Legislation to prevent physicians from participating in executions passed its first hurdle this morning in an Assembly committee, a direct result of the legal battle over an execution that has remained on hold for almost two months.

AB 1954, by Assemblymembers Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) and Alan Nakanishi (R-Lodi), was approved this morning by the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. In short, it would ban physician participation in the administration of the death penalty.

The bill stems from the still pending execution of convicted killer Michael Morales, which stalled after prison officials said they were unable to comply with a judicial order to include a medical professional in the execution process, because none would step forward.

In a lengthy debate this morning, the authors and representatives of the California Medical Association argued that the judge’s order would result in a physician taking an “active role” in an execution, something they say is a serious ethical conflict.

But criticism of the bill came from two corners: some lawmakers suggested the Legislature should allow the broader death penalty issues to first be resolved in the courts. And others, like Assemblymember Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg), argued that a state ban on participation would be a slippery slope towards other thorny issues– like whether pharmacists who object to emergency contraceptives have to still dispense those drugs. “I can see a lot of other people marching in here,” said Cancillamilla, “suggesting that [other] activities [also] be prohibited.”

The bill now moves to Assembly Appropriations; meantime, the Morales case is scheduled to be back in court next month.

That’s probably the simplest piece of information found on Form 1040 of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tax returns, which were made available for “viewing” by his campaign this morning here in Sacramento. After that, it gets a lot more complicated.

The campaign released returns only for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 tax years– 263 pages in all. They show that Schwarzenegger’s income in his first full year as governor actually went up from the year before. But the sources of that income are now largely obscured behind the walls of a blind trust established after he was elected in the 2003 recall.

The headlines: Schwarzenegger’s adjusted earnings in 2004 were $16,780,186. Of that, he paid a combined total of $3,973,679 in federal and state taxes.

That’s compared to total earnings of $13,875,792 in 2003 and $24,106,772 in 2002. The 2002 year, by the way, reflects his hefty paycheck for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Even so, 2004 seemed to have been a pretty good year financially for Schwarzenegger. That was due to both the strength of the blind trust investments and to things like movie royalties, according to the governor’s investment manager, Paul Wachter.

Wachter spent about an hour this afternoon going over the governor’s finances with reporters. As the tax returns show, most of the governor’s income now comes from the blind trust, which is comprised of items similar to the dozens of stocks and other items that appear on his 2002 and 2003 returns.

But about a quarter of Schwarzenegger’s 2004 income is listed as “salary” from the company he owns, Oak Productions. That same company also pays many of Schwarzenegger’s expenses (like a personal jet and his Sacramento hotel lodgings) that are later reimbursed by political donors. The company, said Wachter, is also the “pass through” entity into which money was paid from the (now disbanded) fitness magazine consulting contract.

Wachter vigorously defended the passive role of the governor in his personal finances. “He is completely disengaged,” said Wachter.

(It should be noted that Democratic challengers Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have previously their own tax returns, and for more years than Schwarzeneggr. It could be argued that Westly is the most cash-rich candidate, but all three men are multi-millionaires.)

As for other notables in the returns: Schwarzenegger paid a $14,283 penalty for underpayment of estimated state taxes in 2004… he often overpaid his federal taxes… he paid $390,472 in wages for household employees in 2004… and between 2002 and 2004 he gave a total of $2,525,803 to charity, including about 1200 shares of stock in Starbuck’s to schools attended by his kids.

(A sidenote: the returns only reflect the governor’s finances. First Lady Maria Shriver, according to the documents, files separately.)

[Well, the first audio link didn’t work at the end of this posting… in the new one, you’ll then need to click on the file… and it may work best with Quicktime. –JM]

That’s how Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today compared his views on the issue of immigration… and illegal immigration in particular… with those of President George W. Bush.

Schwarzenegger was on the campus of UC Davis to help celebrate the school’s selection as the home of a research center focused on new and better methods of energy efficiency. While the event featured many more participants than just Schwarzenegger, it was also a perfect fit for the message he’s trying hard to hammer home this week: his record on environmental issues. On Tuesday, it was a global warming summit in San Francisco. This afternoon, he headed to San Jose to– as his press office described it– “tout the economic benfits of his environmental policies” to a group of Silicon Valley CEOs.

But the immigration debate has been hard to miss this week, both in California and across the nation. And while the governor penned an op-ed on the subject in Monday’s Wall Street Journal, the issue is a tough one… especially when it comes to threading the needle between moderates and conservatives.

