Each week I do a column with a quick overview of what’s happened in the state in the past week. In case your local paper doesn’t carry it (and please ask them to!), I’ve attached it here.

I also do a radio version of the column, which you might enjoy.

This Week in Politics and Policy. February 23, 2007

Pull Quote – Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has announced his support to legalize suicide in California.

Scott Harris

It’s time for our weekly tour around the great State of California, highlighting what’s new in Sacramento and what’s happening around the state that affects you, your family and your business.

Our Sacramento legislators have proposed a variety of new laws, each designed to protect us from what they apparently believe to be our greatest danger – ourselves. Proposed laws include bans on spanking children, talking on a cell phone while driving, smoking while on the beach or driving with children in the car, and serving trans fat in school cafeterias. If these laws pass, we will quickly become a full fledged “nanny state,” as they are sure to be followed by other restrictions.

As Democratic Assemblyman Lloyd Levine – who has proposed forcing homeowners to buy energy-efficient light bulbs – acknowledged, “I guess the government is trying to be the nanny, or the parent… And you know what? Sometimes the nanny is right, sometimes the parents are right, oftentimes the parents are right.”

For those who believe full control over us while we’re alive is not enough, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has announced his support of legalized suicide in California. The bill, AB 374, euphemistically known as the “death with dignity” act, will allow people to self-administer lethal drugs when declared mentally competent with less than six months to live. The California Medical Association representing 35,000 physicians opposes the bill because it conflicts with a doctor’s ethical duties. Also opposed are those who doubt anyone can be certain that a death will occur within six months, and advocates for the disabled who fear “competency” might come a little too easily.

Nunez, a self-described “Johnny come lately” to the issue, is ready to buck the church and Cardinal Mahoney, but expects his toughest conversation to be with the woman who wanted him to be a priest - his mother. The bill is bound to join abortion, capital punishment and same-sex marriage as a polarizing issue between Democrats and Republicans, with a few outraged Libertarians thrown in.

Last month, Governor Schwarzenegger predicted that we would have a $2.1 billion dollar surplus this year in the state budget. This week, Elizabeth Hill, the Legislature’s nonpartisan chief budget analyst warned lawmakers that it’s more likely we’re looking at a $726 million dollar budget deficit and that without immediate program cuts, we’ll be facing a major shortfall at the end of the fiscal year. Hill recommended cutting over $600 million from the education budget, but it would be surprising if a single dollar is removed.

That’s it for this week and remember, California is the Alpha State: the greatest state in the world’s greatest country.

Scott Harris is a political commentator and can be reached at scott@alphastate.org. His blog, columns and radio show can all be accessed at AlphaState.org.