Posts Tagged: commission

News

Comcast-Time Warner merger: Dramatic impact on California

Comcast company trucks await assignments. (Photo: Associated Press, Gene Puskar)

A national merger between communications giants Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable could lead to an unprecedented consolidation of California cable and broadband markets. The pending $45 billion merger would grant Comcast — already the state’s No. 1 cable provider — a greater share of the California market, stretching from northern California and San Francisco Bay area and Sacramento region, down the Central Valley through the Los Angeles basin, east to the Nevada and Arizona lines and southeast to the Mexico border.

News

A ‘sea change’ in coastal protections

The bicycling competition at Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Photo: Rodolfo Arpia)

For years, the California Coastal Commission has sought the power to impose fines on people who violate the state’s coastal protection laws. But the high-profile efforts – at least three times in five years — were defeated in the Capitol by business interests, developers and property rights activists, among others. But beginning July 1, in what environmentalists described as a “sea change,” the Coastal Commission will have the authority to fine property owners who block the public’s access to beaches.

Opinion

A coastal tale: Why developers love farmers

The California coast along Redwood National Park, north Humboldt County, (Photo: Don Forthuber, redwoods.info)

OPINION: It’s been a year since I resigned from the California Coastal Commission, and it’s time to tell a few stories of what I learned as a Coastal Commissioner. Each and every month I learned that not everything was how it seemed. My first lesson was learning that developers love farmers.

News

Brown, lawmakers hunt parking spot for Tesla

World headquarters of Tesla Motors in Palo Alto. (Photo: Katherine Welles)

California lawmakers, who have fallen head over heels for Tesla Motors, once again are wooing their fickle sweetheart. Gov. Jerry Brown and two state senators – one a Republican, the other a Democrat — are working to entice Tesla to build its newest manufacturing facility in California, instead of going outside the state. It’s the latest in a long string of efforts in Sacramento that so far have managed to keep Tesla in the Golden State.

News

Dark money: Governor OKs disclosure rules

Election 2014: Gov. Brown on Wednesday signed into law new disclosure rules for nonprofits, a move prompted by the 11th-hour flood of stealth cash that roiled the November 2012 elections. The bill takes effect in July – after this year’s primary elections but in time for the general election.

News

New penalties eyed in bribe cases

Lawmakers who seek or receive bribes face a boosted level of fines and penalties, under a plan that is getting renewed attention because of the scandals rocking the Senate. The proposal by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Bell Gardens Democrat, also bars the use of campaign funds to pay restitution fines in bribery convictions.

News

GOP lawmakers want bullet train derailed

Assembly Republicans

California Republicans, long opposed to the $68 billion high-speed rail plan backed by Gov. Brown, say it’s time to dump the bullet train and spend money instead on critical transportation infrastructure. “I think people are tired of the train and tired of waiting for the train,” Assembly GOP Leader Connie Conway of Tulare, accompanied by Republican lawmakers, told reporters. “They’re standing at the train stop and the train is not coming.” (Photo: Staff, Assemblymember Eric Linder)

News

Tensions over PRA, Brown Act

The question is simple: Should local governments pick up the tab for complying with California’s laws requiring local open meetings and access to public records? But the answer is not so simple. (Photo: Almonroth)

News

Third time in five years, lawmakers balk at Coastal Commission fees

For the third time in five years, California lawmakers have rejected an attempt to give the California Coastal Commission, which has jurisdiction over 1,100 miles of coastline, authority to impose fines on those who violate coastal protection laws. Opponents of the plan were led by business, farm, petroleum and construction interests, and the measure failed after Assembly Democrats who backed it earlier withdrew their support.

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