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Are those moving vans coming early to the Capitol? Looks like we might be getting an earlier handoff of the Speaker's gavel than we had earier anticipated. Capitol bookmakers are now looking at May 12 as a likely handoff date to install Karen Bass as speaker. That's just two days before the May revise. By that time, we're all going to be ready for a good party…We recently dropped by to say hello to the speaker-elect, but were overcome in the hallway from the overwhelming aroma of movie theater popcorn. Sure enough, inside the now-Majority-Leader's office, there is an olde-tyme popcorn machine emanating a powerful waft of popcorn. The noble and strong-snouted staff in Bass's office seemed unperturbed by the smell. Later that same day on our Capitol rounds, we dropped in to see Anthony Portantino, but were hit again with the same smell. And inside was the same popcorn machine! What gives? Turns out the popcorn machine was a gift from Portantino, a speakership also-ran, to Bass upon her election. Portantino liked the gift so much, that he apparently got one for himself! … Speaking of getting one, Carole Migden may not have gotten her party's political endorsement, but she did get a key vote of confidence this week from the state's largest labor organization. The California Federation of Labor opted to back Migden in her three-way battle royal with Joe Nation and Mark Leno. But the Leno campaign invites voters to check out Facebook, where their candidate has the most friends by a wide margin, for whatever that's worth….And last but not least, every legislator's favorite state commission is set to meet later this month. The California Citizens Compensation Commission is gathering in Los Angeles on April 22 to "vote on pay and benefit increases, if any, for California state legislators and constitutional officials."

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