Subject: california update - - 07 . 20 . 01
having failed to resolve either the budget or the energy issues , the legislature is likely to postpone its recess and work through the weekend , at a minimum .
in sum , though many claim that the legislature will " vote for something , " it still doesn ' t appear that the " something " will include a measure that will keep edison out of bankruptcy .
the senate and assembly remain extremely far apart in their approaches to amending the governor ' s original mou ( which is dead ) .
the ranks of politicians that view bankruptcy as the best alternative is growing .
in the senate :
sbl 8 xx - - - bill to de - link the bonds from the dwr contracts
in the only bipartisan move to date , sbl 8 xx passed out of two committees yesterday , but has not yet been voted on by the full senate .
the bill de - links payment of the bonds needed to backfill the state budget from payment of dwr contracts .
the bill is being driven by increasing concerns over the volume and price of the dwr contracts .
the dwr contracts are being held up as the reason california must suspend , or end , direct access .
republicans on the assembly side are supportive of 18 , but hertzberg - - the speaker - - has joined with the governor ' s people in the view that the bill would impair the contracts , consititute a breach , and expose the state to substantial damages .
as a result , when the bill passes the senate and gets over to the assembly , its chances of passage there are low .
sb 72 xx - - - the senate ' s mou
the senate ' s version of the mou - - sb 72 xx - - limped out of its final committee yesterday before going to a vote by the full senate , but its chances of passing the full senate at this point are 50 - 50 .
the problem is that many democrats believe they will be attacked for voting for a bill that will likely drive edison into bankruptcy , while many other democrats fear it will look like they bailed out edison - - - - the courage and leadership is awesome .
in the assembly :
the assembly two versions of the mou - - - ab 82 xx and ab 83 xx ( now ab 50 xx )
the assembly is severely divided over how to address the energy issue .
the speaker is having a very difficult time getting democrats to support his own bill ( 82 xx ) .
many moderate democrats support a bipartisan bill developed by a democrat ( rod wright ) , who has broken ranks with repbublicans , and assembly republicans .
in the end , the speaker ' s bill is likely to prevail .
things are complicated by the fact that the assembly is having a very difficult time getting a budget passed .
as noted above , the assembly democractic leadership opposes sb 18 xx and is trying to cobble together an alternative to 18 .