Karen Bass

Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia) will chair the Committee on Housing and Community Development beginning next year, as announced by state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) this week.

Mendoza, who represents the 56th Assembly District in Southern California, will replace Assemblywoman Lori Saldana (D-San Diego) as chair in the new legislative session.

Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo sent out an advisory for a press event Thursday morning, saying she'd receive a formal endorsement from City Councilman Kevin McCarty. But before the event even happened, opponent Kevin Johnson's campaign poked a hole in it.

In the advisory for the event outside city hall, Fargo noted that McCarty's endorsement would mean that a majority of the eight-member council supported her bid for re-election, with four other council members scheduled to attend in a show of support.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pushed legislators this week to act quickly on legislation that would add more ballot measures to the Nov. 4 election ballot, but a lack of progress seemed more likely to threaten any legislator's plans to attend party conventions instead.

The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday that Schwarzenegger sent legislative leaders a letter saying he would sign a bill amending a Nov. 4 bond for high-speed rail. The letter also told them to work on other bills related to a water bond, borrowing against state lottery funds to balance the budget, and a rainy-day fund/spending cap for the state budget.

Already facing little time to add items to the Nov. 4 ballot, Assembly Democrats unveiled a water bond proposal Friday morning that they believe can get needed legislative support.

Members of an Assembly working group on water said the proposal for a $9.8 billion water bond could be vetted and approved quickly enough to still make the Nov. 4 ballot, but said they also want to give it full consideration and examination before voters see it.

SACRAMENTO - In a graphic example of what can happen when you vote against your own party, a Hanford assemblywoman said this week that Assembly Speaker Karen Bass told her that her legislating days for the rest of 2008 are over.

After Nicole Parra refused to join with Democrats for a budget vote on Sunday, Bass (D-Los Angeles), opted to punish her by kicking her out of her capitol offices and then putting the kibosh on any legislation the assemblywoman comes up with for the rest of the year, the Sacramento Bee reported today.

"I'm done for the whole year," Parra told the Bee.

Parra's remaining legislation -- two bills and one resolution -- will no longer move forward, at least not with her name. She was informed of the move "as a warning" in advance of her non-vote Sunday, Parra said.

Parra said she voted against the budget because it failed to include any provisions for deal with the Central Valley area's ongoing water issues.

But her relationship with the speaker hasn't been all that great especially since she began publicly talking about supporting Republican Danny Gilmore to succeed her in the Assembly.

Read the entire Bee story here:

State Assembly leaders in both parties gave skeptical responses to the governor's new 2008-09 budget proposal Wednesday, suggesting a breakthrough was not imminent.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said the governor should have proposed such a budget months ago, and made no mention in a response released by her office of an additional $2 billion in cuts contained in the governor's proposal.

State Senate Pro Tem Don PerataThe national convention party for California state senators is cancelled until there's a new state budget, State Sen. Pro Temp Don Perata (D-Oakland) announced Tuesday.

With a budget more than 50 days overdue and other bills still awaiting action, Perata said in a release, the state senate will remain in session through at least the end of the month.

That would affect Democrats planning to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which starts Monday, and could have an impact on Republicans planning to head to St. Paul, Minn., for the Republican National Convention, which begins Sept. 1.

Assembly member Nicole Parra is paying a price for her vote against her own party's budget proposal Sunday, according to The Sacramento Bee and Capitol Weekly.

Parra (D-Hanford) and her staff were informed Monday that by late afternoon, she'll have to move out of her Capitol office and into an office at the legislative office building nearby, according to those outlets.

State Democratic legislators have taken to YouTube as a wedge to break the logjam over a new state budget.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly members John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) and Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) have released a six-minute video on the popular web site, criticizing Republicans for refusing to consider any revenue increases as a way to solve a budget deficit estimated at more than $15 billion.

The floor session in the California State Assembly was filled with vitriol Thursday, as Democrats and Republicans blasted one another for continued delays in passing a state budget for 2008-09.

Republicans repeatedly tried to bring up a Democrat-proposed budget for a vote, but were stymied at every turn. The budget, which includes tax increases on the wealthy, is unlikely to pass.