SENATE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS
James L. Brulte, Chairman
DAILY BRIEFING
Friday, April 30, 1999
DAN WALTERS COLUMN
How To Spend Budget Bonus
When Democratic Gov. Gray Davis unveiled his first state budget in January, he characterized it as a hold-the-line spending plan because of a projected $2.3 billion shortfall. Republicans, including officials of the just-departed Pete Wilson administration, were critical of Davis, suggesting that his shortfall projection was more a gibe at Wilson than a realistic estimate of income and outgo. As it turns out, the Republicans were correct, although the precise size of the windfall still is being calculated. Sacto Bee http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert05_19990430.html
BUDGET
State Senate OKs Budget For Next Year
State senators approved a $76.7 billion budget yesterday, beginning the weeks-long process that will lead to a 1999-2000 spending plan. Through yesterday, personal income tax receipts for April were $5.9 billion, $1.6 billion higher than the $4.3 billion Governor Gray Davis estimated in January. SF Chron http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/30/MN46490.DTL
Budget Surplus Sparks Dreams Of Mansion
The state Senate's top Republicans voiced strong public support Thursday for building a California governor's mansion, declaring the current lack of an official residence "embarrassing" and "outrageous." In an interview, Republican Caucus Chairman Jim Brulte of Rancho Cucamonga said Republican Leader Ross Johnson wants to clearly signal Democrat Davis that there is broad Senate Republican support for a governor's mansion and that the senators won't attack the governor if he also decides to support the project. Sacto Bee http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert06_19990430.html
BUSINESS
Davis Presses Insurers On Holocaust
California officials are raising the heat on insurance companies that have resisted paying Holocaust-era insurance claims. Today, in a strong show of bipartisan unity, Gov. Gray Davis and several other Democratic elected officials will share a platform at the Simon Wiesenthal Center with Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush, a Republican, to announce several measures designed to get the companies to start paying claims to elderly Holocaust survivors and their heirs. LA Times http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/POLITICS/CALPOL/t000038860.1.html
ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND UTILITIES
State Panel Urges Tire Disposal Fee Hike
Searching for more money to pay for cleaning up hazardous, illegal piles of scrap tires, a state environmental board asked the Legislature on Thursday to increase the fee on new car tires from a quarter to $2. The Integrated Waste Management Board, which oversees the disposal of about 30-million tires that Californians cast off each year, voted unanimously to ask for the hike. LA Times http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/POLITICS/CALPOL/t000038865.1.html
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Davis Names New Director Of Health Services
Under fire from minority groups, Governor Gray Davis yesterday appointed the first Latina director of the Department of Health Services and filled three long-vacant jobs on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Democrat Davis appointed Diana Bonta, 48, a nurse by training and director of health and human services for the city of Long Beach, to direct the Department of Health Services. SF Chron http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/04/30/MN37578.DTL
PUBLIC SAFETY
Panel Advises Davis To Deny Clemency
Gov. Gray Davis, weighing whether to allow the execution of convicted killer Manny Babbitt, has been advised by the Board of Prison Terms to reject Babbitt's petition for clemency. Babbitt, 49, is scheduled to die Tuesday for the 1980 murder of Leah Schendel, 78, of Sacramento. SJMN http://www.sjmercury.com/premium/local/docs/babbitt30.htm
1789 - In New York City, George Washington, America’s Revolutionary War leader, was inaugurated as the first president of the modern United States.
1803 - Representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France signed a treaty approving the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land purchase that more than doubled the size of the young American republic.
1945 - One day after he married his mistress, Eva Braun, Adolf Hitler and his new bride committed suicide.