was non-committal.

"Right now I have two jobs," he said. "One is representing the voters of Ward 7 on the City Council, and the other is working for Jean Fuller as her District Director.  If, and when, Assemblymember Fuller decides to run for another office, I will have a decision to make. However, that is not the case at this time."

— Government team leader Christine Bedell 
 

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The Sacramento Bee just posted this story about state lawmakers moving to kill state agencies...a must read for political junkies!