Political Landscape:

State lawmakers are set to begin the 2008 session in Sacramento on Monday, but an ominous shadow in the form of a projected $14-billion budget deficit is cast over their legislative agendas.

Glendale and Burbank area state lawmakers have plans to push new education, environmental and economic development policies, but the focus for the next six months is likely to be on which state programs and services come under the budget-balancing knife, said state Sen. Jack Scott, who, as chair of the Senate Education Committee, is wary that school services could be targeted.

That means any new policies related to education will have to come with a minimal price tag, he said.

“Given our budget crisis, it will be very difficult for us,” he said. “We’ll do very well, for instance, to provide cost-of-living increases and fund existing programs, but I don’t think this is a year we can look to introduce new programs unless there’s a way by which they can be funded without taking away from the general fund.”

One such bill would be the Early Commitment to College Act, a two-year measure Scott introduced last year that would establish a voluntary program for local school districts to provide information on higher education and student aid to seventh-graders. The legislation, which would have minimal financial impact, would create a pledge to be signed by students and a parent or legal guardian saying the child will attend college.

La Cañada Flintridge Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, whose district also includes a portion of Montrose, is planning to reintroduce an education measure he bills as a budget-saver that was vetoed by the governor last year.

Assembly Bill 1413 would require the California State University and University of California systems to make financial decisions in public, including the setting of severance pay for administrators. It would also crack down on so-called phantom professorships in which administrators collect pay without actually teaching a course or providing any services to the school, Portantino said.

On the environmental front, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, whose district includes Glendale and Burbank, is eagerly awaiting a report conducted at his request by the state auditor that aims to identify major obstacles to investors looking to develop large solar power facilities in the state. The report is due sometime next week, he said.