CalWatchdog Morning Read – August 29

• Legislators asking for hike in gas tax to fund transpo plan
• Transpo plan and other big items going unresolved this session
• PUC overhaul not enough?
• Assembly members retaliate against fellow Democratic Senator
• Sen. Leno says bye to Sacramento

Good morning. Happy Monday. And welcome to the final stretch in Sacramento, where the legislative session ends on the 31st. 

One of the biggest items left unresolved is a transportation plan. The top transportation legislators in each chamber — Assemblyman Jim Frazier, D-Oakley, and Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose — are pitching a 17-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase to fund a $7.4 billion transportation program. They also want to increase the tax on diesel fuels by 30 cents a gallon and to make it easier to get approvals for transportation infrastructure improvements. Their proposal exceeds what Gov. Jerry Brown pitched last year.

Brown’s proposal — which went nowhere in a special session — was built on a 6 cent per gallon tax increase and other provisions that would have funded a $3.6 billion transportation plan.

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news: 

• Speaking of a transportation plan, it’s one of several big items that will likely go unresolved this session, causing finger pointing and frustration. The San Jose Mercury News has more. 
• “For years, state lawmakers have been trying to crack down on private meetings between utility companies and members of the California Public Utilities Commission after revelations that top officials and industry executives had frequent dinner dates, shared talking points and even sketched out details of the multibillion-dollar closure of a Southern California nuclear power plant during a secret rendezvous in a luxury hotel in Poland.” But some worry that a package of bills under consideration by the Legislature to overhaul the commission won’t go far enough. The Los Angeles Times has more. 
• One senator upset someone on the other side of the Capitol, so they removed her name from her bill in retaliation. The Sacramento Bee has more. 
• And in a few days, the Legislature will say goodbye to one of its most accomplished members. The Los Angeles Times has more. 

Assembly:

• In at 1 p.m.

Senate:

• In at 1 p.m.

Gov. Brown:

• No public events announced. 

Tips: [email protected]

Follow us: @calwatchdog @mflemingterp

New follower: @SophiaBollag