Brown Budget 2011: State Officials React
A rather random selection of reaction to Gov. Brown's 2011-2012 budget, which calls for an additional $12.5 billion in budget cuts and a five-year extension of "temporary" sales and income taxes...
View ArticleDarrell Steinberg on Budget Negotiations: "I'm Prepared to Pull the Plug"...
According to the Sacramento Bee, one measure of progress in the budget negotiations is the Darrell Steinberg moodmeter. If so, we may be in trouble. The Democratic Senate President Pro Tem talked to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Morning Splash: State Dems Threaten Cuts in GOP Districts; New Poll on Brown...
Democrats threaten to target cuts in GOP legislators' districts (Sacramento Bee) With no agreement in sight on how to close the state's remaining $15.4 billion deficit, some Democrats are discussing...
View ArticleAudio: Darrell Steinberg on the Idea of Targeting Additonal Cuts to GOP...
KQED's John Myers recorded Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's comments yesterday on Treasurer Bill Lockyer's suggestion, made in front of the Bay Area News Group's editorial board, that any additional...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Democratic Bill Would Let Locals Tax Themselves
More government services in the Bay Area? Fewer in the Inland Empire? You'd be forgiven if you think that's a rehash of last week's debate over budget cuts targeted at GOP communities. But it could...
View ArticleVideo: Steinberg, Perez Press Conference Slamming Brown Veto
Fans of Democrat-on-Democrat verbal sniping take note: Here's the video of yesterday's extraordinary joint press conference by Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez...
View ArticleBrown, Dem Leadership Announce Budget Deal; Rosier Projections, Potential...
After a serious failure to communicate, the Dems appear to all be singing from the same prayer book now. To balance the budget, Darrell Steinberg, John Perez and the Guv have announced a deal that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Education Funding Fight Leads To First Budget Rift
Gov. Jerry Brown is framing it as an epic battle, while Senate Democrats say it’s more like a polite disagreement between friends. Gov. Jerry Brown defends his education funding plan at a Capitol press...
View ArticleClik here to view.
California Senate OKs Regulations for Medicinal Marijuana
by Don Thompson, Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California would take steps to regulate the sale of medical marijuana under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate, restricting cannabis...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Budget Deal Reflects Unfamiliar Problem: How to Spend a Surplus
It’s certainly easier to reach an agreement when you’re negotiating how to spend extra money rather than where to cut funding. A full five days before the June 15 deadline for passing a state budget,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
L.A. Lawmaker Hangs On to Senate Seat, for Now, Despite Conviction
State Capitol, Sacramento (David Paul Morris/Getty Images). It’s been more than a week and a half since state Sen. Roderick Wright was convicted on eight felony counts for living outside the district...
View ArticleClik here to view.
State Senate Votes to Suspend Yee, Calderon and Wright
State Sens. Ron Calderon (L) and Leland Yee. (Manny Crisostomo/Getty Images and Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) David Marks and Scott Detrow Update 5:00 pm Friday: Gov. Jerry Brown is calling on Sens....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four in 10 California Lawmakers Get Outside Income
(Craig Miller/KQED) Last year, state Sen. Ed Hernandez authored a series of bills making it possible for California optometrists, pharmacists and nurse-practitioners to expand the range of medical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who is Denied the Right to Bear Arms in California?
Are California gun laws strict enough? Or are there already too many restrictions? (Joe Klamar/AFP-Getty Images) Last week’s shootings in Isla Vista have once again rekindled the debate over gun...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Ethics Rules: Heal Thyself, State Senate?
State Capitol, Sacramento (David Paul Morris/Getty Images). Three state senators in exile. Three explosive allegations of political wrongdoing. And now, three new rules that leaders of the state Senate...
View ArticleClik here to view.
California Lawmakers Approve $156 Billion Budget
State Capitol, Sacramento (David Paul Morris/Getty Images). California lawmakers have approved a $156 billion state budget that delivers a much-needed cash infusion to high-speed rail, guarantees...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Water Bond Grows By $4 Billion, Fails To Pass State Senate
A bond measure that failed in the state Senate would have provided more than $1 billion for projects in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. (Dan Brekke/KQED) The state Senate failed to pass one of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Officials Return From Central America Trip Focused on Child Immigration
Two young girls sit in a holding area, where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children are being processed and held at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center....
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Law Brings Big Changes to California’s Initiative Process
A voter scans her ballot in San Francisco on Nov. 6, 2012. (Aarti Shahani/KQED) Public opinion polls have time and again made two things clear about California’s system of allowing citizens to write...
View ArticleVideo: Steinberg, Perez Press Conference Slamming Brown Veto
Fans of Democrat-on-Democrat verbal sniping take note: Here’s the video of yesterday’s extraordinary joint press conference by Sen. President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez...
View Article
