Big Doings in the Golden State

Earlier this summer, the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage bans unconstitutional under state law. The Supreme Court gave the various state counties ninety days to find a system for implementing the ruling, which would require that the state grant same-sex couples the same rights to “marriage” that heterosexual couples have. A variety of conservative groups urged Attorney General Jerry Brown to obtain an injunction enjoining enforcement of the court ruling, pending the results of November’s Proposition 8. Proposition 8 is a proposed amendment to the state constitution which reads, in full, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Brown refused, saying that getting an injunction would be difficult, and that same-sex marriage was the law of the land.

Brown further earned the ire of conservatives when he changed the title of the proposition from “Limit on Marriage. Constitutional Amendment” to “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Initiative. Constitutional Amendment.” This is actually the correct wording, since the state supreme court ruled that same-sex couples do have the right to marry, but the constitutional amendment would take away that right.

Meanwhile, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proved that he is just as tough with the State Assembly as he is with the Predator. The state is in a budget crisis that is very similar to the federal budget crisis that actually shut down non-essential federal offices in 1995. The Assembly is trying to find a way to close a $15 billion gap in the 2008-09 budget: Schwarzenegger wants to cut all state programs by 10% and keep tax rates where they are. Democrats want to keep state funding where it is and raise taxes. (California’s annual budget is a little over $100 billion.) Schwarzenegger, like George H.W. Bush before him, rode into Sacramento on a platform of “no new taxes,” funding his capital projects by floating bonds — bonds that will someday mature and whose holders will come calling.

In order to force the Democrats’ hand, Schwarzenegger has refused to sign any legislation into law until a budget is passed, which means “any budget that Schwarzenegger likes.” The governor has made one exception to this rule: he will sign into a law a bond issue that would provide $9 billion in funding for his pet project, a high-speed train between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

We’ve been told for years that such a train will be coming Real Soon Now. Arnold wants a legacy beyond the one he already has at Blockbusters around the nation.

California voters will also deal with parental notification for abortion, an initiative that was rejected in 2005 and 2006. Apparently proponents think that California’s voter base has changed wildly in two years?

Meanwhile, the battle for Schwarzenegger’s cybernetic chair is beginning already. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Attorney General Jerry Brown (formerly mayor of Oakland, Governor of California, and three-time presidential candidate) have all indicated that they would like to run for governor when Der Gubernator’s term is up in January of 2011.