Vondraken.org - programing, programing news

Central Valley lawmakers split over health care abortion issue

15.11.09

The decades-long battle over abortion has emerged as a mini-drama in the larger debate on a health care overhaul, and Central Valley lawmakers are divided.

U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, has joined at least 40 other House Democrats in vowing to oppose health care legislation if the abortion limits included in an amendment to the bill passed by the House survive, said spokeswoman Mara Lee.

The amendment, inserted to win needed votes from reluctant Democrats, would extend the current ban on using federal money to pay for abortions. It could also restrict abortion coverage for those who buy coverage through a proposed government-run insurance exchange, regardless of whether they receive a government subsidy.

This exchange would be one of the main ways for the uninsured to obtain coverage, choosing from a government-run public option and competing commercial plans. The government would provide subsidies to help those too poor to purchase insurance on their own.

Matsui voted against the abortion amendment, but gave her support to the overall bill. The Senate is working on its own version of health care legislation, and the abortion issue could pose another hurdle for Democrats' hope to implement the Obama administration's top domestic priority.

"If we're going to have an abortion debate, let's have a separate abortion debate," not a "back-door" one, Lee said. "We are undoing years of work to protect a woman's right" to make reproductive decisions.

Rep. Dan Lungren, a Republican from Gold River, voted in favor of the abortion limits and opposed the broader health care bill.

"This is not a question of Roe v. Wade. It's about forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions," Lungren said, referring to the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion.

"It's obvious the Democrats wouldn't have had enough votes to adopt the (health care) bill if they hadn't adopted the amendment."

Republicans point out that the amendment would not outlaw abortions.

"It just says it prohibits federal money to be used for abortions," said Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, adding that anyone who wants abortion coverage could purchase that coverage on their own – outside the government-run exchange.

Republicans could have exploited Democratic tensions by keeping the House bill intact, McClintock said. With little room for error – the bill's margin of victory was a mere five votes – House leaders might have then seen a major defeat of the broader health bill.

"You could have seen Republicans abstain (from the amendment vote) to make it more difficult for the measure to pass," McClintock said. "It sets up an interesting voting dynamic in the unlikely event it comes back to the House."

McClintock said health care legislation faces "a very steep hill to climb in the Senate."

The abortion amendment passed with support from 64 Democrats, including Democratic Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and Dennis Cardoza of Merced.

Costa and Cardoza, both so-called Blue Dog Democrats who represent conservative-leaning districts and whose support for health care legislation has sometimes wavered, ultimately voted for the final overhaul package, including the abortion amendment.

Planned Parenthood's Mar Monte office, which covers 27 California counties and parts of Northern Nevada, sent a letter Monday expressing dismay to the pair of Central Valley congressmen.

The letter was signed by Deborah Ortiz, now vice president of public affairs for Planned Parenthood's Mar Monte region. Ortiz served with both Cardoza and Costa in the state Legislature.

"Given our long friendship and history of working on behalf of those who have little to no access to health care, I welcome an explanation of your vote," her letter said. "Absent an explanation, I can only assume that the decision was a political rather than a policy decision."

Neither Cardoza nor Costa returned phone calls requesting interviews.

Costa's spokesman, Bret Rumbeck, said the congressman's office received the strongly worded letter. "We get lots of tough letters," he said.

Abortion rights advocates argued that that the amendment would have a disproportionate effect on poor women, because they are more likely to lack insurance, and to seek coverage through the exchange.

In 2005, 1.2 million abortions were performed in the United States, including 208,000 in California, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion rates.

The rate of abortion among women living in poverty is more than four times greater than for women making 300 percent of the federal poverty level, according to the institute.

"I understand there are people in this country who feel very strongly about abortion – that women shouldn't have them, that the government shouldn't pay for them – but we should not be on a road that takes away a woman's right to reproductive freedom," said Shauna Hecker, executive director for Women's Health Specialists.

Hecker's group serves 50,000 women and performs about 4,000 abortions annually at family planning clinics in Sacramento and three other Northern California cities.

CSU campuses swamped by record number of applications

15.11.09

A record number of students are applying to attend California State University campuses next fall, and officials are urging those who haven't yet applied to get their paperwork in by the end of the month.

In the five weeks since the application period opened, 266,152 students have applied to attend a Cal State campus – an increase of 53 percent compared with the same time last year.

The number of applications from transfer students has more than doubled.

University leaders attribute the increase to several factors: the weak economy prompting more families to consider CSU as a less expensive alternative to the University of California; news that Cal State schools will be cutting the number of students they admit; and a publicity push by CSU officials to tell students they need to get their applications in soon.

"We have put the word out to all the high schools and community colleges," CSU Chancellor Charles Reed said in a phone call with reporters Tuesday.

"The communication has gotten out there and stirred students and parents to get their applications in."

