Posts Tagged: court
Micheli Files
The California Government Code contains a number of provisions related to the Legislature and the lawmaking process. There have been numerous court decisions over the past one hundred years interpreting key provisions of the Government Code. The following cases highlight some of the key decisions interpreting these statutory provisions related to the California Legislature and its legislative process.
News
A long-simmering and incredibly convoluted fight over “California Blackjack” may finally be decided in court, thanks to a bill pending in the Legislature. Senate Bill 549 by Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, would give California’s gaming tribes legal standing to sue California cardrooms over an arcane system they employ to offer Blackjack, which the tribes insist is in violation of state law.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (which everyone calls BART) is a the lifeline of the Bay Area. Connecting the suburbs to urban cities through 131 miles of track, BART serves a wildly diverse customer base. One of the groups most dependent on BART is the region’s homeless population – and that dependence that became even more pronounced during the COVID pandemic. We speak with BART’s first Homeless Czar, Daniel Cooperman.
News
Alma Hernández, the executive director of the 700,000-member of SEIU California labor union, resigned Wednesday after she and her husband were accused of multiple charges that included perjury, fraud and grand theft. “We have accepted Ms. Hernández’s resignation, and we have cooperated fully with authorities on this matter and will continue to do so,” the SEIU State Council said in a written statement.
News
More than 7,100 people have applied to be on California’s independent redistricting commission, the 14-member panel that will draw new political boundaries based on population counts from the 2020 census. State Auditor Elaine Howle’s office said of the large applicant pool, nearly 6,000 were tentatively eligible.
News
Few people know that there are federal safety limits for exposure to the weak radiation emitted by cellphones and other wireless devices. There often is language about this embedded right in our phones, but finding it requires knowing where to look, wading through sometimes five or more steps and then making sense of the technical jargon.
News
A federal judge has ordered a conference in the case of a driver who got a $200 ticket for turning right at a stop light in suburban Sacramento. The motorist filed a federal complaint against the Department of Motor Vehicles, the California Judicial Council and the Sacramento County Superior Court, saying he is one of millions of people who had their licenses suspended because they couldn’t afford costs and administrative fees.
News
Calpensions: The state Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that allows cuts in the pensions earned by current state and local government workers, including judges. When judges have an obvious conflict of interest and excuse themselves from ruling on a case, the legal term is “recuse.” But the seven Supreme Court justices seem unlikely to recuse themselves from a possible landmark ruling on this Marin County pension case.
News
Ron Briggs was always an ardent supporter of the death penalty. His father John Briggs, former state assemblyman and senator, was a driving force behind a 1978 initiative that expanded the list of special circumstances required for a death sentence. But today, Ron Briggs is one the biggest opponents of capital punishment. He campaigned for Proposition 62, which would have ended the state’s death penalty and was rejected by voters this month.
News
At least three lawsuits have been filed seeking to overturn California’s new law that prevents children from attending public or private school or day care without getting mandatory vaccinations.
California law, image by Vitalii Vodolazskyi
