Judge Stephen V. Manley on the bench in Santa Clara County. (Photo: Veteransvoices.net) Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley refers to defendants in his courtroom as “clients” – an indication of the unusually informal and conversational tenor of the Behavioral Health Court he created more than two decades ago. “It tends to break through a barrier,” Manley said.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Always Wanderlust, via Shutterstock)When preparing to lobby legislative committees, the focus is on legislative staff and then legislators. There are two types of staff for our purposes: committee and member. Committee staff, referred to as committee consultants, are those who work directly for the legislative policy or fiscal committees. Member staff are those who work directly for an Assembly member or senator.
Artist's conception of the bullet train crossing an overpass in Anaheim. (Illustration: California High Speed Rail Authority)It’s a tale of two stations. Bakersfield, California’s ninth-largest city in terms of population with more than 380,000 residents, is trying to decide where to put a bullet-train station. This battle has lasted for years.