The number of women in California's Legislature has dipped to its lowest level in nearly 20 years.
KATIE ORR with KQED: "For a lot of women, this was supposed to be a big political year. The year a woman would be elected president and provide some long coattails for other women to grab onto. But, as we now know, Hillary Clinton came up short in her bid for the presidency. And state legislatures around the country saw the number of female representatives either drop or remain flat."
"So is it time to throw out the playbook on getting women to run for office and start over? Government professor Jennifer Lawless says: Not so fast."
"For several decades now, the evidence has demonstrated that when women run for office, they are just as likely as men to win their races,” she says."
Hillary Clinton's loss, despite polling nearly three million more votes than Donald Trump in the presidential election, has some California lawmakers pondering the efficacy of the Electoral College.
JAZMINE ULLOA with LAT: "Protestors across the nation lost their last ditch attempt to sway the electoral college from voting for president-elect Donald Trump last week. But a California lawyer wants to reignite debate over the process that sealed Trump's victory in 2018."
"Rodrigo Howard, an attorney with CapKey Advisors, has proposed an initiative for the 2018 ballot that would ask voters whether state lawmakers should work to modify or eliminate the electoral college, so that the vote for president and vice president more closely resembles the outcome of the national popular vote."
"Howard said the proposal is an open-ended measure that could encourage lawmakers to use their authority to adopt interstate compacts or ratify amendments to the U.S. Constitution, a difficult process that involves the approval of three-fourths of the states. The petition was received on Wednesday by the Attorney General's office."
A 'family leaves' bill vetoed by Gov. Brown has resurfaced under Sen. Jackson.
TARYN LUNA with Sacramento Bee: "Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, is reviving a pair of family leave bills that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed in the last session."
"California workers are currently allowed to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid job protected leave to care for seriously ill family members. Jackson’s Senate Bill 62 amends the definition of family members to include a grandparent, grandchild, sibling, domestic partner, parent-in-law or adult child."
"The bill mirrors SB 406, legislation Brown shot down in 2015. In his veto message, Brown said SB 406 “creates a disparity between California’s law and the Federal Medical Leave Act and, in certain circumstances, could require employers to provide employees up to 24 weeks of family leave in a 12 month period.”
Voters in Orange County are going through a power struggle.
STAFF with OC Register: "Orange County residents demanding change went farther down the ballot than the presidential race."
"Voters in Costa Mesa, Dana Point, Anaheim and Yorba Linda swept out city council and water district board members they accused of being too cozy with developers, secretive, underappreciative of city workers or wasters of taxpayer dollars."
"Now, with the power shifts in these cities, the other side will get a chance to address some of those issues."
Oil companies are coming up on a deadline requiring them to quit their pollution of groundwater.
PETER FIMRITE with The Chronicle: "Seven oil companies, including petroleum giant Chevron, have been given until the end of the week by state officials to stop their decades-old practice of injecting oily wastewater into Central Valley aquifers or face penalties."
"The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources ordered the companies to stop pumping wastewater from drilling operations into 10 underground aquifers, which the oil companies were using despite federal regulations protecting the groundwater."
"The regulations require 30 active injection wells to be closed by Dec. 31 or “we would pursue legal action and/or penalties,” said Teresa Schilling, spokeswoman for the resources agency. Violations carry fines of $2,500 to $25,000 apiece. Schilling said most operators are complying or have already complied with the order."
Some cannabis dispensaries are converting to retail services in an effort to keep up with the legalization policies going into effect in 2018.
DAN MITCHELL with The Chronicle: "The sales floor was buzzing on a recent Friday afternoon at the Apothecarium, the medical pot dispensary on Market Street near the Castro. In a few hours, it would be even busier, said Ynez Carrasco, the store’s business manager. “Friday nights are one of our surge times,” she said. She and other dispensary operators noted that Sunday afternoons in the fall and winter are also often busy, especially for delivery orders from people at home watching football."
"That might not sound much like a health care business serving patients, but it does highlight the fact that, when retail sales of pot to the general public begin in January 2018, medical dispensaries that are planning their expansion into retail now will have a leg up."
California's Cannabis legalization has no specific law stating the illegality of smoking while driving -- a loophole that a couple of lawmakers wish to change.
JOHN MYERS with LAT: "Two state legislators say Californians might think it's illegal to smoke marijuana while driving, but that there's no specific ban on the practice in state law."
"Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) said Thursday that they'll introduce legislation to close what they call a loophole."
"The lawmakers said Proposition 64, the state's new law legalizing marijuana, allows a citation for having an open container of marijuana in a vehicle. But, they said, it doesn't expressly ban the use of the drug while driving."
Patricia Krenwinkel, Manson family member, has had her parole postponed.
MATT HAMILTON and JOEL RUBIN with LAT: "State parole officials Thursday postponed a decision on setting free Patricia Krenwinkel, a follower of Charles Manson and convicted killer, after the woman’s attorney made new claims that she had been abused by Manson or another person."
"The two-person panel from the the Board of Parole Hearings “felt information discussed at the hearing was cause for an investigation,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement."
"A source with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity because the hearing was not public, said Krenwinkel’s attorney, Keith Wattley, raised the notion in his closing statement that his client was a victim of “intimate partner battery.”
Kevin de Leon says he is preparing for a battle with the incoming administration.
CHRISTOPHER CADELAGO with Sacramento Bee: "Within hours of Republican Donald Trump clinching the presidency, Senate leader Kevin de León had established himself as a commander of the resistance."
"In a joint statement with the Assembly speaker, de León vowed that California would remain a refuge of justice and opportunity for everyone – “regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak or who you love.”
"Returning from a United Nations’ climate change conference in Morocco, de León said he heard from other nations seeking assurances that California would continue to advance its progressive environmental policies. Later, the Los Angeles Democrat told an International Migrants Day rally that “we are all Americans.”
