Sen. Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, said transportation is still at the top of her priority list. If freeways, rail systems and ports are ignored, gridlock of people and goods could turn into California's next nightmare, she said. The project, she said, would benefit the entire state, serving as a crucial commercial artery moving imports and exports through California's busiest ports. Assembly member Sally Havice, D-Cerritos, said she hasn't been stymied by energy, either. She's still moving her school-focused bill package through the Legislature.
Children still have needs.
I'm still focused on all the other issues I came here to work on. The trick, however, has evolved from simply garnering attention for a proposal, to finding attention as well as chasing the increasingly scarce dollars to pay for it. Hundreds of energy bills have been introduced in the two special sessions called by Gov. Gray Davis this year to deal with the state's power crisis. Among other items that have been left by the wayside, according to the coalition, is a bill that would increase the ratio of nursing staff to patients in care homes. The bill, by Assemblyman Kevin Shelley, D-San Francisco, would also convert the staffing standards into something that patients' families can easily understand.