Podcast
The high-stakes political battle over health care has gripped the Capitol and, ultimately, it is all but certain to play out in the state budget and in this year’s elections. A major figure in the debate is Anthony Wright, the executive director of Health Access California, which advocates for the expansion of reasonably priced, quality health care.
News
As the judge climbed the watchtower stairs in Pelican Bay prison, he heard muffled gunshots below. When he reached the top, he looked into the prison yard and saw bodies lying in the dirt. One was his law clerk, spreadeagled on the ground in his suit, alongside dozens of inmates. Guards stood over them, guns aimed. “My clerk was thinking he’s gonna die and this is his last day on earth,” Judge Thelton Henderson recalled.
News
The California stem cell agency this week boosted the number of its clinical trials to 48 — an investment of $553 million — with the hope of producing its first widely available stem cell therapy and staving off its own demise. In a 14-minute, telephonic meeting Thursday, directors of the agency ratified three new awards totalling $32 million and adding to the trials. The applications had been approved earlier behind closed doors by the agency’s out-of-state reviewers.
Podcast
Assemblyman Jim Cooper was on hand at Wednesday’s press conference announcing the capture of a suspect in the notorious East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Golden State Killer case had been arrested. Cooper, a 30-year veteran and former captain of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, sat down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster to chat about the crucial role of DNA collection in the solution of this and other cold-case crimes.
News
California voters may be asked this year to approve $13 billion in two separate water bonds that promise to pay for safe drinking water and improve flood protection. Proposition 68 is a $4.1 billion measure and is already set for the June 5 ballot. The Water Supply and Water Quality Act is an $8.9 billion bond and could come up for a vote in November. The Secretary of State’s office is reviewing the signatures turned in and should decide by the end of the month whether it qualifies for the ballot.
Analysis
Whether you liked it or not, the state Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase. This saved Californians 4-cents-a-gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget. What caused this rather dramatic policy move? I keep being drawn to the extraordinary events surrounding the 2011 redistricting of the BOE, which has four directly elected members.
Podcast
Nothing ever really dies in the Capitol, as the saying goes, but sometimes you come across a knockout blow. And that’s what happened with SB 827, a sweeping bill aimed at addressing California’s housing crisis. To the surprise of just about everybody and after months of media attention, the measure was rejected decisively in its first committee hearing. Joining us today to take a look at all this is Louis Mirante of California YIMBY, who sat down with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster to chat about the issue.
Analysis
Clearly, Washington, D.C., and Sacramento share many things in common — including such negatives as a hyper-heated political culture, insularity and a pervasive sense of entitlement. And California’s Legislature is obviously based upon the federal legislative model. Nonetheless, their legislative rules are different, so let’s take a look at some of the major distinctions.
News
The recent police killing of an unarmed black Sacramento man has left protesters and local politicians demanding revisions to California’s Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights — the decades-old protocol for officers facing disciplinary investigation. But state lawmakers, despite the national attention directed at the shooting of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, have not introduced legislation or even made reference to the 1976 law, known as the POBR.
News
It goes by various names: Universal Healthcare Access; National Healthcare; Medicare for All; government-run health care; Socialized Medicine. Most news reports call it Single Payer. It threatens to tear asunder California’s Democratic Party.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California. (Photo: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)
