Can the Capitol’s Existing Hearing Rooms Handle the Capacity?

Assembly Speaker John Perez announced the membership of the lower house’s committees on January 3.

The smallest number of members in a committee is seven. The largest is the Budget Committee at 27 members. 

There are 19 members on the Health Committee, which will cope with implement of the Affordable Care Act, slated to take full effect in 2014.    Read more »

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Who GIves a F*CK About “Hope” Anyway?

The card at left and below adorned the tables at a December 14 Birthday Party for California Democratic Party Chair John Burton, who turned 80 the following day. Burton, former president pro tempore of the state Senate and longtime San Francisco Assemblyman, expressed gratitude and a measure of surprise at reaching the milestone.     Read more »

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First Assembly Constitutional Amendment of the New Legislative Session a Non-Starter

The first constitutional amendment in the Assembly introduced in the two-year legislative session that began December 3 won’t be appearing on the state ballot.

First, a two-thirds vote is required to place it on the ballot. That’s great if the author were a Democrat who hold super-majorities in both the Assembly and the Senate and, should they wish to, can palce anything they want before voters without a single GOP vote.    Read more »

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A New Legislature Begins Work

California’s 120 legislators were sworn in December 3 for the two-year session that runs through 2014. Both houses have “super-majorities” of Democrats meaning there are enough Democratic votes to pass taxes or place constitutional amendments on the ballot without the need to compromise with Republicans to win the necessary votes.

While not a stampede, several Democrats are introducing constitutional amendments that lower the approval threshold for local taxes and bonds.    Read more »

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Mike Kahl, Influential and Respected Sacramento Lobbyist, Dead at 71

Mike Kahl, one of Sacramento’s most effective and influential lobbyists for more than a quarter century died November 18 of Parkinson’s disease. He was 71.

Principled, strategic and tenacious, Kahl and his partner Fred Pownall, built one of the most respected and one of the biggest grossing lobbying firms in Sacramento, representing the oil industry, water districts, and timber concerns, among many other clients.    Read more »

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Not Every Veto Message a Gem

Gov. Jerry Brown writes and edits all his veto messages. That’s what Brown insists, a statement echoed by his staff.

His veto messages are invariably forthright, sometimes trenchant and often droll but, like anyone, there are a few arid patches where the mojo just ain’t risin’, to quote famed political analyst Jim Morrison.    Read more »

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California’s Children Still Only Have Two Parents

Among Gov. Jerry Brown’s vetoes during September was a bill that would have allowed California children to have more than two legal parents. 

Backers of the bill – SB 1476 by Sen. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat – said it fixed a quirk in the law that prevents a previous custodial or biological parent from taking care of a child if the two current parents are incapable.    Read more »

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Jerry Brown Not Saying “No” To New Laws As Much as Other Modern Governors

Among the many useful activities conducted on behalf of the people of California by the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance is its annual report, How Often Do Governors Say No?

Some more than others is the short answer.

Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a lower percentage of bills in 2012 – 12 percent — than the 14 percent he vetoed in 2011, the committee determined.    Read more »

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No More Counseling for Minors Aimed at Changing Them From Homosexual to Heterosexual

California is the first state in the nation to ban minors from receiving what’s known as conversion or reparative therapy, which is aimed at converting homosexuals to heterosexuals.

The bill — SB 1172 by Sen. Ted Lieu, a Torrance Democrat — received plenty of media attention after President Obama’s statement in May that same-sex couples should be able to marry.    Read more »

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Gov. Brown Nips Absentee Florists in the Bud

It will be harder for florists to misrepresent the location of their business under legislation signed September 27 by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Four previous bills in 13 years had attempted to prevent call centers, potentially located hundreds or thousands of miles away, from using a local city or neighborhood in their name and duping consumers into believing they are patronizing a “local” florist.    Read more »

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