SACRAMENTO — The California Legislature closed the curtain on its session last weekend after acting on more than 1,000 bills.
But lawmakers' greatest unfinished task -- passing a state budget -- marked a tumultuous session in which two of four top legislative leaders were replaced.
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata called 2008 "a bad year" and said that any legislative accomplishments would be forgotten in light of the ongoing budget stalemate.
"We could have discovered a cure for drought," the Oakland Democrat said, "and this is what will be remembered: That we couldn't pull a budget in on time."
The year had opened with hope in legislative chambers. On the February ballot, voters would be asked to amend term limits to allow lawmakers to stay longer in their jobs.
But voters refused. They rejected a term-limits adjustment, kicking off a scramble to replace lame-duck legislative leaders.
The Senate's minority leader, Dick Ackerman of Irvine, was replaced by Dave Cogdill of Modesto. And senators named Sacramento Democrat Darrell Steinberg to replace Perata, although Steinberg agreed to wait until November to assume the mantle. Jockeying continued for weeks in the Assembly, until Democrats lined up behind Karen Bass of Los Angeles.
Bass, who had no experience leading state budget tussles, took the reins from Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat, in May. She inherited a yawning shortfall, now pegged at $15.2 billion.
Perata had his own distractions, including a recall drive that he launched and then suspended against Sen. Jeff Denham (R-Atwater), as well as an ongoing federal corruption investigation of himself and several associates.
The biggest obstacle to the lawmaking ambitions of majority Democrats this year was simple: No money to spend.
"How can you do anything without money?" asked Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Montebello).
Still, lawmakers managed to forge consensus on such issues as green chemistry, smart growth and scrap-metal theft.
They decided to ask state scientists to review the chemicals Californians are exposed to in everyday products and determine which pose a health risk. They would give the Department of Toxic Substances Control authority to regulate exposure to chemicals, if necessary, through such things as labels on products or outright bans on chemicals.
