It's been on the drawing boards for two decades and always rejected, but it became a reality Thursday when Gov. Brown signed into law a measure allowing driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants.
From the LA Daily News' Rick Orlov: "With a crowd of supporters chanting, “Sí, se pudo” and references to this moment in history, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. on Thursday signed into law a measure 20 years in the making to provide undocumented immigrants with driver’s licenses."
“California is a dream, and while our critics and adversaries talk about California as some kind of failed state, they don’t understand us,” Brown said. “Particularly when you look at the failures in Washington and the dysfunctionality we see."
"Brown held two ceremonies to sign AB 60 on Thursday — first on the South Lawn of Los Angeles City Hall and later at Fresno City College in the Central Valley."
The governor also signed into law a bill requiring government investigators to give journalists a heads up before seizing their telephone records.
From the Chronicle's Bob Egelko: "SB558 by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance (Los Angeles County), will require five days’ notice to a journalist or news organization before police or anyone else issues a subpoena for media records held by a third party, such as a phone company. Notice would not be required if it would endanger someone’s life or scuttle an ongoing investigation."
"The California Newspaper Publishers Association sponsored the bill after revelations that the Justice Department had subpoenaed two months of AP phone records last year without notice to the news organization to try to track the source of a news story about the thwarting of an alleged bomb plot. The government used the records to track down an FBI bomb technician who pleaded guilty to disclosing the information."
"California, unlike the federal government, has a shield law that protects journalists from being jailed for refusing to disclose confidential sources. But the law doesn’t cover seizures of phone records that police could use to uncover a reporter’s source."
If all politics is local, then San Bernardino has its fill -- recall, bankruptcy, an angry ctizenry, just to name a few.
From Capitol Weekly's Samantha Gallegos: "The city not only is facing controversy surrounding its bankruptcy and payments to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, but voters could also sweep their city representation clean in a recall election this November."
"Eight candidates are angling for the scalps of four city officials facing recall elections. But other incumbents don’t even want to seek re-election, in part because the electorate appears so enflamed."
"Political infighting and the city’s financial, crime and unemployment issues led one group of business owners and residents to form a political action committee, soon after the city filed for bankruptcy last year. The downward fiscal spiral stemmed in part from obligations to fund pensions and retirees’ health care. The city missed $13 million in payments to CalPERS and has a $45.8 million budget shortfall."
The quality of the roads in the LA area is the worst in the country, according to a new study -- a finding that doesn't surprise anyone who drives them regularly.
From the LAT's Laura J. Nelson: "The roads in greater Los Angeles are the most deteriorated in the United States, which costs Southern California drivers more than $800 a year, according to a national transportation analysis released Thursday."
"Los Angeles-Santa Ana-Long Beach ranks first among cities with more than 500,000 residents for the percentage of roads in poor condition, according to TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that studies transportation data and issues. According to the study, about 64% of roads in greater Los Angeles are in poor condition."
"Potholes and rough pavement cost local drivers about $832 a year, TRIP said. The estimate includes the cost of repairs, tune-ups and tires, as well as faster depreciation of vehicles. The average urban driver pays $377 annually, according to the study. The nationwide cost of driving on deteriorated roads was $80 billion."
The governor has approved legislation aimed at reducing the role of police in school discipline cases, an action that followed the feds' decision to provide more cops for schools.
From EdSource's Jane Meredith Adams: "A new law that encourages alternatives to police involvement in school discipline matters was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown this week, just days after the U.S. Department of Justice awarded $44 million to beef up the number of police officers in schools nationwide, including California."
"The two approaches to school safety – one encouraging behavioral interventions and conflict resolution practices and the other focusing on increasing police presence – encapsulate the debate about how to keep students safe from harm. The state measure, Assembly Bill 549, which was signed Monday, was designed to offset the impact of a post-Newtown push for police presence in schools, as reflected in the Justice Department grants, said Rubén Lizardo, deputy director of the Oakland-based nonprofit research and advocacy organization PolicyLink, which co-sponsored the bill."
“In the context of what was happening with the escalation of high-profile school violence, we knew at that at the federal and state levels there’d be a rush to a strategy of locking down schools,” Lizardo said."
