Posts Tagged: 20

News

Stronger ‘Laura’s law’ wins Assembly approval

Laura Wilcox, whose shooting death in Nevada County inspired "Laura's Law." (Family photo)

Legislation to strengthen California’s 2002 “Laura’s Law,” which gives family members a legal tool to get treatment for their severely mentally ill relatives, has been approved 77-0 by the state Assembly, despite opposition from some California counties, behavioral health directors and a labor union representing employees in local mental-health programs.

Opinion

Small businesses key to California’s economic health

Two customers order lunch at an artisan bakery in Oakdale. (Photo: James Kirkikis, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The start of the new year also brings a new governor and a new Legislature, which provides opportunity for Californians to set new goals and expectations of our elected leaders in Sacramento. Small business owners, especially, have much at stake in the halls of the state Capitol, with many new opportunities and challenges ahead in 2019.

News

Net neutrality repeal a political battleground

Ethernet cables tangled over a digital device. (Photo illustration: Ivan Marc)

The latest skirmish in California-vs.-the-Trump-Administration is developing around the repeal of “net neutrality,” in which purveyors of internet access treat all data equally. The Federal Communications Commission, chaired by former Verizon executive Ajit Pai, repealed net neutrality in a Dec. 14 ruling on a party-line 3-2 vote, with the Republican commissioners in the majority.

News

Where are they now? Wadie Deddeh

Sen. Wadie Deddeh in 2015. (Image: Screen capture, via YouTube., from Baitna Project testimony.

There are five people alive today who each served more than a quarter-century in the California State Legislature. Four of the five served as the leader of a house during their time in Sacramento. The last member of the quarter-century club is 97-year-old Wadie Deddeh, who moved to the United States in his late 20s, rose to power as chair of the Revenue and Taxation committee, and retired from the Legislature in 1993.

News

CA120: Land lines and cell phones and data, Oh My!

Telephone poles with their land-line wires fade into the sunset of a California highway. (Photo: Ethan Daniels.)

For decades, polling relied on a strong pool of easily reached voters with a traditional land-line telephone. Before caller-ID became prevalent, nearly every call was answered as long as someone was home. But now more voters are untethered from traditional phones (I haven’t had a land line since 1998), and those who do still have them complain that most incoming calls are from telemarketers.

Analysis

Trump a template for future CA campaigns?

Presidential contender Donald Trump speaks at a Costa Mesa rally on May 25. (Photo: Mike LeDray)

The fact is, he won. He tweeted and bragged and insulted his way into the White House while Democrats talked about 23-point plans and fumed. Politicians, despite the beliefs of many Americans, are not stupid They saw what happened. So now the question that may soon to be bandied about in offices in and around the Capitol is this: in the light of Donald Trump’s victory, will California campaigns now begin to look Trumpesque?

News

CA120: Crunching the poll numbers, big time

(Photo illustration: RedDaxLuma, via Shutterstock)

CA120: This month has seen the release of dozens of new public polls, ranging from the presidential contest to statewide and local races. We have seen many of these publicly available surveys, but the vast majority of polling is still private – done by candidates and political action committees. It is rarely shared with those outside a very small circle of candidates and consultants.

News

Ballot admission price: $48 million

A California ballot box. (Photo illustration, Hafakot, via Shutterstock)

It’s like a poker game: If you want to play, you have to ante up. And this year, the ante for Nov. 8 was nearly $48 million. That’s how much the rival interests for an array of initiatives paid to get on the ballot. That’s not money spent on the merits of the initiatives. It’s the money spent simply to get the propositions before the public.

News

Brown seeks ballot initiative to overhaul paroles

An inmate gestures through the bars of his prison cell. (Photo: Sakhorn, Shutterstock)

Gov. Jerry Brown and a number of church and law enforcement leaders said Wednesday they are launching a November ballot initiative that would ease parole restrictions on nonviolent prison inmates and provide incentives for prisoners to work toward an earlier release.

News

GOP to take control of powerful SoCal air board

A smog-tinged view in black and white of Century City, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

Last year, the high point of the GOP’s Election Day was the Democrats’ loss of their supermajorities in the Legislature, even though Democrats retained control of every statewide elected office. But in early November, Republicans scored a major victory: a seat on the South Coast Air Quality Management District. For the first time in years, GOP members will control the powerful board that has jurisdiction over four counties and 17 million people.

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