CAPITOL NOTEBOOK: DAVIS CLOSELY KEEPING HIS APPOINTMENTS.Byline: Terri Hardy and Dorothy Korber JUDGING from that well-groomed head of silver hair, Gov. Gray Davis is no stranger to the fine-tooth comb. That's also his tool of choice when it comes to winnowing winnowing: see threshing. the hundreds of appointments he has to make to state bodies ranging from the Fish and Game Commission to the Board of Barbering. Davis is blazing new frontiers in micromanagement This is about the management style. For the computer game strategy, see Micromanagement (computer gaming). In business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of their employees, generally used as a pejorative term. , worried observers say, and his reluctance to choose commissioners is hamstringing state boards state boards Examinations administered by a US state board of medical examiners to license a physician in a particular state; these examinations play an ever-decreasing role in state medical licensure, as these bodies now rely on standardized national examinations that find themselves without a quorum. So far, at least 20 of the state's 300 appointed boards are either unable to conduct business or are on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of paralysis because they don't have enough members. ``The governor is insisting on being so hands-on that things are being left undone,'' said one Southern California legislator, a Democrat who asked not to be named. ``There's a lot of hand-wringing in the Legislature. If Gray doesn't relinquish some authority, we don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what's going to happen.'' A list of boards with quorum problems supplied by the Governor's Office includes five of the nine regional Water Resources Control Boards - including the Los Angeles region - as well as the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Board of Corrections. We were concerned that vital state business was at a standstill, and polled those quorum-challenged boards. We found good news, sort of. Board executive directors told us they can, for the moment, manage quite well, thank you, without being able to conduct business. Their staffs are busy juggling meeting dates, shifting agendas and postponing decisions. While the regional positions are unpaid, this got us wondering what the state board members do for their hefty salaries. We did discover officials from one quorumless board - a board not included on the list provided by the Governor's Office - who were actually concerned that they were not able to function. The Electricity Oversight Board has canceled its March meeting, so it can't adopt a key agreement with the Public Utilities Commission. Travis Pitt, executive director of the Building Standards Commission, notes that Davis isn't the only one responsible for the operational slowdown. Last year, the state Senate, foreseeing that it would be politically beneficial to stall its approval of Wilson appointments in case a Democratic governor was elected, put off confirming potential board members. ``They wanted Davis to have a lot of people to appoint,'' Pitt said. ``I guess they got their wish.'' Bugged A state agricultural emergency was narrowly averted last week, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture California Department of Food and Agriculture, which was established in 1919 by the California Legislature,[1] works in partnership with the agricultural industry and other governmental agencies to regulate various aspects dealing with food and agriculture related . Thank goodness for Mango, a 2-1/2-year-old black Labrador who sniffed out a first-class package shipped from Denver to Los Angeles County that contained fruit fly maggots. Bills to watch Assemblyman Scott Baugh, R-Huntington Beach, introduced AB 592, which would triple California's juror juror n. any person who actually serves on a jury. Lists of potential jurors are chosen from various sources such as registered voters, automobile registration or telephone directories. pay rate from $5 to $15 per day. The current rate was set in 1957 and has not increased since. . . . State Sen. William Knight, R-Palmdale, introduced SB 414, which would require voters to show identification at the polls before they can cast a ballot. . . . Assemblywoman Nell Soto, D-Ontario, introduced AB 531, which would require every service station to provide motorists with free water and compressed air compressed air, air whose volume has been decreased by the application of pressure. Air is compressed by various devices, including the simple hand pump and the reciprocating, rotary, centrifugal, and axial-flow compressors. . . . . State Assemblyman Mike Honda, D-San Jose, introduced AB 790, which would require the names of the top 12 deadbeat dead·beat 1 Slang n. 1. One who does not pay one's debts. 2. A lazy person; a loafer. adj. Not fulfilling one's obligations or paying one's debts: a deadbeat dad. taxpayers to be posted on the Internet. Only people who owe more than $1 million in sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. would be targeted. |
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