SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his executive authority Tuesday to call lawmakers back to work for special sessions on healthcare and water issues, key parts of his policy agenda that remained unresolved as the Legislature prepared to adjourn for the year.
The announcement came as legislators hurried to act on a flood of measures in the final hours of their session. They worked into the night debating bills that would authorize production of industrial hemp in California, give prison guards a back-door pay raise and allow entertainment conglomerate Anschutz Entertainment Group a crack at billions of dollars of housing bond money to build the development it envisions near Staples Center.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Schwarzenegger said water and healthcare were "too important to walk away from simply because of a date on the legislative calendar. . . . We owe it to the people of California to finish the job we have started."
Another of the governor's priorities, changing how California draws its voting districts, will not be addressed in the two concurrent special sessions, which technically began Tuesday. Schwarzenegger abandoned plans to include the issue after legislative leaders indicated there was little hope of an agreement.
That development could undermine a February ballot measure championed by Democrats that would change the state's term limits and extend the service of sitting members. Schwarzenegger has repeatedly said he would not support the term limits measure without a deal on redistricting.
On healthcare and water, legislative leaders and staff will begin negotiations with the governor this week as part of the special sessions, and the full Senate and Assembly will return as early as next week.
Progress on Schwarzenegger's agenda stalled during the summer, as a 51-day budget stalemate brought business at the Capitol to a standstill. On Monday, lawmakers passed a Democratic plan to overhaul the state's healthcare system, but Schwarzenegger said he would veto it.
The bill would require employers to spend the equivalent of 7.5% of their payroll on healthcare -- an amount the governor says is too high -- or pay into a state fund through which workers could buy insurance.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said a compromise on healthcare would probably have been reached by now if not for the budget delay.
