Gov. to Call for Special Session

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will call next week for an immediate legislative special session to consider plans to restrain state spending and alter the way congressional and legislative districts are drawn.

In doing so, the governor also will force a confrontation with the Legislature. He intends to leave no doubt in his State of the State speech Wednesday that if lawmakers rebuff him or refuse to act, he will take his proposals directly to voters as early as next fall, according to people familiar with his plans.

Schwarzenegger’s action could convulse the state’s political culture. He hopes to strip lawmakers of the power to create politically safe districts and give the responsibility instead to a panel of three retired judges.

Depending on how the borders were drawn, redistricting could send more Republicans or Democrats to the Legislature or Congress, with profound implications for policy. It also could change the type of lawmaker elected by making districts more friendly to political centrists.

New spending constraints may guard against future deficits, but also could staunch the flow of money into social service and education programs, angering Democratic lawmakers who contend that Schwarzenegger promised them a year ago he would not take such a step.

Schwarzenegger plans to reveal more specifics when he releases his new budget Jan. 10. Democrats plan to send an early message of conciliation. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles) is expected to present him with, literally, an olive branch at the State of the State speech on the Assembly floor to show the Democrats’ commitment to two-party peace.

Ambitious change is to be Schwarzenegger’s major theme in 2005. The year may be the last and best chance of his term to deliver on promises to wipe out the state’s perennial budget shortfalls, streamline bureaucracy and make elected officials more accountable. In 2006, he is up for reelection. Should Schwarzenegger run again, that race probably would prove a distraction that could make it tough for him to simultaneously push through an overhaul on the scale he is considering.

“He’ll be giving the Legislature a giddyap,” said Rob Stutzman, the governor’s communications director. “He’s not going to be content to watch them spend months being inactive.

“The governor believes the recall was about fundamentally reforming California government and California politics and our finance system. There should not be a delay in seeking that reform. The first year in office he worked with the Legislature and the people to stave off a bankruptcy, and the crisis has been brought under control. Now he wants to turn his focus to true restructuring and true reform, and he’s looking toward 2005 as being a year of great reform. And his hope is that the Legislature will be a partner in that.”

To date, Schwarzenegger has called three special legislative sessions. One was devoted to repealing the law that gave driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. Another focused on the workers’ compensation system; the third dealt with the budget.

A special legislative session -- paired with the threat of a special election next fall -- would be a new twist on a tactic the governor has successfully used in the past when prodding the Legislature to act. He typically gives lawmakers a deadline. If they defy him, he vows to go to the ballot. This is how he got leverage over the Legislature last spring, when he persuaded members to revamp the state’s costly workers’ comp system that provides benefits to employees injured on the job.

Schwarzenegger’s call for spending restraints also would stand as an acknowledgment that the measures he and the Legislature have taken to date are not enough to stave off deficits. Next year’s budget shortfall is estimated at $8 billion. Speaking of California’s chronic budget gap, Stutzman said the governor has “arrived at a point where he believes we’ll be doing this year after year unless there’s complete structural reform.”

A year ago, the governor -- with great fanfare -- won voter approval of Proposition 58, a constitutional amendment requiring balanced budgets. At the time, Schwarzenegger said that because of Proposition 58 strict spending limits were not necessary. “What this ensures is that legislators will never spend more money than the state takes in,” Schwarzenegger said a year ago.

But many Republican lawmakers have long complained that Proposition 58 does not go far enough. It seems Schwarzenegger now agrees. The balanced budget requirement gives lawmakers discretion in how much money should be spent. By contrast, the kinds of spending constraints the governor envisions would give lawmakers less flexibility. He is considering several options, including a strict cap on spending growth.

Democratic lawmakers are wary. State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said that for the governor to “call for a spending cap, which is just another name for doing nothing but making significant cuts in health and human services, is irresponsible and frankly, I think, cruel.”

She said that the Proposition 58 balanced budget amendment, ratified by voters in March, was a better approach, permitting “the Legislature and governor to look at each year’s revenues and expenditures together.”

A redistricting effort may stir even more protests -- from both parties. Assuming a redistricting plan was approved this year, the new boundaries could potentially be in effect for the 2006 election season. Absent any change, the existing boundaries would stand until the next census is completed in 2010.

Democrats contend that there is no way to depoliticize redistricting, even if the job is given to retired judges. They fear that Schwarzenegger may be trying to orchestrate a push to elect more California Republicans to Congress and thus expand the GOP’s overall congressional ranks. California Democrats now outnumber Republicans in Congress, 33 to 20.

Democrats are invoking the name of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who helped orchestrate a redistricting plan that enabled Republicans to take control of Texas’ congressional delegation. “I’m sure that he and Tom DeLay might have had quite a conversation about it,” Kuehl said.

Still, Democratic leaders insist that they are open to discussing the issue with the governor. Many elected officials concede that the present districts are flawed -- drawn mainly to guarantee easy victories and safe seats for incumbents.

Nunez said in an interview Friday: “You’ll never be able to rid [redistricting] of politics, but making sure that every citizen’s vote counts is a debate that we’re more than willing to have. We know there are problems with redistricting and we’re willing to take a fresh look at it.”

At least some Republicans also are unsettled by the prospect of tampering with districts that have been kind to incumbents. Earlier in the week, Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas) telephoned Schwarzenegger, who has been vacationing out of state for the holidays, to express concern about the plans.

Dreier said in an interview that he supported the governor’s effort, but would prefer to see no reconfiguration of the boundaries until after the 2010 census.

Recognizing that time is short, though, even some Democrats are hoping Schwarzenegger will act decisively. Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg), one of the Legislature’s experts on the budget, does not support a spending cap but says the governor needs to fix the imbalance between what the state spends and what it takes in.

“I think we’re one good year away from being taken over by our bankers and Wall Street,” Canciamilla said. “We’ve got a shot this year at trying to fix this mess. But we’re approaching a major catastrophe in this state.... He’s got to demonstrate that he’s more willing to be a real governor and to lead than to be popular.”