Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation authored by Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, that will make it easier for folks to volunteer at local schools.

Assembly Bill 774 calls for the creation of a local volunteer registry, that will allow people who volunteer for more than one school to obtain one background check rather than pay for multiple, redundant investigations.

“Our state has made it a priority to support before and after school programs in our schools,” Houston said. ” These programs need the help of volunteers in the community. We need to do our best to make the process for volunteering as quick and easy as possible.”

AB 774 earned the support of the Bay Area Partnership for Children and Youth, the California State Alliance of YMCAs, the California Teachers Association and the California State Parent-Teacher Association.

AB 774 will take effect on January 1, 2008.

Former assemblyman and state senate candidate Joe Canciamilla of Pittsburg will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to outline his grassroots plan to oppose Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to resurrect the peripheral canal.

Under the governor’s plan, a new “peripheral canal” would divert water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to pump water to Southern California. The governor has proposed the placement of a multi-million-dollar bond measure on an upcoming ballot, perhaps as early as February 2008.

The press conference starts at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the end of the parking lot for the Pittsburg Marina, 51 Marina Blvd.

UPDATE:
Check out this story by Times reporter Rowena Coetsee on the Bethel Island Municipal Utility District’s recent decision to hire Canciamilla — at a fee of roughly $250 an hour — to help it negotiate with the county. Canciamilla is also a former county supervisor.

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, is talking with reporters this moment via conference call from Germany, where he recently arrived after a trip to Iraq.

McNerney led a six-member bipartisan freshmen delegation over the weekend to Iraq to visit with Iraqi leaders and American troops.

As soon as the call concludes, I’ll report on what McNerney found on the ground in Iraq both in this blog and on our on-line and print newspages.

UPDATE:

Elected just nine months ago, McNerney remains committed to a timeline for U.S. withdrawal of its troops from Iraq but expressed a willingness to be more flexible after spending the weekend visiting American troops and Iraqi leaders in Baghdad and Ramadi.

“If anything, I’m more willing to work to find a way forward,” McNerney told reporters during a 45-minute teleconference from Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I think we can find a way forward that would be bipartisan.”

McNerney and his colleagues arrived in Baghdad Saturday night, where they stepped off a C-130 airplane into the stifling, 120-degree desert heat.

They had dinner Saturday with Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, whose mission, McNerney said, was to persuade lawmakers to give him time to do his job in Iraq.

“I was impressed with Petraeus’ confidence,” McNerney said. “… But he’s aware of the pressure in Congress that we need to end this thing. He had a lot of data to show the progress. He’s concerned about being given enough time to finish the job but he’s aware that we need to come to a resolution.”

On Sunday, the legislators flew via Blackhawk helicopter to Ramadi, a town 70 miles outside of Baghdad where U.S. troops have successfully ousted terrorist forces. The flight was uneventful, except for a couple of flares that briefly gave McNerney the sensation of being under fire.

Once in Ramadi, McNerney and the others walked with military escorts in an open-air market.

The troops have “made quite a bit of progress here, (Ramadi) ” McNerney said. “Of course, I’m sure (the military) cherry-picked the best places for us to see.”

McNeney also had dinner with six soldiers from California and met with Iraq Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, an Iraqi Kurd.

The congressman described Salih as a “polished” politician who “said the right words. He knows we are are concerned about (the Iraqi leaders’) relationships with he different sects and the violence.” McNerney says he delivered a clear message to the Iraqi leaders: The U.S. cannot remain in Iraq forever and its leaders must step forward.

McNerney isn’t persuaded, however, that Iraq is ready to protect itself against a terrorist take-over in the absence of U.S. troops.

Iraqi leaders “sounded bravado and when you ask, they say ‘You can leave today, if you want to,’ ” McNerney said. “I didn’t get to talk to any Iraqi troops but I’m not as optimistic as I would like.”

He described the California soldiers as “being in good spirits … but they want the conflict over and they were ready to come home.” The soldiers used their time with the congressman to lobby for funding of better equipment such as light-weight body armor. One soldier from San Diego said he weighed 130 pounds without armor and 230 pounds with it.

