A homeless man sits on a bench just steps from the state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: christianthiel.net, via Shutterstock)Three days after a deadly mass shooting downtown, the Sacramento City Council voted 7-2 to place a homeless measure on the November ballot. If voters approve the Emergency Homeless Shelter and Enforcement Act of 2022, could it be a statewide template?
The state Capitol in Sacramento, home of the Senate and Assembly. (Photo: Kit Leong, via Shutterstock)One way to help figure out the legislative intent behind a particular measure is a letter written by the bill’s author that is published in the Assembly Daily Journal or the Senate Daily Journal.
An illustration of voters preparing their ballots for mailing. (Image: Lightspring, via Shutterstock)A recent dustup with the California Republican Party using unofficial dropboxes as a version of so-called “ballot harvesting” has brought the state’s ballot delivery process under a national spotlight. Much of this controversy can be attributed to the misleading way in which the law has been interpreted, most commonly by people who are trying to conjure up scandal and supposed misdeeds by campaigns that organize such efforts and win.
Presidential contender Elizabeth Warren at a town hall meeting in San Diego. (Photo: Jeffrey Allan Photography, via Shutterstock)Capitol Weekly’s October Democratic primary tracking survey shows Elizabeth Warren continuing to storm the field with another 7-point gain, putting her at 35% and a healthy 14-points ahead of her nearest rival, Vice President Joe Biden. Biden has risen since September by 3-points despite the massive national controversy around Ukraine and President Trump’s accusations regarding his son.
Lines delivering energy and communications along a rural stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. (Photo: Lux Blue, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California is a national leader in clean energy. Contrary to the perspective of advocates for Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), the question before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Sept. 27 is not whether our state will continue to lead the nation in renewable energy, but whether all customers will contribute equitably to the costs of those investments and to system-wide electric reliability.
Dear Editor: I respectfully disagree with Paul Mitchell’s opinion in the April 24, 2018, Capitol Weekly article,“CA120: Political intrigue: BOE’s redistricting and the gas tax.” My vote against raising the gas tax was a matter of policy, not politics.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo SchnepfDesign, via Shutterstock)Clearly, Washington, D.C., and Sacramento share many things in common — including such negatives as a hyper-heated political culture, insularity and a pervasive sense of entitlement. And California’s Legislature is obviously based upon the federal legislative model. Nonetheless, their legislative rules are different, so let’s take a look at some of the major distinctions.
Republican candidates for governor -- Doug Ose, left, John Cox, center, and Travis Allen. (Illustration: Tim Foster)The Republican side of the governor’s race has become an interesting contest to watch because, if for no other reason, of the way these candidates are trying to differentiate themselves before the June primary election. A debate in San Francisco led moderator John Diaz from the Chronicle to exclaim “This is the first time in San Francisco I have heard an argument among people about who most supports Donald Trump!”
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: N.F. Photography) ANALYSIS: Influencing legislation is a complicated business. There is no high-tech computer model that can predict whether a bill introduced in the California Legislature will become a law and, if so, the form it will take. However, there are many, knowable influences that regularly shape state legislation in California.
Hillary Clinton at a January 2016 rally in San Gabriel. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)Throughout the 2016 election cycle, Capitol Weekly conducted several polls of California voters. Two surveys — one during the primary election and the other during the general — targeted voters immediately after they mailed in their ballots. More than 80,000 people responded to the surveys.