Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Photo: Rendon's Twitter feed.)Timing is crucial in politics, and the battle over the Assembly speakership is no exception. The clock is ticking. If Rendon continues through the end of the current two-year session, then any change in the speakership will be decided in the next session, following the November elections, when all 80 Assembly seats are up for election.
Assemblyman Robert Rivas, left, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Images: State Assembly and video screen capture, YouTube)Assemblymember Robert Rivas, a Salinas Democrat who grew up in a farm worker family, moved Friday to capture the Assembly speakership. A formal transfer of authority may come as early as next week. He told Rendon that “I have the votes,” adding that he hoped for an “orderly transition.”
A dermonstrator at a Sacramento rally against sexual misconduct. (Photo: Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly)Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, a first-term lawmaker, is among the most prominent figures in the California Capitol working to combat sexual harassment. She’s not only become the Legislature’s de facto point person on sexual misconduct, but also responsible for reshaping the current harassment-reporting process that many say has failed victims.
Santa's sleigh zips past the state Capitol. The holiday season is now well under way. Christmas carols are taking over every extant means of mass communication and there’s so much goodwill around the squirrels in Capitol Park have quit chasing each other across the lawn. In the spirit of peace and love, then, we bring forth our First Annual Gift List for California political types.
RoseAnn DeMoro of the California Nurses ASssociation and National Nurses United, speaks to reporters outside Gov. Brown's office.(File Photo, 2014: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)Amid an increasingly partisan and uncertain political climate, RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, isn’t afraid to call out politicians on both sides of the aisle.“We’re doing the exact opposite agenda of the Democrats who are just about Trump,” DeMoro said.
Downtown Los Angeles seen through the smog. (Photo: Justin Dennis, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Millions of Californians suffered from smog and smoke this summer, but help is on the way. Defying the expectations of many observers and the fierce opposition of the oil industry, the Legislature passed a historic climate protection package in August.
A stealth move to rewrite state law to allow the newly elected Long Beach mayor to hold a seat on the California Coastal Commission has emerged in the final days of the legislative session.
Gov. Brown said today that California, facing an unprecedented drought, needs to “make investments in safe drinking water” and that “recycling, expanded storage and serious groundwater management must all be part of the mix.” The governor did not endorse the $11.14 billion water infrastructure bond on the November ballot, but he did call for investment in water projects similar to those included in the bond. That bond currently is under review in the Legislature with rival proposals to reduce it to $6.5 billion or less.
An aerial view of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.The ink was barely dry on the governor’s budget before new legislation emerged in the Legislature to rewrite a multibillion-dollar water bond on the November ballot. Sen. Lois Wolk introduced SB 848 on Jan. 9, which would ask voters for permission to borrow some $6.475 billion for an array of water projects. Two days earlier, Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, offered amendments to his $6.5 billion water bond, AB 1331. (Above: Aerial view of the Delta. Photo: worldislandinfo.com),