No time to wish you a Happy New Year, because the wheels of politics are already back in motion... as evidenced by the above quote from state Senator Liz Figueroa this morning, a challenge to Governor Schwarzenegger.

Figueroa (D-Fremont) and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata announced the creation of a new Senate committee which will take its own stab at reorganizing state government, a subject that's shaping up to be one of the big issues of 2005.

Figueroa, who will chair the committee, promised a series of hearings across the state ( and took a jab at the governor's similar hearings this past summer for his California Performance Review, where she said the "public was treated as an afterthought").

But in her responses to questions from reporters, Figueroa didn't fully explain whether the new committee will put forward its own separate plan, or whether it will primarily be vetting-- or modifying-- the administration's massive list of recommendations.

And the Senator fired a couple of hot shots across the bow, too.

First, she criticized any notion that the governor might submit a massive plan that only could be voted "up" or "down". Second, she challenged Schwarzenegger to give a full accounting of any fiscal implications of his suggestions, reminding reporters of the administrations's decision to scale back the Vehicle License Fee last year, without a lot of explanation of how the state would fill in the resulting $4 billion hole.

More on this subject in my report tomorrow morning on The California Report. Also, be sure to catch our live broadcast of Wednesday's State of the State address by the governor, beginning at 5:00pm on our network of stations across California.