Schwarzenegger told reporters today that agrees with President Bush on support for a “temporary working permit.” He also said he wants those who are here without legal standing to be able to “earn their way towards a permanent residence visa, and possibly citizenship.” The governor said Bush will visit California later this month on Earth Day, and that he intends to bring up the subject at that time.

The Q&A actually began with a much more full discussion of the governor’s feelings on the subject, in a question I posed to him.

And we’re trying something new here on this one: the full audio of my question to the governor can be heard by clicking here.

Searching for middle ground between environmentalists and the business industry, Governor Schwarzenegger told attendees at today’s global warming summit that he would prefer to delay any hard cap on emissions from polluting industries until 2010, at the earliest.

The comment from the governor came early in the Q&A at the San Francisco event, carried live online (after a one-hour delay of the governor’s flight because of bad weather).

The idea of new caps on emissions arose in both the climate report presented to Schwarzenegger last week, and legislation just introduced by Democrats in the Legislature. But it’s an unpopular idea with many in the business community, who see caps on emissions as driving up their costs.

Schwarzenegger, perched on a barstool on stage this afternoon with both sides seated beside him at large tables, delicately sought out a position in the middle. He suggested that state officials first conduct extensive tests to see how much “greenhouse gas” pollution is really being released, and only afterwards create a system that would cap emissions. That, he suggested, will give industry leaders time to adjust, while also making sure scientists know exactly what problems the emissions are creating.

“The trick is to find a happy medium,” said Schwarzenegger, who later added, “I want to take cautious steps.” The governor did, however, endorse a new program that would require large companies to report carbon emissions.

More quick hits…

Fewer Drug Prisoners: A new study suggests California’s voter-approved initiative to change the way drug crimes were treated resulted in fewer drug-convicted prisoners. The DC-based Justice Policy Institute, which advocates on behalf of non-prison crime solutions, says that there are now 34% fewer prisoners behind bars for drug-related crimes, the steepest decline nationwide in the past 5 years. California’s approach to drug offenses changed, you’ll remember, after voters approved Proposition 36 in 2000.

Hello, Blogosphere: Advisers to Governor Schwarzenegger took the case for fighting global warming to the newest opinion-makers this morning… bloggers. A conference call was convened this morning, for “blogs only”, on the governor’s new Climate Action Report. The report is the focus of a large event Schwarzenegger will convene today in San Francisco, and it calls for a number of measures to combat greenhouse gases and the resulting global warming. But if there were many bloggers on the call, you wouldn’t know it. The only questions came from one blogger, and a fellow journalist at that, Dan Weintraub of the Sacramento Bee.

Looking at this morning’s Field Poll on the California job approval rating of President George W. Bush, there’s at least one bright spot for the President’s supporters:

At least he beat Richard Nixon.

Field’s survey takes Bush’s 32% job approval number and places it into context against the low-water mark for the six presidents before him.

The worst: President Nixon in August 1974, the same month he resigned, with 24% job approval in the Golden State.

The low approval point for the other U.S. leaders in California:
Clinton- 43% (May ‘05)
Bush I- 37% (July ‘92)
Reagan- 53% (March ‘82)
Carter- 33% (July ‘80)
Ford- 47% (November ‘75)

The tab that state elections officials ran up for the November special election will now be paid off.

This afternoon, Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation to spend almost $9.1 million in General Fund cash on costs related to the special election, where all eight ballot initiatives– including four of his own– went down to defeat.

The proposal was an urgency measure, meaning the money can be appropriated immediately. There was concern that the debt might gobble up the cash state elections officials need to administer the June 6 primary.

But as has been mentioned before, this was the smaller of the two outstanding IOUs related to last fall’s election. Each county also had to fork over cash to conduct Schwarzenegger’s election, a total of about $45 million statewide. And while the governor has money in his proposed budget to pay that debt off, it’s too soon to tell whether the Legislature will go along with the plan.

As I often do on Fridays, I point you to some of the work done by my colleagues on this weekend’s newsmagazine version of The Cailifornia Report.

You can find air times (and audio later today) by clicking here.

This week’s decision on the California salmon season leads us to take another look at some of the long-running water wars on the Klamath River. Host Scott Shafer talks to some of those impacted the most, who have now set aside their long-running battles in search of compromise.

And two stories on the subject of illegal immigration: a look at the role Spanish language radio played in the massive LA protest a few days ago… and a second story from the Central Valley, where my colleague Sasha Khokha reports on how fears among the Mexican community about deportations came true at one elementaty school.

Enjoy the weekend…

That’s the promise Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new campaign manager made today in a chat with political reporters, a briefing that covered everything from Schwarzenegger’s would-be Democratic opponent to how to the re-election campaign will handle any lingering side-effects from the 2005 special election debacle.

