An elevated ranking to the eighth-largest economy in the world is evidence of California’s comeback story.
Dale Kasler reports in the Sacramento Bee: “California’s 2013 results were boosted in part by a revision in how state gross domestic products are calculated. For the first time, business spending on intellectual property, including entertainment, was included in the statistics. As a result, California’s economic output now includes the huge sums spent on making software, movies and so on.”
““We have Hollywood, we have Silicon Valley,” said Irena Asmundson, chief economist at the state Department of Finance. “This number does reflect the strength of the California economy a little better.””
It could take months for a recount in the state controllers race, and it’s unclear whether former Assembly Speaker John Pérez has the cash on hand.
Carla Marinucci reports for the San Francisco Chronicle: “Pérez's campaign has requested the recount start with Kern and Imperial simultaneously. That will be followed by recounts - in order - in San Bernardino, Fresno, San Mateo, Orange and Ventura counties and then the largest county, Los Angeles, where a hand recount could cost $1 million and a machine count could cost $100,000.”
‘Pérez is not allowed to raise additional money for the recount. According to some reports, he has $300,000 to $400,000 in campaign cash on hand.”
Statutory barriers for same-sex marriage are no more in California.
Josh Richman reports for Inside Bay Area: “Brown signed SB 1306 by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which replaces references to “husband and wife” with gender-neutral language, bringing state statutes into line with the state and U.S. Supreme Court rulings recognizing marriage rights for same-sex couples. The bill officially takes effect Jan. 1.”
““This legislation removes outdated and biased language from state codes and recognizes all married spouses equally, regardless of their gender,” Leno said in a news release.””
For a third time, the sentencing of state Sen. Rod Wright has been delayed – now pushed back until December.
Laurel Rosenhall reports in the Sacramento Bee: “"We filed a lengthy document and the prosecutor needs time to respond," said Wright's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson.”
“Wright's lawyers are asking the court for two things: to not enter, or ratify, the jury's guilty verdicts from January, and to grant Wright a new trial.”
“Los Angeles prosecutors charged Wright with perjury and voter fraud, arguing that he broke the law in running to represent the Inglewood area in the state Senate because he lived outside the district in the tonier neighborhood of Baldwin Hills. Wright's lawyers argued that he owned homes in both areas, and that the Inglewood home is his legal domicile, allowing him to run for office in that district.”
As the new era of healthcare settles in California, officials grow suspicious of the legality of some plans.
Christopher Cadelago reports in the Sacramento Bee: “Inaccurate provider lists are among the challenges facing customers as many transition from the ranks of the uninsured under the federal health care overhaul. Covered California, the nation’s leading state exchange, alone has signed up 1.4 million people through the Affordable Care Act.”
“More than 1,800 complaints about the process were submitted to state regulators through June 8. Customers have complained that they haven’t received their identification cards and enrollment packets. They’ve said they had trouble navigating narrow networks to find a doctor who will take their coverage.”
Despite raising big money with big names, Mark Zuckerberg has had mixed results in pushing for immigration reform.
Jessica Meyers reports in Politico: "Tech leaders poured millions into FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group that has dominated ad buys, launched elaborate hackathons and coddled conservatives in an effort to revamp the country’s immigration system. It galloped into the debate with the tech industry’s classic certainty but wound up facing the same obstacles that have halted reform for decades."
"Now, as hope for an overhaul fades, the group must reconcile Silicon Valley’s highflying ambition with the sobering lessons of Washington."
More than a hundred port truckers protested for what they consider to be widespread workplace violations.
Andrew Khouri reports in the Los Angeles Times: “As with previous protests, the walkout is focusing on a few regional trucking companies. But the protest had little effect on port operations during the day, spokesmen for both ports said. Several terminals were closed during the day because of a labor holiday.”
“Unlike previous strikes, drivers — backed by Teamsters Local 848 — haven't set an end date.”
A 63-year-old law prevents the public's eyes from reviewing water well records.
The Associated Press reports: "Records of the state's rivers and reservoirs are abundantly available, but that's not the case for wells in California, which provide one-third or more of the state's water supply and even more in dry years like this one."
""We are living in the Dark Ages with access to basic data," said Laurel Firestone of the Community Water Center in Visalia, which seeks greater public access. "We're basically blindfolding ourselves.""
