Nothing ever really dies in the Capitol, so reports of the death of Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones' attempt to expand his health care regulatory powers may be greatly exagerated. Or not.
From Capitol Weekly's Greg Lucas: "A measure granting state regulators more control over the rates health care plans charge has stalled in the Senate, ending its chances for passage this year. It’s the second high-profile Assembly bill in as many days to be blocked by the upper house. Assembly Speaker John Pérez’s measure to unincorporate the City of Vernon was defeated Aug. 29."
"That’s how things go in the hurly-burly, up-and-down, back-and-forth of the final days of the Legislature’s annual session, which, this year, ends Sept. 9."
"Benign, non-controversial bills are gutted, replaced with vehicles to accomplish the end of some interest group or lawmaker who knows that the sole chance for passage is avoiding the scrutiny of the normal legislative process. Hundreds of bills are approved in a matter of hours. Tempers fray. Decorum fades..."
"Feuer’s health care regulation measure would allow the state Insurance Commissioner and Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates health maintenance organizations, to deny, approve or modify rate increases sought by health care providers."
Amazon, the online retailer that is trying to derail California's new law requiring online sellers to collect sales taxes, has come up with a proposal: Amazone will hire 1,000 workers and open distribution centers in the Golden State, if the state backs away from trying to force Amazon from imposing the tax on California purchases. By the way, a spokesman for Gov. Brown, who needs at least $200 million of revenues from the Internet sales tax to balance his budget, could not be reached for comment.
From the LA Times' Marc Lifsher: "The proposal was made in the form of draft legislation at a meeting Tuesday night between Amazon lobbyists and representatives of companies that belong to the California Retailers Assn."
"Backers of California's effort to collect about $300 million a year in unpaid taxes on Internet sales dismissed the Amazon compromise as a ploy. "It's a totally cynical maneuver that's part of their game that they try to play in every state that keeps them from getting the sales tax," said Lenny Goldberg, a legislative advocate for the California Tax Reform Assn."
"According to an informal memo based on a description of the deal by an Amazon lobbying firm, Greenberg Taurig, Amazon wants the state Legislature to repeal a law that took effect on July 1. The statute requires Amazon and other out-of-state Internet sellers to collect California sales taxes...."
Environmentalists have challenged the city's long-standing soil-erosion policy along San Francisco's Great Highway in which rocks, cement debris and other material has been dumped along the beach. A lawsuit was filed Aug. 9, reports Capitol Weekly's John Howard.
"The lawsuit filed by the California Coastal Protection Network says the city pushed the debris onto the water’s edge without permission from the California Coastal Commission. In July, the commission unanimously voted to reject San Francisco’s request to continue the practice."
"In one respect, that July 12 decision was unusual – the 12-member panel and San Francisco rarely are at loggerheads. It also was unusual because the commission rejected the recommendations of its own staff, who said the commission should continue negotiations with the city over the issue."
“All this came to a head when the city came to the Coastal Commission after all these years and asked to be allowed to leave the debris in place,” said Mark Massara, an environmental attorney and coastal protections advocate who is taking a lead role in the lawsuit. “The Coastal Commission blew its top, said it was unacceptable, and unanimously denied the application.”
Meanwhile, UC law professor Goodwin Liu has been confirmed as a justice of the state Surpreme Court. Liu, who has no judicial experience, was Gov. Brown's choice to fill a vacancy left by Carlos Moreno.
From the Chronicle's Bob Egelko: "Liu will be sworn in to office by Brown today and join the court in time for Tuesday's critical hearing on Proposition 8, the 2008 initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage in California. The justices will consider whether California law allows the measure's sponsors to represent the interests of the state and its voters in appealing a federal judge's decision that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional…."
"Attorney Holly Fujie, one of nine State Bar presidents who endorsed Liu, pored through his academic writings looking for any signs of the one-sidedness that his Senate opponents had described. "I found no bias, just thousands of pages of brilliant prose," she said."
"Liu becomes the Supreme Court's first justice without previous judicial experience since Frank Newman, another UC Berkeley professor appointed by Brown during his first stint as governor in 1977."
And now from our "Hey, How 'Bout Those Crazy Germans?" file, comes the tale of Deutscher bureaucrats who are installing meters so they can levy taxes on the hookers of Bonn. Would this work in California?
"The German city of Bonn has installed a meter to tax prostitutes for soliciting on its streets at a rate of six euros (£5.30; $8.70) per night."
"Those who fail to pay face fines or even a ban, and 264 euros were found in the meter when it was first emptied, according to AFP news agency."
"Tax has been levied on prostitutes elsewhere but Bonn is the first city to use a meter, a spokeswoman said. But a prostitutes' rights activist said the scheme amounted to double taxation."
"The machine, which looks like an ordinary parking meter, has been installed in an industrial area near the city centre which is favoured by prostitutes and their clients."
Doesn't take American Express, though...