Cal State is cutting enrollment statewide by 40,000 students over the next three years because of cuts to the university's budget, Reed said. The university cut enrollment by about 4,000 students this fall and expects to reduce it by another 6,000 students this spring.

"Denying students access to the CSU is just about the worst thing that I think I can do. It's during a recession, it's during a downturn," he said. "But … we cannot educate more students with $564 million less."

With fewer spots available, some campuses will become more selective about whom they admit by upping the minimum grade-point-average or giving preference to local students. And for the first time, about half the 23 Cal State campuses will not accept students who apply after Nov. 30, said university spokeswoman Claudia Keith.

Traditionally, Nov. 30 has been a soft deadline to apply to Cal State colleges – many campuses continued accepting students for months after that date.

But with so many applications coming in and fewer spots open for new students, the Nov. 30 deadline will mean much more this year because students who apply by then will get preference.

Landmark water bill signed

15.11.09

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signs a water conservation law at the Santa Clara Valley Water District headquarters in San Jose with local politicians as a backdrop.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signs a water conservation law at the Santa Clara Valley Water District headquarters in San Jose with local politicians as a backdrop.

The measure, authored by Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, aims to cut urban use 20 percent statewide by 2020.

It's the fourth of five water measures the governor has signed around the state since the Legislature passed the package last week.

CalPERS endorses legislation to curb investment abuse

15.11.09

CalPERS' president today endorsed legislation designed to curb abuses by placement agents, middlemen hired by investment firms to get deals from CalPERS and other public pension funds.

Rob Feckner, the CalPERS board president, called on fellow board members to rally around legislation being drafted by Controller John Chiang and Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who also sit on the board.

The legislation would require placement agents to register as lobbyists. It would also ban the payment of agents on a contingency basis. Agents generally are paid 1 percent to 2 percent commission of any deal they procure, but get paid nothing if the pension fund doesn't go along with the investment.

"Just as lobbyists attempt to influence legislative or administrative decisions, placement agents attempt to influence the investment of state pension funds," Feckner wrote in a letter to the board.

The board is expected to discuss the legislation at its Nov. 19 meeting.

The legislation is being drafted following disclosures that placement agent Alfred Villalobos, a former CalPERS board member, has earned commissions totalling at least $60 million on CalPERS investments.

The big pension fund has hired a Washington law firm to run a "special review" of Villalobos and other agents' activities.

Villalobos hosted the 2004 wedding of then-CalPERS Chief Executive Fred Buenrostro, although Buenrostro said he reimbursed him. Buenrostro now works for Villalobos.

Villalobos also paid for a round-the-world 2006 trip by CalPERS board member Charles Valdes, although Valdes said he, too, reimbursed him.

United Commercial Bank had $14.5 million in Sacramento defaults since '08

15.11.09

United Commercial Bank, which was seized by state and federal regulators late Friday, was brought down by bad lending practices and $14.5 million worth of commercial real estate loan defaults in Sacramento alone since 2008.

A Bee review of Sacramento Superior Court cases involving United Commercial found nine cases in which the bank launched foreclosure proceedings after its customers failed to make their loan payments.

After the defaults, the bank went to court to get receivers appointed to safeguard the properties and collect rents from tenants until they could obtain judicial permission to officially seize and resell the real estate, court records show.

The properties involved in defaults included eight multiunit apartment buildings with these loan balances:

• 3821-3825 22nd Ave.: $935,477

• 3721 Balsam St.: $452,720

• 3729 Balsam St.: $443,029

• 3535 Del Paso Blvd.: $925,774

• 3331 Edison Ave.: $1,099,078

• 5141 El Camino Blvd.: $890,446

• 6201 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.: $920,993

• 2732 Rio Linda Blvd.: $1,172,878

Several properties have since been resold for less than the bank was owed, land title records show.

The largest default involved a $10 million loan with a current balance of $7.6 million outstanding made to M & Z Valley Associates LLC, a company that bought land in Galt in June 2006. The bank sued the company in November 2008, and the parties have since agreed to submit their case to an alternative dispute resolution center to help reach a settlement.

The Buzz: Assembly, Senate split on holiday, too

15.11.09

Maria Shriver

Here's one more thing the Legislature's two houses can't agree on: Veterans Day. The Assembly celebrated the holiday on Wednesday, recognizing the Nov. 11 date set 90 years ago to honor the end of World War I that was later expanded to applaud all veterans. By contrast, the Senate will take Friday off, giving staff members a three-day weekend.

WORTH REPEATING

"I'm all for that, baby."

MARIA SHRIVER, California's first lady, agreeing to feed comedian Stephen Colbert a spoonful of the ice cream she is promoting to benefit the Special Olympics.

