Image by Sebastian DudaOccasionally I have been asked whether the Legislature’s adopted rules – the Assembly Rules, Senate Rules, and Joint Rules – have equal standing as legislative process rules found in the California Constitution. This question is particularly relevant because these three sets of legislative rules flow from a specific grant of authority in the state Constitution.
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)Practical tips for those working with the staff of the policy and fiscal committees in the California Legislature.
Keys on a computer representing the state of California. (Image: Per Bengtsson, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Over the past two years, California’s grocer community has overcome supply chain complications, unprecedented demand, and workforce challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now contending with record inflation, the last thing grocers and their customers need are unintended consequences from the state’s new online privacy regulations, which pose a threat to how consumers access savings opportunities and e-commerce shopping tools like curbside pick-up and delivery.
A crowd at the Santa Monica pier during the height of the pandemic. Some people wear masks, some don't.(Photo: Hanson L, via Shutterstock)To mask or not to mask? That is the question — and there are a lot of answers. California on March 1 lifted its rule requiring unvaccinated people to wear masks in most indoor settings, but still strongly recommended that everyone wear masks indoors while in public. After fully two years of self-imposed isolation and masking, many people were delighted with the move.
Illustration of a perspn getting mortgage information online. (Image: Rawpixel.com, via Shutterstock)OPINION: When Californians think about home mortgages, we typically think of banks. But the top three mortgage lenders in California aren’t banks, they’re financial technology or “fintech” lenders. Typically known as nonbanks, they generally operate online only, have no branches and take no deposits.
College students working jointly on a project. (Photo: Prostock-studio, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Earlier this month, the nation’s largest system of higher education, the California Community Colleges, reported that it had met a key goal of increasing by 20 percent the number of students who earn college credentials. While this is impressive, there is more work ahead to meet the remaining goals that are focused on closing achievement gaps for students of color and for students living in poorer regions of the state.
A voter signs a petition to place a measure on the statewide ballot. (Photo: Svineyard, via Shutterstock)It’s never easy to get initiatives qualified for the ballot, but this year of the COVID-19 pandemic is the worst ever. Organizations busily trying to get enough signatures to qualify their measure of choice had their efforts abruptly halted two weeks ago because of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s sweeping stay-at-home order.
(Vintage engraving of a donkey, modified by Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)As we barrel toward the March 3 primary election, most eyes are on national and statewide polls showing a tight contest between four top contenders, with the latest Capitol Weekly polling showing Senator Bernie Sanders with a slight lead over Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vice President Joe Biden, followed by Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of Southbend, Ind.
An indoor marijuana grow in California. (Photo: Mitch M., via Shutterstock)OPINION: No one expected California’s legalization of recreational cannabis, barely two months’ old, to be without plenty of problems. In a mixed metaphor so often the trait of politicians, state Sen. Mike McGuire noted, “… as I have always said, this is a tall mountain to climb and we are currently building the airplane and flying it at the same time.”
A roll call begins on a bill in the Assembly. (Photo: Anna Frazier)Friday, June 2 represented the Legislature’s house-of-origin deadline. To stay alive, Assembly bills were required to have passed out of the Assembly and Senate bills had to have been passed out of the Senate. During Assembly floor debate, the issue was repeatedly raised whether the Assembly had properly complied with the provisions of Proposition 54, which California voters approved in November as a transparency measure.