As Anthony Rendon eyes the Speaker seat, a term limit change to the prestigious position could mean a shift in power in Sacramento.
Katie Orr reports in KQED: "The California Assembly will swear in a new speaker today. Changes to term limit rules mean Los Angeles Democrat Anthony Rendon could be in the job for nearly a decade. And that could shift the balance of power in Sacramento."
"Before running for office, Anthony Rendon used to teach political science."
"“And I used to always tell my students that every government has an executive branch. Only democracies have a legislature,” he says."
Speaking of Rendon's election... the AP has provided a small analysis of his history and what his election could mean for the state's future.
AP's Allison Noon reports: "A Los Angeles-area Democrat who was chosen by his colleagues six months ago to lead the California Legislature's lower chamber will take office this week."
"Assemblyman Anthony Rendon of Lakewood will be sworn in as the state's 70th speaker on Monday to lead a chamber of 51 Democrats and 28 Republicans."
"Rendon, 48, was elected under extended term limits voters approved in 2012 and could remain in office until 2024. If he hangs on to his leadership post, that could make him the longest-serving speaker since the era without term limits, which voters first approved in 1990."
Like David and Goliath, California's Legislature took to battle the political giant that is modern Tobacco last week in an effort to manipulate cigarette tax.
LAT'S George Skelton writes: "The Legislature showed some guts last week in standing up to the tobacco lobby and its political money."
"It could have shown more, however, by mustering the courage to raise taxes on cigarettes, cigars and chewing crud."
"California's tobacco tax is among the lowest in the nation and hasn't been hiked since 1998 — and then only by the voters, not the weak-kneed legislators."
Sacramento is now supporting FBI in the iPhone privacy legal dispute, hoping to gain access to the private information stored on cellphones in evidence lockers across the city.
From the Bee's Hudson Sangree: "Murderers use them, as do drug dealers and those who trade in child porn."
"Sacramento-area law enforcement agencies are sitting on scores of powerfully encrypted iPhones they can’t mine for information on a variety of crimes. They’re closely watching the fight between Apple and the FBI over the government’s demand for help hacking into San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook’s phone."
"The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, to name just one agency, has 88 iPhones in its property warehouse that have recent operating systems similar to Farook’s and block access to needed evidence, sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Tony Turnbull said last week."
As Trump's opponents devise a plan to prevent him from receiving his party's nomination, California will play a critical role.
From Mathew Artz in the Mercury News: "Unable once again to turn Donald Trump into "a loser," Republican leaders are girding for a long, desperate and possibly futile fight to deny the brash New Yorker enough delegates to claim the party's nomination."
"And that could easily make delegate-rich California a key battleground -- where residents would be bombarded with political ads and robocalls, à la Iowa and New Hampshire, before the June 7 primary."
"Trump's victories in seven of the 11 Super Tuesday nominating contests weren't as impressive as originally predicted. But they left him in a commanding position -- well ahead of a fractured field, with his top rivals still refusing to rally behind a single champion."
America's worst gas leak in history may mar Governor Brown's legacy after he leaves office.
"In his final term as California’s governor, Jerry Brown has made the battle against climate change a signature issue: He is fighting to vastly reduce the state’s emissions of greenhouse gases, to accelerate the move to electric cars and to rewire the state’s electrical grid. In December, he had a star turn with world leaders at the United Nations climate change conference in Paris."
"But despite all his efforts, California’s emissions rose modestly over the first three years after he took office in 2011, the last years for which data is available. The latest blow came from Porter Ranch, a Los Angeles suburb where a breach at an underground natural-gas storage site in October released 107,000 tons of climate-changing methane and ethane — the largest such leak in terms of climate impact in American history — before it was capped late last month."