California Legislature causes lots of nerves

Gideon J. Tucker's famous warning that "No man's life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session" takes on new meaning now that the California Legislature has, in effect, extended its 2008 session because of the budget stalemate.

Technically, Sunday was just the last day that a bill requiring a simple majority vote and going into effect Jan. 1 could be enacted. Lawmakers still have until Nov. 15 to pass additional legislation involving appropriations and/or deemed to be "urgency," and thus requiring two-thirds votes.

Even as the last few bills facing the deadline were being hastily approved Sunday, lobbyists and legislative staffers packed into the Capitol's back hallways were gaming out the extension's political implications.

Two scenarios kicking around involve Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's vow -- one which he's already violated -- to veto any bill that gets to him as long as the budget remains unresolved.

Democrats are holding 873 bills rather than sending them to the governor. But the state constitution also says that Schwarzenegger has only until Sept. 30 to act on those bills, after which any measures still on his desk automatically become law.

Were the stalemate to continue until then -- not as outlandish as it sounds -- Democrats could dump hundreds of bills on Schwarzenegger at the last moment, thus giving him virtually no time in which to act and by default, perhaps, having some become law. Schwarzenegger aides say they're preparing for that ploy, however, and insist it won't work.

Conversely, Schwarzenegger's threat, if it's not just another of his hollow gestures, could encourage Republicans to prolong the stalemate since all but a few of the bills at risk are Democratic measures that Republicans opposed.

More ominously, any budget deal will require dozens of "trailer bills" in addition to the budget itself, and trailer bills have evolved into below-the-radar vehicles for special interest giveaways, many of which have little or nothing to do with the budget.

Schwarzenegger, backed by Republican legislators, is insisting that the budget package include provisions that supposedly would stimulate California's flagging economy, such as business tax breaks. He's already singled out his old pals in the movie industry as needing subsidies to discourage "runaway production."

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, meanwhile, has hopes of bypassing long-stalled contract negotiations with the administration via legislation that would give prison guards a salary raise. A budget trailer bill would be the perfect vehicle for such a move by the union's Democratic allies.

Finally, a budget deal probably will entail a special election to enact the "budget reforms" that Schwarzenegger is demanding, and perhaps some changes in the state lottery.

All sorts of other stuff could be dumped on voters, and that's just scratching the surface of potential mischief in this session-after-the-session.

(Contact Dan Walters at dwalters@sacbee.com.)

(E-mail Dan Walters at dwalters(at)sacbee.com. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)