Posts Tagged: lara

Steve Poizner seeks old job, drops GOP label

Photo of candidate Steve Poizner from his official website

by LISA RENNER posted 05.25.2018

The first person to hold statewide office in California without aligning with a political party could be Steve Poizner. He is vying for the seat left open by Dave Jones, who is running for state attorney general. Poizner’s main opponents are Democrats Sen. Ricardo Lara and physician Asif Mahmood. The Department of Insurance has more than 1,300 employees and a $250 million budget. It oversees the state’s $300 billion insurance market, the largest in the country.

State senator ordered off floor

State Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Garden Grove. (Photo: Screen capture, California Channel)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 02.23.2017

In a remarkable confrontation, a Republican state senator of Vietnamese descent was hustled off the Senate floor Thursday, after majority Democrats said she was out of order for trying to make disparaging comments about the late political activist Tom Hayden.

The attack of the super-pollutants

A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)

by BILL MAGAVERN posted 06.01.2016

OPINION: As Hollywood brings a new crop of super-hero movies to our theaters, state policymakers are considering action against a group of particularly nefarious villains known as “super-pollutants.” These contaminants, including black carbon and methane, are both rapidly warming our planet and also damaging human health.

Also known as the Health for All Act, the legislation aims to provide access to health care coverage to undocumented individuals who are not covered under the Affordable Care Act. SB 4 would expand Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented individuals and create a private insurance exchange option for those with higher incomes.

A ghost of Prop. 46 eyed in the Capitol

A jumble of prescription drugs. (Photo illustration via Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 03.04.2015

California voters, confronted by a multimillion-dollar advertising blitz, overwhelmingly rejected Proposition 46, which would have raised the cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. But new legislation in the Capitol targets a slice of Proposition 46 dealing with the state’s prescription drug database. And rival forces that clashed over Proposition 46 are poised to do battle again.

Hospitals see ‘chilling effect’ in A.G.’s power over mergers

LInda Vista Community Hospital in Los Angeles, formerly Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital. (Photo: Downtowngal, Wikimedia)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 09.15.2014

State Attorney General Kamala Harris wants unprecedented authority over contracts dealing with nonprofit hospitals, after a deal in Southern California caused abortion-rights activists to cry foul. On the governor’s desk is a bill that would give the attorney general’s office more time, from 60 to 90 days, to review such deals.

As California’s cap and trade auction moves forward, ethical people of all viewpoints should be able to agree that citizens deserve an open and transparent process.  Assemblywoman Shannon Grove and Senator Ricardo Lara have introduced important accountability measures, AB 245 and SB 726 respectively, that would place the cap and trade auction back in the

Ricardo Lara is viewed in the Capitol as something of a rising star — a trajectory that ironically was helped by the still-unfolding scandals involving the city of Bell, which is in his district.

During his first and only term in the Assembly, he was named chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, an