California Contracts

Contractor C.C. Myers, a self-made multimillionaire whose toys include Rolls-Royces, a stretch limousine, a Cessna, a jet and a helicopter, had a more substantial gift in mind for his 56th birthday. He wanted the concrete deck of the quake-shattered Santa Monica Freeway poured and smoothed, the last major hurdle before the freeway could be reopened, the last thing standing between him and a multimillion-dollar bonus for finishing early.

Molina Healthcare Inc., which arranges healthcare services for Medicaid recipients, disclosed Wednesday that it had lost contracts with two California counties valued at a combined $111 million in annual revenue. The news drove the company's shares down $5.19, or 12%, to $38.95 -- their lowest since November -- in New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock hit a record high of $52.96 in January.

The decision took doctors and administrators by surprise. For weeks, they had warned Medi-Cal patients that their large, community hospital was quitting the state health insurance program for the poor. But three days before their hospital's Medi-Cal contract expired, the state revamped the rules. In a new procedure which began on Nov. 17, Medi-Cal patients could seek treatment at any hospital in Fountain Valley, Westminster or Huntington Beach--not just those with a contract for indigent care.

The Davis administration and Calpine Corp. have reached tentative agreement on the renegotiation of four long-term power contracts valued at $11.7 billion, state and industry sources said Thursday. If finalized, the Calpine deal would be California's first successful reworking of a long-term power contract and could save the state hundreds of millions of dollars on consumers' behalf. Renegotiating the power contracts, signed last year at the height of California's energy crisis, is one of Gov.

Molina Healthcare Inc., which arranges healthcare services for Medicaid recipients, disclosed Wednesday that it had lost contracts with two California counties valued at a combined $111 million in annual revenue. The news drove the company's shares down $5.19, or 12%, to $38.95 -- their lowest since November -- in New York Stock Exchange trading. The stock hit a record high of $52.96 in January.

Marilyn Cantrell's life changed so fast it could almost give a person whiplash. One day she's cruising in a Hollywood world: a personal secretary for actors, going to parties at the Playboy Mansion, living a life that didn't give her and her two children all that much to complain about. The next day she looks out her window and the police are coming to her door.

Gov. George Deukmejian declared Thursday that he accepts full blame for California's loss of a $4.4-billion federal atom smasher project, saying, "If it makes some people happy to blame the governor, I'll take the responsibility." But Deukmejian insisted that the loss of that project and others in recent months does not mean that California is losing its high technology advantage to competing states.

Prisons are a growth industry in California, so some entrepreneurs are hoping that the state will turn increasingly to privately owned and operated prisons as a way to shave costs. The Department of Corrections is unlikely to turn over control of maximum-security prisons anytime soon, and officials say private prisons will remain only a limited player as the $3-billion-a-year state prison system expands.

Lobbyist Clayton R. Jackson, while representing an East Coast company with millions of dollars in California lottery contracts, was secretly taped bragging that two of the state's three lottery directors were "our guy" and "our gal," it was disclosed Thursday in a federal court trial of Jackson. Speaking to then-state Sen.

Six months after the lottery was criticized for awarding a lucrative contract to the GTECH Corp. without rival bids, Director Sharon Sharp is proposing that the agency enter into a new non-competitive contract with the same company. The contract calls for paying the Rhode Island-based computer company an estimated $23 million over 4 1/2 years to install and run automated devices for cashing in winning Scratcher tickets.

In an about-face, Gov. Gray Davis is expected to announce today that he will petition the federal government to overturn dozens of long-term electricity contracts signed by California at the height of the power crisis. Once heralded by Davis as the whip that tamed a wild electricity market, the long-term contracts lately have been attacked as too expensive by consumer advocates and lawmakers.

The state Public Utilities Commission is challenging several of the state's long-term contracts with electricity generators because the prices and terms may not be good for consumers, commission President Loretta Lynch said Monday. Also on Monday, two consumer groups called for a state investigation of potential conflict-of-interest violations that the groups said should void some contracts.

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has been asked to decide whether Vikram Budhraja, a top energy advisor to the governor, had a conflict of interest when he participated in negotiating a contract with an out-of-state energy company he had worked for as a consultant months earlier. State law generally prohibits officials and consultants from participating in government decisions involving companies from which they have received income within the past year.

Two Wall Street firms that have been key financial advisors to Gov. Gray Davis stand to make more than $14 million if the Legislature approves rescue plans for Southern California Edison and other utilities, the consultants' contract released Wednesday shows. The contract shows that the firms of Blackstone Group and Saber Partners, which have taken the lead in Davis' efforts to rescue Edison and other utilities, are assured of receiving $275,000 per month, with a cap of $1.1 million.

After months of resisting disclosure, Gov. Gray Davis on Friday released 38 long-term power contracts that aides said show the administration is deftly managing the energy crisis, but that critics warn contain clauses and costs that may burden consumers with unpredictably high prices for years. Provisions in some of the contracts protect generators from new state taxes, shield them from potential action by federal regulators and give them a break on environmental costs.

Despite statements from Gov. Gray Davis that full disclosure of the state's long-term power contracts was imminent, attorneys for the state balked Wednesday at disclosing the contracts until key details are removed. The attorneys also opposed making public any short-term "spot market" contracts for at least six months, warning that to divulge those contracts now would undercut the state's negotiating stance and ensure summer blackouts.

Gov. Gray Davis announced a $7-billion agreement Friday to buy electricity for 10 years from the most robust of California's utility companies, Sempra Energy, parent of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. In contrast, a decidedly more troubled Edison International launched a $3-million advertising campaign to build support for completion of its deal, brokered by Davis, to sell its transmission grid to the state for $2.76 billion.

California may have lost its chance to be home to the superconducting super collider on technical grounds, but some of the state's top scientists warned Wednesday that the state should be ready for similar disappointments--for political as well as technical reasons--in the future. At the same time, they urged the state and its congressional delegation to continue supporting the $4.4-billion atom smasher.

California officials have agreed to purchase power for years to come at prices higher than those now being paid in the daily spot market, according to confidential government records. The 38 long-term contracts, totaling nearly $43 billion, could saddle consumers with unnecessarily high utility rates for years if recently declining prices represent a trend in the volatile electricity market. Gov.

As Gov. Gray Davis struggles to ease urban gridlock amid a softening California economy, a legislative roadblock has materialized that threatens to slow his efforts. At issue is the implementation of Proposition 35, a new law approved by voters to make it easier for state and local agencies to contract with private firms to speed up the completion of projects ranging from schools to highways.