BUDGET WATCH

California's budget crisis not only is getting worse, it may be infecting other states. The Pew Center on the States, a Washington, D.C.-based policy think tank, says Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are facing "some of the same pressures that have pushed California toward economic disaster," adding that they also could see furloughs of public employees, severe cuts in education and reductions in the social welfare safety net.

Schwarzenegger to visit U.S. troops in Iraq

15.11.09

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Iraq early next week to visit U.S. troops for the first time as governor.

Schwarzenegger previously visited troops on United Service Organizations-sponsored tours in 2002 to Bosnia to preview his movie, "Collateral Damage," as well as in 2003 to Iraq to show "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

"He's been wanting to visit the troops for the last few years but hasn't had the opportunity to," said Schwarzenegger communications director Matt David. "He thought now would be a good time to make a short trip over there."

The governor will be in the Middle East for a couple of days, David said. Asked whether Schwarzenegger planned to make any other stops, David said it was possible but that the governor had no further plans at this point. He said he could not provide more specifics for security reasons.

In 2004, Schwarzenegger visited Israel, Jordan and Germany in a four-day overseas tour. He met with political leaders and embassy workers in Israel, had lunch with King Abdullah in Jordan and then visited troops wounded in Iraq at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

With the lieutenant governor seat vacant after John Garamendi won his congressional race last week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is in line to serve as acting governor when Schwarzenegger leaves the state.

The California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit with ties to business groups, will pay for Schwarzenegger and staff to travel to Iraq, according to Aaron McLear, the governor's press secretary.

California Highway Patrol will provide security for the governor, McLear said. CHP cost estimates were not available Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger said Wednesday in a Veterans Day address in Los Angeles that nearly one in nine U.S. troops comes from California.

"Now, this is a day that I hold dear, because I treasure the liberty and the opportunity that I've found in this country," Schwarzenegger said. "As an immigrant you can probably appreciate it even more than when you're born here."

The governor served one year of obligatory service in the Austrian army as an 18-year-old. During that year, he went AWOL for several days to compete in the Mr. Europe bodybuilding championship in Stuttgart, Germany, according to the book "Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger."

The Iraq trip comes during a lull in Capitol activity after lawmakers and Schwarzenegger reached a deal last week designed to shore up California's water supply in the coming decades.

Lawmakers are out of session, and some are traveling to conferences in places such as Hawaii. Schwarzenegger will head overseas despite criticizing lawmakers for leaving the state.

The governor told The Fresno Bee editorial board Monday they should stay in Sacramento to overhaul the state's tax structure "rather than go on trips all over the world which they will do in November."

The governor has not said much on Iraq this year, but in 2007 he parsed his own views on the war there. That year, he supported a timeline for troop withdrawal but also warned that a public authorization of withdrawal may not be wise because it could send a "signal to the enemy." He also supported President George W. Bush's increase of troops to Iraq that year.

Schwarzenegger vetoed Democratic-backed legislation in 2007 that would have placed an advisory measure on the ballot asking voters whether they wanted to withdraw troops from Iraq.

"The decision to engage in or withdraw troops from war is a federal issue, not a state issue," Schwarzenegger said in a statement at the time.

Congress members' town halls likely to focus on health care debate

15.11.09

Less than a week after casting votes on a historic health care bill, members of Congress are sweeping through their districts to rally constituents on the proposed overhaul of the country's health care system.

Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River, will host a town hall today in Carmichael.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, will host his own forum Saturday in Lincoln.

Both House Republicans voted against the $1.3 trillion health care measure, authored by Democrats, which narrowly passed on a 220-215 vote. The House legislation would extend health insurance coverage to nearly every American, and establish a government-run health plan to provide coverage to many of the country's 46 million uninsured.

The Senate is still debating its version.

Lungren's town hall will be held at La Sierra Community Center, 5325 Engle Road, Suite 100, in Carmichael. It runs from 7-8:30 p.m.

McClintock will convene his forum at 10 a.m. at the Sun City Orchard Creek Lodge, 965 Orchard Creek Lane, in Lincoln.

Rep. Doris Matsui, who voted for the health care bill, will make an appearance at California State University, Sacramento, on Friday at 10 a.m. at the Alumni Center. She's expected to speak on a host of issues on her legislative agenda, including health care, said her spokeswoman, Mara Lee. The event is open to the public.

While the town halls being hosted by Lungren and McClintock aren't necessarily being billed as forums specifically on health care, the subject could become a central focus of the Lungren gathering, according to the congressman's spokesman, Brian Kaveney.

Bill George, a McClintock spokesman, said the Lincoln forum will be open to any topic, "but health care is likely to be a hot topic."

The health care debate has been fierce in Congress and across the country.

"The volume of calls was pretty heavy," Kaveney said.

Over the summer, Americans of all political stripes packed town halls across the country. Lungren and McClintock had standing-room-only crowds at a series of town halls that drew thousands of constituents who engaged in sometimes heated discussion.

