We spent Saturday recovering from laughter, then Sunday headed to San Francisco's 30th annual Gay Pride Parade. The parade drew its largest crowd ever, as more than 750,000 people lined Market Street to cheer and show support for parade participants. As Carolyn Jones wrote in today's Chronicle, "the overriding mood was not shock and revolution, but acceptance and optimism." Sure, there were the usual naked people, the leather people, the pierced people, and the transvestites, but there wasn't anything the crowd hadn't seen before -- except, maybe, the people who had sewn bells to their arms. I was very impressed with the overall mood of acceptance, and am pleased to see how far our society has come.

-Gabe

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First, the Assembly Insurance Committee begins Monday with a dozen witnesses subpoenaed to testify under oath. The witnesses include several of Quackenbush's top aides, as well as a whistleblower, a lawyer in the commissioner's own department, who leaked confidential audits of alleged insurer misconduct to the Assembly. The committee's earlier hearings developed evidence of misconduct within the Insurance Department, but it was not tied to Quackenbush. Legislative sources believe that may change with the latest hearings.

Second, the state attorney general's office is expected to issue an official opinion on, among other things, the commissioner's authority to establish nonprofit foundations to settle disputes with insurers and finance those funds with penalties paid by insurance companies. This is an issue that is at the heart of the current scandal surrounding the commissioner.

Formal opinions by the attorney general carry weight in the courts, pending precedents set in appeals, and the opinion could influence legislators who may wind up deciding the commissioner's political fate.

Third, Quackenbush himself is scheduled to testify on Thursday before the Assembly committee, a dramatic appearance that could prove decisive to Quackenbush's future as lawmakers consider what action, if any, should be taken against the commissioner.

The problem for the commissioner is this: He authorized funds to be set up that were bankrolled by donations from insurers. He persuaded insurers to contribute to the funds, and allowed them to avoid higher penalties that could have been levied against them for alleged misconduct.

The most dramatic case is the California Research and Assistance Fund, which he set up in April 1999. A half-dozen insurers donated more than $12 million to that fund, and thus avoided paying more than $3 billion in potential penalties. Critics said Quackenbush allowed the insurers off the hook for the higher penalties. Quackenbush said the fund was intended to get money quickly to consumers and pay for quake-damage research.

However, much of the money was spent on advertising that featured the commissioner and on programs unrelated to quake issues. It is this spending that is at the heart of the scandal surrounding him.

Aside from problems with CRAF, Quackenbush has the decidedly bad luck to be facing rival Democrats in every state agency that can do him harm. The attorney general's office and the Legislature are controlled by Democrats, and they are not shy about poking into the Republican Quackenbush's activities. The governor is a Democrat and the governor's appointee runs the Fair Political Practices Commission.

For weeks, Capitol insiders have been wondering whether Quackenbush can emerge from this scandal without facing impeachment or being forced to resign. This week, they may find out.

--Dan Walters in the Sacramento Bee, reporting: "The four-cornered stalemate over the $100 billion state budget has nothing to do with money and everything to do with election-year posturing over the size, shape and political credit of multibillion-dollar tax cuts. It's long been agreed that there will be $2.7 billion in tax cuts, two-thirds a one-time rebate and one-third in more permanent reductions. But their precise form is a bone of contention among Gov. Gray Davis, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg and minority Republicans." June 20.
http://www.capitolalert.com/news/capalert04_20000620.html

--Edmund Sanders in the Los Angeles Times, who reported that "Looking for the names and home telephone numbers of affluent elderly women who are unmarried and live in Leisure World? How about a list of Brentwood bachelors under age 40 who have owned their homes for at least 10 years? Or perhaps you'd like to know if any of your neighbors dabble in gambling, are big spenders or have recently made investments? Such personal information, once accessible only at a hefty price through specialty marketers or brokers, is increasingly available on the Internet to virtually anyone with a mouse and credit card." June 24.
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20000624/t000059735.html

--Dan Morain in the Los Angeles Times, reporting: "The 'car tax' cut Californians will get next year is one Rube Goldberg might appreciate. To get vehicle registration tags next year, people will write checks, as they always have, to the Department of Motor Vehicles. The state will cash them. A month or so later, each vehicle owner will get about half the fee back. This system will start next January and go on for two years. Writing and mailing the checks to Californians who have paid the tax on their 27.8 million cars, trucks, motorcycles and trailers will cost the state $22.2 million -- 40 cents per check. Then in 2003, after the election in 2002 is over, car taxes will simply fall permanently." June 24.
http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20000624/t000059764.html