The soldiers also talked with McNerney about California windmills; the congressman is a wind turbine expert who worked as a wind energy consultant prior to winning his seat in November. And he and a Sonoma soldier talked a little bit about wine.

The delegation flew late Sunday night to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where the delegation visited wounded troops including a man who suffered a bullet injury through his jaw and another who who faced reconstruction of his leg.

The other members of the bipartisan delegation included Democratic congress members Tim Mahoney of Florida and Keith Ellison of Minnesota; and Republicans Mary Fallin from Oklahoma, Dean Heller from Nevada and Peter Peter Roskam from Illinois.

McNerney plans to write a short essay about his Iraq trip, which he said he will post on his House web site. He recently wrote a similar paper on his trip to Greenland as part of the House Science Committee.

Antioch Mayor Don Freitas promised to ponder his political future during his recent summer vacation and return refreshed with a decision as to whether he will seek re-election to his city seat, run for county supervisor or strike out for the Assembly.

A lot of people have an eyes on the mayor’s seat but they are waiting for Freitas to make his move.

And they are still waiting. Freitas says he will announce his decision September.

Nonpartisan political analyst Larry Rothenberg posted an interesting article based on his premise that endorsements almost never matter. Click here to read it.

Rothenberg is referring to endorsements for the presidential candidates, of which we have reported on several from prominent Californians in recent days. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, have both endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York.

“The reason that endorsements don’t matter much is that presidential contests are such high-profile, visible fights that voters can draw their own opinions of the candidates,” Rothenberg wrote. “You either like Clinton or you don’t. You can make your own mind up about it. You don’t need some celebrity or politician telling you what to do.”

Does Rothenberg’s premise apply to local races? Probably not to the same extent, chiefly because local candidates typically don’t attract the same level of attention.

But endorsements have another purpose, which could apply to local candidates: Big name endorsements create a sense of momentum, which in turn attracts contributors’ money and attention.

“The endorsements are intended, of course, to create an impression of support, either among key subgroups of the electorate — blacks, evangelicals, Hispanics, party insiders, home-schoolers, environmentalists, conservatives, labor unions, etc. — or in the electorate at large,” Rothenberg wrote. “It’s the classic effort to create a bandwagon, to establish the inevitability of your victory.”

Reps. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, and Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, have been named to serve as conferees on the Water Resources Development Act. A conferee committee, comprised of members of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, will hammer out the differences between the water bills passed in each branch earlier this year.

The legislation authorizes approximately $14 billion for water resources studies and construction projects by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including several in the Bay Area.

As soon as the conference report has been agreed to, the House and Senate will vote on the final version of the bill, and it will go to President Bush for his signature.

After being locked onto the floor of the Assembly until the wee hours one morning last week to force a vote on a state budget, Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, told Contra Costa business leaders today he will seek reforms of the state’s budget approval process.

Elected in November 2006, it was DeSaulnier’s first front-row seat to the state budget process and his first vote on the matter.

It’s ludicrous, DeSaulnier says, to hold the state budget hostage under a super-majority rule that only two other states use — Rhode Island and Arkansas. He says he was further exasperated to hear that the state Senate had one Republican willing to vote for the budget — Sen. Abel Maldonado — but couldn’t round up a second one.

“A state with a population of 38 million and a budget of $140 billion has been held up for lack of one vote in the Senate,” said an incredulous DeSaulnier to a lunch meeting of several hundred members of the Contra Costa Council.

DeSaulnier agrees the state needs a balanced budget but says it should be done in a thoughtful and deliberative manner with an eye on the longterm impacts rather than a late-night arm-twisting session where the public won’t learn of the consequences until it’s far too late.

To end the annual impasse where a handful of dissenters stall the entire state, DeSaulnier says he wants to create a small commission charged with recommending a new budget adoption process, perhaps a hybrid of successful systems in other states.

He said he will introduce a bill later this year or early next year.

