20مليون دولار لفتــاة مُختطفة


Lawmakers pass $20M

settlement for

kidnapped girl

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A woman who bore two children while being held prisoner for nearly two decades will receive $20 million from the state of California after claiming parole officers failed to do their job and find her while monitoring a convicted rapist.

Lawmakers approved the settlement Thursday for Jaycee Dugard, now 30, and her two daughters, who resurfaced last August after being held in a secret backyard by a suspect identified by authorities as Phillip Garrido.

"It is compensation for three people for the rest of their lives who have been horribly damaged over a period of 17 or 18 years," mediator Daniel Weinstein told The Associated Press.

Dugard and her daughters, ages 15 and 12, filed claims in February, saying parole agents with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began supervising Garrido in 1999 but didn't discover them.

The Dugard family members claimed psychological, physical and emotional damages.

"I can't emphasize enough that we've got to be much more prudent in terms of how we provide oversight for released prisoners in the state of California," Assemblyman Ted Gaines, R-Granite Bay, said.

The money will be used to buy the family a home, ensure privacy, pay for education, replace lost income and cover what will likely be years of therapy, said Weinstein, a retired San Francisco County Superior Court judge. In addition, much of the money will be placed in long-term investments, he said.

"It was not an effort to make reparations for the years of abuse and incarceration or imprisonment against their will, because ... the damages to these people were incalculable," Weinstein said in a telephone interview. "Part of this was a prudent effort by the state to shut off liability from a catastrophic verdict."

Weinstein praised the state for quickly accepting responsibility, and the Dugards for accepting a reasonable settlement at a time when the state faces a $19 billion budget deficit. He said the scope of the claim was unprecedented in his 20 years as a mediator because of the duration of the crime and that it led to the birth of two children.

The money will come from the state's hard-hit general fund, which pays for most state operations.

Dugard's mother Terry Probyn filed a claim with the state in February but was not included in the settlement, Weinstein said. Her claim is pending and under negotiation by the corrections department and attorney general's office, said Lynn Margherita, a spokeswoman for the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board.

Dugard's lawyer Dale Kinsella said he could not comment beyond a joint statement issued with the state attorney general detailing how the money will be used.

Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department, declined comment.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger intends to sign the bill detailing the settlement, spokesman Aaron McLear said.

Garrido and his wife Nancy have pleaded not guilty to charges that they kidnapped and raped the young woman.

Dugard and her children were hidden at the Garrido home in the eastern San Francisco Bay area city of Antioch, authorities said.

Lawmakers approved the settlement with a 30-1 vote in the Senate and a 62-0 vote in the Assembly. It involved the bulk of the money approved in AB1714, which settles three other claims for a combined $1.49 million.

Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Yuba City, said it was wise for the state to pay the claim quickly rather than fight a court battle that he said "exacerbates the grievous loss of the victims and the lifelong condemnation and pain of their families."

He predicted the state also will pay claims in the case of John Albert Gardner III, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to killing two San Diego County teenagers. Parole agents were also faulted in that case for failing to send Gardner, a convicted sex offender, back to prison.

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Schwarzenegger orders min wage for state workers

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press Writer Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press Writer 1 hr 44 mins ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday ordered about 200,000 state workers to be paid the federal minimum wage this month because the state Legislature has not passed a budget, but the state controller is refusing to comply.

Department of Personnel Administration Director Debbie Endsley sent the order in a letter to the state controller, who refused a similar order two years ago. The matter is tied up in the appellate courts, leading the controller to say he will abide by whatever final ruling emerges, which could be years down the road. He said he can't follow the order now due to technical and legal issues.

Most state employees will be paid the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour for the July pay period.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said the change should be reflected in state employees' next paycheck. Workers will be paid in full retroactively once a budget is passed.

"It's a sad day when the boss wants to make his employees collateral damage in a budget dispute," said Patty Velez, an environmental scientist and president of the California Association of Professional Scientists, a union that would be affected by the cuts.

The Republican governor has been frustrated by the Legislature's failure to close California's $19 billion budget deficit, even as the new fiscal year began Thursday.

Schwarzenegger's order does not affect the 37,000 workers, including California Highway Patrol officers, who are in unions that recently negotiated new contracts with the administration. Those contracts included pay cuts and pension reforms that will save the state money.

Asked whether the governor was sending a message to the unions that have not yet signed new contracts, McLear said no.

"We're sending a message to the controller to follow the law," he said.

Schwarzenegger made a similar order two years ago, but it never took affect because state Controller John Chiang refused to comply. The courts later sided with Schwarzenegger, but the matter is on appeal.

"It's inevitable that this is going to end up being ruled against the controller," McLear said.

Chiang, a Democrat, is an elected statewide officer. His deputy press secretary, Jacob Roper, said Thursday that the controller's office does not intend to follow Schwarzenegger's order, in part because the state's computerized payroll system cannot handle the change.

"This is uncharted waters here," Roper said. "No city, county or state has ever taken this action before."

In a statement, Chiang said it was not possible with the state's current technology to pay some employees their full salaries and others minimum wage. He also said his office and the governor's have been working on a system upgrade, but it will not be ready until October 2012.

Schwarzenegger's order, if implemented, could cost the state billions of dollars because the action would violate employment law, Roper said. He cited the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, which he says entitles a worker to "double damages" if an employer cuts pay to minimum wage.

Salaried managers who are not paid on an hourly basis would see their pay cut to $455 per week.

Some of the state's roughly 250,000 employees would be exempt, including doctors and attorneys, because minimum wage laws do not apply to those professions. Under the order, they would not get paid at all until a budget deal is struck, said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the Department of Personnel Administration.

"This all goes away if the Legislature passes a budget this month," she said.

Service Employees International Union 1000, the state's largest employee union, declined to comment because union lawyers are still reviewing the matter. The union, which represents about 95,000 state workers, joined Chiang in the legal challenge two years ago.

SEIU 1000 employees generally earn more than federal minimum wage, in part because California's state minimum wage of $8 an hour is higher.