ABATE Rally Makes the news!

OFF THE WIRE
WTF, whoever the reporter is must be ole School. Calfif hasn”t been “totalitarian” for over 25 years!

The Sacramento Bee CapitolAlert
Governor’s Race 2010:
Click here for one-stop shopping on the governor’s race:
Capitol Alert | Web | Pictures | Field Poll | Money | Issues | Just the Facts
AM Alert: Budget 'reform' and biker rally
Sacramento's favorite buzz word is again a topic of debate today under the dome.
Alert readers probably guessed it already: reform.
The Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee will consider SCA 19, a package of changes to the budget process that Democratic lawmakers are seeking to place on the ballot, at a 3 p.m. hearing.
A central component of the plan, modeled after two initiatives filed by California Forward, is lowering the legislative vote requirement for passing a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority. But the plan includes other changes, including a two-year budget and a pay-as-you-go requirement for identifying funding for new programs and tax breaks. It would also ban the state from borrowing or redirecting local tax dollars that go to schools, public safety and other programs.
Democrats tout the package as vital reforms that will ease gridlock and result in more responsible governing. But it needs the approval of two-thirds of lawmakers to get a spot on the ballot, and Republicans have called the package a non-starter, saying it is a ploy to raise taxes.
Speaking of California Forward, the group's campaign account has seen an uptick in donations since announcing that a cash shortage would force it to fold plans to launch a signature-gathering campaign to qualify the initiatives that have since been folded into SCA 19 for the ballot.
The account has reported more than $170,000 in contributions since the signature-gathering campaign was put on ice, including $50,000 last week from a Los Angeles-based biotech company.
California Forward spokesman Ryan Rauzon said the fund was continuing to collect cash for future political activity and that the board had not yet made a decision on whether it would chip in to any campaigns already on the ballot, such as Proposition 14 on primaries, which the group endorsed last week.
"The entire concept of the California Forward Issues Action Fund was premised on the idea they there would constantly be funneling money for political activity to take reform to the ballot," Rauzon said. "There's only so much money out there, and you better start raising it if you have plans to fix California to get it where it needs to be."
Meanwhile, bikers are getting revved up for a "Freedom and Motorcycle Rally" at 10 a.m.
The rally is sponsored by Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments, a nationwide organization dedicated to protecting "Freedom of the Road," which translates to repealing legislation requiring that bikers wear helmets.
We're guessing the group won't offer much support for measures that would require helmets for minors on the slopes. Assembly Bill 1652 and Senate Bill 880 both have committee hearings scheduled later this week.