Watch DeSaulnier’s speech on CCTV and Comcast public access station Channel 27 on Aug. 7 at 9 p.m. or Aug. 8 at 2 p.m.

Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren Rupf and District Attorney Bob Kochly have endorsed GOP Assembly District 15 candidate Judy Biviano Lloyd.

This morning’s press release follows Lloyd’s announcement of the endorsements of former sheriff and state senator Dick Rainey and his wife, Walnut Creek Mayor Sue Rainey.

Candidates usually compete fiercely for endorsements, particularly those of high-profile elected officials. Big names can attract big contributions and ultimately, the candidates hope, the necessary votes to win on Election Day.

The quest for endorsements is particularly heightened in Assembly District 15, where some 11 people seek to replace incumbent Assemblyman Guy Houston of San Ramon when he terms out in 2008.

The field includes five Republicans and six Democrats. (Democrat Terry Coleman is listed on the Secretary of State’s web site as having a campaign committee but he has withdrawn from the race.)

The Democratic field includes Steve Filson, Stevan Thomas, Fred Klaske, Davies Ononiwu, Chris Van Schaack and San Ramon Valley School Board Trustee Joan Buchanan.

The Republican field, in addition to Judy Lloyd, includes San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson, Robert Rao, Scott Kamena and Joe Rubay.

(Note: If a candidate has an official Assembly web site, I’ve included it as a link attached to his or her name above.)

The business and labor coalition formed to promote a ballot measure that would alter California’s term limit law has submitted more than 1.1 million signatures to the Secretary of State, a substantially higher number than mandated under state law.

The Secretary of State requires 694,354 signatures of registered voters to qualify the initiative for the February ballot.

The measure would shorten the amount of time a legislator may serve from 14 years to 12 years but it would allow a lawmaker to hold office in either the Senate or the Assembly for the full time period. The current law limits lawmakers to six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate.

If passes, the initiative would also allow incumbents that would otherwise term out in 2008 to seek re-election to their seats, including the leaders of both houses, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata of Oakland and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez of Los Angeles.

It would also benefit state Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch and Assemblymembers Guy Houston of San Ramon and Loni Hancock of Berkeley.

Here’s a portion of the press release sent out a few minute ago from the initiative’s proponents:

“Putting term limits reform on the February ballot will set the stage for the Legislature to approve a companion ballot measure for a fair reapportionment of California’s political districts, and bring some needed stability to our legislative process,” said Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of CalChamber. “Solutions to California’s numerous issues will be easier when legislators aren’t in a constant campaign cycle and are more accountable to the voters in competitive districts.”

“I look forward to working with the Governor and the Legislature to place meaningful and fair reapportionment on the ballot, as well,” continued Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of CalChamber.

The Contra Costa Republican Party will host a strategy meeting and forum on Aug. 18 with candidates for the state Assembly and congressional District 11.

All Republicans are invited.

The Assembly District 15 candidates on the agenda include Judy Lloyd, San Ramon Mayor Abram Wilson, Robert Rao, Joe Rubay and Scott Kamena.

Congressional District 11 hopeful and former Assemblyman Dean Andal is expected to attend.

Assemblyman Guy Houston, R-San Ramon, is on the invitation list, too. If voters alter term limits in February, Houston says he will seek re-election to his District 15 seat. If not, Houston is considering a run for Congress against Andal in the June 2008 primary election.

Also expected to attend is Contra Costa County Supervisor Mary Piepho, who has no declared opponents yet, and Erik Nunn, who is running against incumbent Supervisor Federal Glover. The supervisor seat is nonpartisan but parties do get involved in the promotion of Republicans.

The strategy meeting begins at 3:30 p.m. at the Lafayette home of Contra Costa GOP Chairman Tom Del Becarro, followed by dinner and drinks at 5 p.m. A candidates’ forum will start at 6 p.m.

Tickets cost $25 per person.

For tickets, send an email to director@contracostagop.com or call 925-930-9551. Directions and the exact location will be provided.