Flap’s Links and Comments for July 15th on 13:33

These are my links for July 15th from 13:33 to 13:51:

• California Dream Act sent to Governor Jerry Brown – AB 130 and AB 131: California Dream Act of 2011
  Assemblyman Gil Cedillo

  The state senate passed and sent to Gov. Brown the first of two Dream Act bills by Assemblyman Cedillo allowing some undocumented college students to apply for private scholarships at California’s state colleges and universities.

  None of this money comes from the state budget; it’s from private donors who establish scholarships administered through UC, Cal State and community colleges.  To be eligible, students will have to meet the requirements for paying in-state tuition under AB 540, a 2001 law that applies to any student, citizen or not, who attended a California high school for at least three years and graduated or earned a GED.

  The bill passed by a vote of 26 to 11 along party lines, with one exception.  Republican State Senator Anthony Cannella voted with the majority.  In a prepared statement, Cannella said, “Having an educated workforce will be critical to the future strength and health of our economy, and giving eligible high-school graduates the opportunity to apply for private scholarship funds – at no cost to California taxpayers – is consistent with this goal.”

  It may also help that his district, which covers Merced, Monterey and Salinas, is more than 55 percent Latino. It also has more registered Democrats than Republicans.

  Cedillo’s companion bill, AB 131, faces a tougher road.  That one would let AB 540 students apply for state financial aid through the CalGrants program.  AB 131 was placed on the senate appropriations committee suspense file and won’t be considered until late August.

  Status:  On the Governor’s desk.  Gov. Brown hasn’t said whether he’ll sign AB 130, however, his spokesman says the Governor “continues to support the principles behind the Dream Act and will closely consider legislation that reaches his desk.”

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  Open borders mentality is bankrupting California.

• State GOP chairman assails redistricting panel, threatens referendum – On the day when the Citizens Redistricting Commission had originally planned to put out a second draft of proposed political district maps, the panel Thursday found itself under sharp partisan attack from the state Republican Party, whose chairman asserted its process had been "overtaken by partisanship and incompetence."

  GOP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said the party will attempt to qualify a referendum for the ballot to overturn the commission's final maps if they "remotely resemble the most recent visualizations."

  Rather than formally release a second set of draft maps, commissioners have been working daily with their line-drawers to revise initial drafts in response to public comments. The modified maps, called "visualizations," are posted on the commission's website and will be the building blocks for the final plan, scheduled to be voted upon on July 28.

  Commissioner Angelo Ancheta of San Francisco, who is serving as chairman this week under the panel's rotating schedule of leadership, rejected Del Beccaro's assertion that partisan considerations are influencing the map-making process.

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  Read it all.

  The reapportionment will end up in the California Supreme Court anyway.

  The California Citizen's Redistricting Commission is a colossal waste of time.

  The law should be changed to allow the California Supreme Court to do it directly.

• State Senate OKs bill to move California’s presidential primary to June – Californians won't choose their 2012 presidential nominees until June under legislation that's heading to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk.

  Assembly Bill 80, by Democratic Assemblyman Paul Fong, would move the presidential primary from February of next year to June, consolidating it with the statewide primary election. The bill was approved by the state Senate on a vote of 34-3.

  Supporters said consolidating the two statewide elections would save state and local officials roughly $100 million. They also pointed out that national political parties have moved to impose sanctions on states that hold their primaries as early in the cycle as California had planned.

  "This is a bill where we're putting politics to the side. … We have to be fiscally prudent with the taxpayers' dollars," said Sen. Kevin DeLeón, D-Los Angeles, who presented the bill on the floor.

  The move was largely opposed by Republicans who said moving the date so late in the cycle would put Californian voters and issues on the back burner for candidates competing for their party's nomination, though some said they "reluctantly" decided to vote for the measure because of the cost savings involved. They said they would prefer to consolidate the primaries to one March date, a concession Republicans had sought during early budget negotiations.

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  In 2008, it was decided by California anyway. Might as well move it back to June.