CalPERS president endorses overhaul

15.11.09

Using blunt language to address a growing scandal, CalPERS' president Wednesday urged his board to support legislation designed to curb the role of placement agents – marketing representatives who seek investment dollars from CalPERS and other public pension funds.

Rob Feckner, the board president, endorsed legislation being drafted by state Controller John Chiang and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, who also sit on the board of the California Public Employees' Retirement System.

"If there is one inescapable conclusion from all we have seen this year regarding placement agents, their firms and employers, it is this: Just as lobbyists attempt to influence legislative or administrative decisions, placement agents attempt to influence the investment of state pension funds," Feckner wrote in a letter to his board.

The legislation would require agents to register as lobbyists. It also would prohibit investment firms from paying agents on commission or contingency. Agents generally get paid 1 percent to 2 percent of whatever investment deal they can obtain for their clients.

Feckner is reacting to disclosures about the activities of placement agent Alfred Villalobos, who served on the CalPERS board in the 1990s. Villalobos has earned more than $60 million in commissions off CalPERS deals in the past decade, prompting CalPERS to hire a law firm to run a "special review" of placement agent activities.

Villalobos hosted the 2004 wedding of then-CalPERS Chief Executive Fred Buenrostro at his Lake Tahoe mansion, although Buenrostro said he reimbursed him for the costs. Buenrostro joined Villalobos' firm over the summer.

In addition, Villalobos paid for a round-the-world trip in 2006 by CalPERS board member Charles Valdes. Valdes said he, too, reimbursed Villalobos.

The CalPERS board will discuss the legislation at its meeting Nov. 19.

The fund announced that the bill will be carried by Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina. Hernandez was the author of AB 1584, which imposed stronger disclosure requirements on placement agents. It was signed last month by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Separate investigations into the activities of placement agents are being conducted by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo already has filed criminal charges relating to alleged abuses in New York's public pension fund.

United Commercial Bank seizure after bailout poses questions

15.11.09

A California bank that received $298.7 million in federal bank bailout money last year has been seized and closed by state regulators, leaving U.S. taxpayers with a significant loss – the bailout program's first – and raising questions about why the lender received government help at all.

United Commercial Bank of San Francisco was closed by the state Department of Financial Institutions late Friday. The state immediately named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as bank receiver.

To protect United Commercial depositors and clients, including hundreds served by branches in Sacramento and Citrus Heights, the FDIC entered into a simultaneous agreement with Pasadena-based East West Bank to assume all of United Commercial's deposits and branches and some of its loans.

United Commercial's 65 branches, including 50 in California, have now reopened as East West branches. Customer deposits were secure and remained FDIC-insured, said Tom Tolda, East West's chief financial officer.

"We want United Commercial customers to understand that it's business as usual," Tolda said in an interview.

For the FDIC and taxpayers, United Commercial's collapse and absorption by East West wasn't so seamless. The FDIC's own insurance fund will take a $1.4 billion hit.

United Commercial Bank's $298.7 million debt to the U.S. Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program was wiped out and the taxpayers' money was lost, Tolda said.

Treasury injected the money into the bank in November 2008 and in exchange received shares and warrants in UCBH Inc., United Commercial's holding company.

Months later, United Commercial had a financial and management meltdown. The bank fired two top executives and revealed it had discovered that massive commercial real estate loan losses were improperly and deliberately hidden from its finance department and outside auditors.

The Bee reported in September that the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into those events at the bank, whose stock also collapsed.

Before its closure, United Commercial had $11.2 billion in assets and about $7.5 billion in deposits. It served thousands of Chinese Americans in California and in other states.

Linus Wilson, a University of Louisiana finance professor, and William Black, a University of Missouri economist, said federal bureaucrats took huge risks with taxpayers' money by investing in banks under the TARP program – and the United Commercial failure underscores it.

"It was not clear why the U.S. Treasury led by Henry Paulson chose to invest in so many banks at a time when banks had no trouble collecting deposits," Wilson said. "In most cases, taxpayers were forced to take risks that had little payoff in terms of stabilizing the financial system or encouraging banks to lend to business and families."

Black said Treasury's decision to inject $298 million into one bank with few checks and no security was "immensely stupid."

"Any commercially competent person would have negotiated a better deal for the American taxpayer if they were trying to operate in the public interest," he said.

East West and United Commercial were once fierce competitors. Blending the two banks' operations creates the second-largest California-based bank, after Wells Fargo.

East West received $306.5 million in TARP money itself last December, and its own losses have been mounting.

East West lost $59 million on revenue of $713 million last year. It lost $69 million alone during this year's third quarter and said it is reviewing future dividend payouts "given the economic climate."

East West chairman Dominic Ng said in a Monday conference call with investment analysts that his now bigger bank will return to profitability in 2010 and repay its TARP money then.