Posts Tagged: amendment

Legislative Counsel: A tale of the bill drafter

The state Capitol in Sacramento, home of the Legislature. (Photo: SchnepfDesign, via Shutterstock))

by CHRIS MICHELI posted 09.21.2020

In the California Legislature, all types of legislative measures (bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments), as well amendments to those measures, can only be introduced or processed if they are in “Legislative Counsel form.” The purpose is to ensure greater consistency in California’s statutes. The nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Counsel serves as legal counsel and bill drafters to California legislators and the governor.

Lawmaker: Stem cell agency ‘boondoggle’ should end

State Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa. (Photo: Youtube frame capture)

by DAVID JENSEN posted 03.29.2017

A California legislator has launched an effort to terminate the $3 billion California stem cell agency, which is already set to go out of business in about three years. Republican state Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa said in a video, “It’s time to shut this down….We as taxpayers need some protection.”

A pension reform initiative filed last week requires voter approval of termination fees, the big upfront payment demanded by CalPERS when a plan is closed to new members. CalPERS says it needs the money to ensure payment of the pensions promised members who remain in the closed plan. The termination fee is calculated by dropping the pension fund earnings forecast from the current 7.5 percent to as low as 2.98 percent.

State government’s anti-secrecy law under scrutiny

Clean-energy advocates demonstrate on the steps of the state Public Utilities Commission, which is covered by the anti-secrecy law known as the Bagley-Keene Act.

by DOROTHY MILLS-GREGG posted 10.01.2014

A California law intended to block secret decisions in the state bureaucracy actually prevents officials from talking to each other on crucial matters, according to their testimony before a state investigative panel. The issue, which intensified in the wake of recent activities at the California Public Utilities Commission, arises from changes in the 1967 Bagley-Keene Act, which is intended to assure the public’s access to the actions of state boards and commissions.

A plan crafted by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper to carve California into six states would do a lot more than change the lines on a map. It would have a profound effect on California’s health care system, which is now in a dramatic transition because of the Affordable Care Act.