Posts Tagged: Brown

News

Right-to-die bill heads Brown’s way

Sen. Lois Wolk, center, the original author of the right-to-die bill, embraces Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, who authored the special session version sent to the governor on Friday. (Photo: Jeff Walters, Assembly Democratic Caucus.)

Legislation to allow dying people to end their lives with lethal, physician-supplied drugs was approved by the state Senate on Friday and sent to Gov. Brown, who once studied for the priesthood and who has not disclosed his position on the bill.

News

Fuel cut fades before oil industry

Senate Leader Kevin de Leon and Gov. Jerry Brown, left, announce scaling back SB 350. (Photo AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

To the surprise of few in the Capitol, the heart of landmark legislation to cut California’s gasoline use in half was gutted under fierce pressure from the oil industry – leaving a weakened bill and an angry Gov. Brown. An impassioned Brown said Wednesday he would push for new ways to cut climate-changing greenhouse gases during the remaining three years of his governorship, either through legislation, executive orders — or both.

News

The high-stakes fight over Medi-Cal

A physician on the night shift examining a CT scan. (Photo: Beerkoff, via Shutterstock)

It’s all about coming up with a plan to hang onto the $1.1 billion in matching funds the feds ship to California each year to help finance MediCal, the immense program that provides health care to about 12.5 million of California’s poorest patients. MediCal is larger than ever now because of the Affordable Care Act, which added more than four million Californians to the millions already receiving MediCal coverage

Opinion

Old credit card technology is fraud-prone

A credit card equipped with a chip. (Photo: Petratiu, via Shutterstock)

Consumers are increasingly using credit and debit cards to transact purchases, from lattes to electronics. Unfortunately with that evolution comes financial fraud. As a victim of credit card fraud I can speak firsthand about the ensuing difficulties, even with financial institutions willing to help. Currently, the United States is the only major economic power in the world that still uses outdated magnetic stripe cards coupled with a faulty signature verification process.

Opinion

Ballot measure would threaten educators’ pensions

A classroom teachers helps a young student with Latin. (Photo: Goodluz, via Shutterstock)

The retirement security of California’s retired, current, and future teachers and the stability of the state’s pension fund for educators would be put at risk if a ballot measure addressing those issues is approved by California voters next November, according to an internal analysis by CalSTRS that I requested as chairman of the Assembly’s Committee on Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security.

News

Jerry Brown’s trifecta: Politics, Catholicism and advocacy

Gov. Jerry Brown, flanked by the head of the Ponitifical Academy of Science, Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, spoke recently at a Vatican conference on Modern Slavery and Climate Change. (AP Photo: Alessandra Tarantino)

When Gov. Jerry Brown traveled to the Vatican to attend Pope Francis’ conference on climate change, the Democratic governor allowed one of his most extended public glimpses into how Catholicism helped shape his career. Brown, who turned 77 in April, is nearly the same age as the Pope who turns 79 in December. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit Pope and Brown was a Jesuit seminarian until he dropped out of the Society of Jesus in 1960 to attend the University of California, Berkeley.

News

Voters: Many just can’t be bothered

Voters cast ballots at the November 2014 general election in Oak View, Calif. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

We Californians justifiably become excited about our many remarkable achievements: we make terrific movies; Silicon Valley leads the planet in technological innovation; our traffic jams are world class. But when it comes to voting, we give a statewide shrug. A mere 42.2 percent of registered voters — registered voters — bothered to cast ballots in the November 2014 general election. Los Angeles County bottomed out statewide with a turnout of 31 percent. It gets even worse: The June 2014 turnout was 25.2 percent.

Opinion

Illness doesn’t discriminate — and neither should health care

Elementary school students in a California classroom. ((Photo: Monkey Business Images)

Right now California has the opportunity to lead the nation in one of the most pressing issues of our time: immigration reform and health for all. Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a budget that will offer Medi-Cal access to all children, regardless of immigration status, sometime next year. While this is a significant investment in

News

A ‘wave goodbye’ to Lawrence Karlton

Obit: In his three decades on the federal bench, Lawrence Karlton presided over many high-profile cases including several involving California’s troubled prison system. In 2009 he forced the overhaul of California’s prison health care system and ordered the state to reduce prison overcrowding.

News

Is the governor house hunting?

The governor's mansion, now a state historical park, in downtown Sacramento at 16th and H Streets. (Photo: Kensly, Google Earth)

California’s iconic, 138-year-old governor’s mansion, commanding a busy downtown intersection less than a mile from the Capitol, is getting spruced up and may even become home, once again, to California governors.

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