Rest assured, however, that I will continue to edit this newsletter, regardless of what I'm doing with the rest of my life. So fear not, you'll continue to receive CAW via e-mail every Monday. Please always send me feedback -- I appreciate anything from a note to say hi to input on how to make this newsletter better. And, of course, letters to the editor are always welcome and encouraged.

Enjoy your week!

-Gabe

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The single most important piece of legislation considered by lawmakers during the course of a legislative session is the state budget. Not only does it define how money will be spent, it sets forth the political priorities of the governor and 120 elected officials. The negotiations are typically contentious and contrary, and agreement often comes -- when it comes -- after interminable rounds of public posturing and heated rhetoric that seem to justify the public's perception of politicians as fools, knaves or even worse.

But thus far this year, unlike so many budget deliberations of years past, has been marked more by consensus and conciliation than confrontation.

Issues that have so bitterly divided lawmakers and the governor in the past -- welfare payments, for example -- are on the way to being resolved with little difficulty. Even the most controversial item of the governor's budget blueprint, $350 million for a new state prison, was removed speedily from the budget by the legislative conference committee with little of the political fallout that has marked earlier years.

Indeed, the two-house conference committee is all but certain to wrap up its business in a week after resolving the final major pieces of the budget that deal with the partial restoration of funding for counties and local governments. Capitol observers even say the chances are excellent that the legislature will approve the budget by June 15 -- the constitutional deadline that has rarely been met for the Legislature to send the budget to the governor's desk. The governor has until July 1 to sign it into law. That, too, is a deadline that is often ignored.

The reasons for this lack of fiscal trauma are straight forward.

First, the state has roughly $4 billion in additional revenue arising from a strong economy. It's always easier to deal with an excess of money than a scarcity.

Second, both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office are controlled by Democrats, so the virtually routine confrontations that occurred during the past 16 years when Republican governors faced Democratic Legislatures is not a factor.

Third, Democrat Gray Davis is charting a moderate course that Republicans can live with, so the pitched battles over social programs and law enforcement that marked earlier budget deliberations simply don't exist this year.

And for all the media attention devoted to public education, the budget this year is probably going to provide in raw dollars roughly what it did last year, when the spending plan was written by Davis' Republican predecessor.

The simple truth is that, for journalists at least, the 1999-2000 budget is a big snooze.

And that's how it should be.

Regarding your recount of the story of CDF&G's eradication of Northern Pike from Davis Lake [http://www.capenq.com/newsletter/archives/1999/may99/0247.html], I think you forget that the reason we have resource management agencies is to take the hard problems to task. Sometimes very difficult decisions have to be made which unfairly impact a minority of our state's citizens. CDF&G knew they had a difficult environmental problem to resolve; one which resulted from the illegal actions of a poorly informed individual who introduce a voracious, non-native predator into our state's aquatic ecosystem.

In the last century, striped bass were released into San Francisco Bay after they were displayed at the World Exhibition. Although a very valuable sport fishery was created, it was at the expense of the native species, some of which are now considered at peril (e.g., winter run Chinook salmon).

The residents around Davis Lake should be mad about the eradication process. However, their anger should be directed at the individuals who released the pike, not at our state's resource managers who are left with fixing the problem. California's native fish are an invaluable resource, and the thoughtless action of the person or persons who released the pike should be condemned by everyone affected by the eradication program. Your version unfairly placed CDF&G in the role of Goliath to the citizens they serve cast as David. Use of Biblical analogies aside, this is not a fair comparison in this circumstance.

- Don Kent
Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute

With a change in governor and the first change in party in 16 years, the new governor has been making hundreds of appointments, but he isn't finished yet. We know that you need your State Agency Directory, so we've decided to process the information we have received to date and get the directory ready for the printers. Give us a couple weeks and the State Agency Directory WILL BE AVAILABLE. We apologize for the long delays and appreciate your patience. Please be assured that we will continue to pay utmost attention to the accuracy and timeliness of information, as we have for over 25 years.

*** 1999 Pocket Directory Now Available ***

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Looking for the current roster of the Assembly or Senate? Head on over to http://www.capenq.com/gov/info.html for links to the current lists -- complete with district, member name, party, room and phone number.

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