It was the first real reporter access to Steve Schmidt, the political strategist hired by Schwarzenegger earlier this year who’s most notable work has been for both President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney. Schmidt was also the point-man for the Bush administration in helping shepherd through Justice Samuel Alito through his Senate confirmation process.

In a wide-ranging conversation this morning at the downtown campaign HQ, Schmidt said that Schwarzenegger’s record will be a key factor– and one that will work in his favor when it comes down to a choice between candidates.

“It will not be a referendum on Governor Schwarzenegger,” he said.

A few other notes:

* Schmidt said the governor will continue to run TV ads during the primary season in which he’s virtually uncontested, but also predicted that Schwarzenegger will be outspent in 2006 by Democrats and Democratic-leaning interest groups.

* While saying he was “totally indifferent” on who wins the Democratic nomination, Schmidt nonetheless voiced more criticism for Steve Westly than for Phil Angelides, accusing Westly of “trying to hide the ball” recently on the subject of whether he favors tax increases. Some Republicans say privately they think Westly would be the more formidable opponent, because he’s perceived as more moderate than Angelides.

* Schmidt said the governor “will have a very clear position on immigration” in the 2006 campaign, and outlined that position based on security at the border, and support for some sort of guest/temporary worker program.

* The campaign manager said there are clear separations between the governor’s official office and his campaign office, even though key government aides (most notably chief of staff Susan Kennedy) are being paid as campaign consultants. As an example, Schmidt said an “e-mail firewall” software system had been installed that keeps messages from being traded between the Capitol office and the campaign office.

* And the most confident statement was one about the governor’s electability. Schmidt pointed to a recent public poll that concluded a strong majority of voters still like Schwarzenegger, even in the face of an anti-Schwarzenegger alliance that spent more than $100 million in 2005. How would Schmidt feel if he was working for the other side and saw those “likability” numbers?

“I would have a shiver down my spine,” he said.

[NOTE: Some sort of bug plagued the site this afternoon…apologies. –JM]

A few more quick hits as the rain clouds again roll in to downtown Sacramento…

* Picking Up (Part) Of The Tab: Legislation to pay off costs associated with Governor Schwarzenegger’s 2005 special election moved forward this morning. SB 306 (Ackerman) pegs the money spent by state elections officials at almost $9.1 million. The bill successfully passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. But the larger tab for the special election, which was paid by individual counties to conduct the election, remains unpaid. It’s believed the total cost to the counties was somewhere around $45 million. And while the governor’s budget proposal calls for paying off that debt, there’s no guarantee that will be agreed to… especially considering that counties were never reimbursed the approximately $44 million they spent on the 2003 recall election.

* Watchdog Funding Defeated: Meantime, a bill to restore full funding to the state’s campaign watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission, was defeated in the Senate Elections Committee. SB 1120 (Ortiz) would have raised funding for the FPPC– an agency whose total budget is about the same as it was 15 years ago, but whose caseload has increased while staff positions have been cut. Last fall, the FPPC had to close the books on political violation cases that may have been winnable, due to lack of funding.

* We Jail ‘Em, Now Pay Up: California and 13 other states today called on Congress to provide more money to cover the costs of prisoners who are illegal immigrants. In 1990, the feds created a program to reimburse states, the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). But full SCAAP funding has often been one of the casualties of the federal budget process. It’s estimated that California spends some $750 million a year on these prisoners, while receiving only $121 million in reimbursements in 2005. Today’s letter, signed by Schwarzenegger and 13 other governors, asks for $850 million in the 2007 fiscal year for the SCAAP program. “It is imperative,” said Schwarzenegger in a news release, “that states receive financial assistance for the continued costs associated with the federal government’s failure to secure the border.”

* No More Nice Guys: It certainly seems the primary campaign between the top two Democrats for governor is getting, well, testy. For weeks, the campaigns of Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have fired off e-mails to political reporters slamming each other on everything from their environmental records to the past business dealings of each man. Today, Angelides and Westly squared off in a debate at the Univision studios in Sacramento that will be broadcast this weekend. But before the debate, Angelides held a rally where he jabbed at his opponent by name… something not surprising to the political watchers that have been gabbing about polls showing the race either tightening or now leaning toward Westly.

And at Angelides’ campaign event today, it was obvious that he hopes to use Westly’s partnership with the incumbent on 2004’s deficit bonds as a way to link Westly with a whole host of Schwarzenegger’s policy choices.

“When this Governor went after kids’ health care and people with disabilities,” said Angelides, “I didn’t offer to be his sidekick. I said, get me into this race.”