Image by Marcelo Fabian MollarettiIt’s all over now but the shouting – Gov. Gavin Newsom has acted on all the massive number of bills sent his law by lawmakers this session. From AI to zero emissions, by now everyone knows the fate of their pet bills(s), and has weighed in accordingly.
Dana Cruz. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyAt 32 years old, Capitol Weekly Rising Star Dana Cruz has already served in the military, passed the California Bar Exam, and worked in all three branches of California State Government.
Image by zimmytws via istockWhen the California Chamber of Commerce added Sen. Steve Glazer’s SB 1327 – a proposal to tax revenue from the sale of digital advertising as a way to help fund local newsrooms – to its annual list of “Job Killer” bills on May 7th, the measure became only the 14th this year to receive the designation. If that number doesn’t change, it would mark the fewest number of bills to receive the moniker since 2001, when only 12 bills were on the list.
A beach in Carlsbad, San Diego County, which has the nation's largest desalination plant. (Photo: Sherry V Smith, via Shutterstock)Here we are again: California is enduring another punishing drought, this one only a few years after the last one ended, which was the most severe drought in the state’s nearly 500 years of recorded history. Low winter snowpack combined with scorching summer temperatures and the driest winter months in 100 years have severely impacted the state’s water supply. Lake Oroville, an important reservoir in Butte County, had sunk to 49% of capacity by July 1
The scene at the Last Kind Words Saloon in Furnace Creek, in Death Valley. (Photo: Thomas Trumpeter, via Shutterstock)Jerry Brown said the bill would cause “mayhem” and vetoed it, now its author has another plan to extend bar closing hours from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. – this time limiting it to cities that already want it. “There is no mayhem,” Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said of Brown’s memorable phrase. “That was our grumpy governor. And I love him to death, but he was wrong about this.”
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, serving as governor while Gov. Newsom is out of the state, signed a law to extend eviction protections to renters. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)When the vacationing Gov. Gavin Newsom returned to California this week, it marked an end to a remarkable two-week period in the state’s history — the Golden State had been run by a woman. That woman is Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, and she became the first woman in the state’s 171-year history to sign a bill into law — a remarkable fact, given the state’s track record in recent decades of electing women to high office, including constitutional offices, Congress and the U.S. Senate.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has proposed state health care for undocumented immigrants, at a press conference in Paramount on Jan. 22. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)California could soon be seeing an unprecedented overhaul of its state health care system — but only if the politics and money come together. Two proposals are making the rounds at the Capitol which, if approved, would greatly expand eligibility for publicly funded health insurance.
Lorena Gonzalez in the Assembly shortly after her 2013 election. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP)Lorena Gonzalez, the San Diego-area Assemblywoman who successfully pushed landmark legislation to reclassify many California independent contractors as employees, is leaving the Capitol to run the California Labor Federation. Gonzalez, 50, will become the group’s executive officer when the current leader, long-time chief Art Pulaski, retires this summer after serving 25 years as the top executive.
Paul Gann, center, author of the 1979 initiative governing excess tax revenue, and Howard Jarvis celebrate the passage of Proposition 13. (Photo, June 1978/ AP file)OPINION: Let’s not confuse Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to provide $12 billion in new stimulus checks with the state’s constitutional mandate to return excess revenues to taxpayers. That seems to be the goal of those who believe taxpayer refunds are a bad idea and are looking for ways to keep a greater part of the newly announced state surplus to spend.
A board of directors considers a financial report from the chief strategy officer. (Photo: Gorodenkoff, via Shutterstock)Amid growing calls for women on corporate boards, and headlines about corporate wrongdoing like the sexual harassment scandals at Google, California’s 662 publicly traded companies have added 669 women to their boards in the past two years. This sea change is driven by California Senate Bill 826, which took effect in 2019.