--Diana Walsh in the San Francisco Examiner, who reported that "First they sought the perfect house. Now the young Internet upstarts are competing for the perfect nanny. And just as in the housing war they waged before, these stock-optioned entrepreneurs are willing to pay big bucks to get her. Nannies who once stood on the bottom rung of the compensation ladder are making more than many public school teachers. In the past six months, nannies' salaries on the Peninsula have jumped as much as 25 percent, with some full-time nannies pulling in more than $60,000 a year." June 25.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/25/Bnanniessun.dtl

For those of us who work all the time and have no life, the best part of CAW is hearing about you, Jen and the dog. Tell the gentleman who says your introduction serves no purpose he doesn't have to read it.

The rest of us like it. By the way, when are you going to marry Jen?

- Liz B. Anderson

You'll be happy to know, Liz, that the gentleman who couldn't be bothered to read the "Welcome" section has unsubscribed from CAW since his letter appeared two weeks ago; apparently it's either his way or the highway. As for marrying Jen, I'm sure the time will come, but it's good to know my readers stand behind me. --Ed.

To the Editor,

Interesting story about the lower car insurance rate program. One question: How would someone find out about qualifying for it? I know several people who could use this who I am afraid are about to let their insurance lapse for lack of funds. Any contacts for such folks?

- Steve Stallone

For more information on the low-rate car insurance program, contact Sen. Escutia's office or Assemblyman Cedillo's office in the Legislature; both have information about the program. You also could

contact the Association of California Insurance Companies. --Ed.

2000 POCKET DIRECTORY OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE ---------------------------------------------- 27th Edition of "the little red book" is now available! Current contact information on each legislator, including photos, committee assignments, Capitol and district office addresses, phone numbers and staff. Separate listings of all Senate and Assembly standing, select, special research, joint and sub committees, with members, staff, phone and room numbers. Don't be without this indispensable directory!

2000 LEGISLATIVE UPDATES VIA EMAIL ---------------------------------- Receive late-breaking changes to the Pocket Directory monthly throughout the year -- via email. To keep your directory up to date, you will be provided with any "information changes" that occur after the February publishing date. In addition to "changes," the updates will include profiles of new members, alerts to new committees and other legislative news items. Easy way to keep your directory current!

2000 U.S. CONGRESS DIRECTORY ---------------------------- Convenient 4" x 9" spiral-bound directory includes photos, key staff members and committee memberships of the 100 U.S. Senators and 435 U.S. Representatives. Separate listings of Senate and House committee and subcommittee memberships, the President's cabinet with key staff members, the State governors with addresses and phone numbers, and the Supreme Court members with phone numbers.

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1999-2000 WHO'S WHO IN THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE ------------------------------------------------- 8" x 11" loose-leaf binder of political and personal biographies of all 120 legislators, including each legislator's photo, education, career, campaign issues, legislative interests and accomplishments. Each district information page has exclusively created easy-to-read district and "locator" maps. The Who's Who makes a wonderful legislative yearbook keepsake.

1999-2000 CALIFORNIA STATE AGENCY DIRECTORY ------------------------------------------- Information on the governor's appointments! This handy 4" x 9" directory lists all agency and department-level organizations and most division and branch-level offices. Includes names and titles of state officials, with addresses, phone and fax numbers. Where a vacancy exists, the position is listed without a name. The next more complete edition will be published in the Fall of 2000.

COMING LATER THIS YEAR

Open & Public III ----------------- Open & Public II is no longer available -- it is being updated now and will be available in September 2000. For a current guide to public meetings and the Ralph Brown Act, see The Legal Notebook.

OTHER PUBLICATIONS NOW AVAILABLE

* The Legal Notebook * Navigating the Legislative Process * Conflict of Interest Laws for Local Government Officials * Paper Trails: A Guide to Public Records in California * California Election District Zip Code Directory * Election District Diskette * Mailing Labels on Diskette * Senate, Assembly & Congress District Wall Maps

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