"Assembly Speaker
Fabian Núñez kept a political promise Wednesday but risked offending House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and other key officials by
proposing to strip the Legislature's authority to draw political districts," reports Jim Sanders in the Bee.
"Núñez's measure calls for California's Little Hoover Commission, a watchdog public agency whose members are political appointees, to draw legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization district boundaries.
"'I think it's fair, I think it's honest, I think it's straightforward,' Núñez said of the plan, Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he looks forward to negotiations on ACA 1 and other redistricting proposals. Proponents hope to qualify a measure for the February ballot.
"'The governor believes this is a year for important political reform, and the push for a term limits change should be coupled with independent redistricting,' spokesman
Adam Mendelsohn said in a prepared statement."
Capitol Weekly's Cosmo Garvin reports on the
line in the Legislature to spend bond funds.
"It's an exciting time. For once we have some money that can go to fundamental needs that have been unmet for a long time," said Lois Wolk, chairwoman of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
Lawmakers are so excited by the voters' generosity that they have introduced over 100 separate bills to spend the money in Propositions 1B through 1E, and Proposition 84.
"I liken it to sharks in the water who smell the blood of new money," quipped Roger Niello, R-Sacramento, vice-chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee.
Malcolm Maclachlan reports on
changes inside the attorney general's office that have some gun advocates angry. "Attorney General
Jerry Brown has demoted the Firearms Division to bureau status, one step down the bureaucratic ladder. It was elevated to division status in 1999 under former Attorney General Bill Lockyer."
On February 28, employees at the state DOJ received an e-mail stating that, "After carefully considering how the Department of Justice can make the best use of its law enforcement resources, the Attorney General has decided to revert the historical standard of including the firearms and gambling control programs within the Division of Law Enforcement."
"I don't think that indicates a priority change," said Gareth Lacy, a spokesman for the DOJ, when asked about the moves. "It's an administrative change."
"Emotions are high and legalities complex, but the stink is relatively simple -- residents of an historic state park in the Central Valley that commemorates a town founded by African-Americans
don't want to smell waste lagoons and shoo flies from 12,000 cows at two proposed megadairies Tulare County officials have approved on adjacent land," reports Steve Geissinger in the Contra Costa Times.
"It's disrespectful (to African-Americans), and I don't know what the difference is between disrespectful and insulting," said Assemblyman Curren Price, D-Inglewood, on behalf of the Legislative Black Caucus.
"A bill, which passed its first key committee test Wednesday, would push the dairies 21/2 miles from the edge of Allensworth State Historical Park.
"The park, northwest of Bakersfield, commemorates the town of Allensworth, the only California town founded, financed and governed by African-Americans.
"Tulare County spokesman Eric Coyne views the bill as worse than eminent domain. He calls it an unconstitutional government confiscation of private land, in this case without compensation. The private land is zoned for agricultural use.
"Officials in business-friendly Tulare County think they have established an adequate, one-mile-plus buffer zone."
Speaker
Fabian "Nunez said during a news conference before the hearing that he has urged Schwarzenegger to file a lawsuit blocking the dairies on the grounds it would degrade the environment, including pollution of the ground water.
"The action would 'underscore your commitment to protecting all California communities,' Nuñez said in a letter. There has been no response from the governor so far."
"More than three decades after the state's landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act, a bill in the Legislature
could dramatically alter how farm labor unions secure contracts in California," reports Robert Salladay in the Times.
"The newly introduced legislation could curtail the use of secret ballots when farmworkers vote on union representation.
"The legislation comes after the once-powerful United Farm Workers union, which is sponsoring the legislation, has faced embarrassing losses among California farmworkers voting on union representation. In several cases, farmworkers in great numbers have signed authorization cards calling for a union election, but then failed to support UFW representation in the actual election.
"The twist is that founder
Cesar E. Chavez fought tenaciously for the secret ballots in the 1975 labor law.
"The UFW says that workers face intimidation by growers before entering the voting booth, but the agriculture industry relays another argument: Workers may be seduced by the UFW into authorizing an election, but they will express their true feelings in the voting booth."
The Bee's Andy Furillo reports that
supporters of Prop. 36 rallied outside the Capitol yesterday. "Wednesday's rally followed the fourth and final Proposition 36 evaluation that was released last Friday by UCLA's Integrated Substance Abuse Program. The study found that 32 percent of offenders who enter Proposition 36 treatment complete it, a slight decrease from previous outcomes.
"At the same time, the UCLA researchers reported that Proposition 36 is saving taxpayers $2.50 for every $1 that goes into it and that the figure increases to $4 for every offender who completes the program.
"Outside the Capitol, Proposition 36 supporters made it clear Wednesday that they're going to make sure everybody under the dome becomes aware of those figures when the governor's budget gets taken apart in coming months. Assembly Budget Committee Chairman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, said the funding is especially crucial in a year when Schwarzenegger is proposing $10.9 billion in spending to expand the state's prisons and jails by 78,000 beds."
George Skelton opines that, to limit gun violence in California, controls need to be strengthened on the sale of bullets.
"Or as freshman Assemblyman
Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) puts it: 'Like humans need oxygen to breathe, firearms need ammo to function. Without it, the worst thing you can do with a Tech-9 is throw it across the room and hope you hit somebody.'
"'And do we regulate the sale and distribution of ammo in the state of California? The answer is unequivocally 'No.' It's more difficult to buy a can of spray paint. Because spray paint is locked up and you have to show an ID, due to all the graffiti.'
"Gun violence — mainly gang violence — has been rising, despite all the gun controls. That's largely because there already are more guns than people in California, by some estimates. And there's an unimpeded stream of ammo.
"De Leon and L.A. are on to something. The way to make gun controls really work is to choke back on the flow of bullets."
"UNITE HERE, a union that represents hotel, restaurant and needle-trade workers,
has distributed 4,000 door-hangers in Contra Costa County targeting Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, and his pro-Indian-gaming stance," reports Lisa Vorderbrueggen in the Contra Costa Times.
"An unknown person also left one of the fliers on the door of Torlakson's Antioch home along with a largely illegible, unsigned note addressed to the senator's wife, Diana.
"The door-hanger refers to controversial gambling expansion bills scheduled for a floor vote today in the state Senate that would allow five Southern California tribes to triple the number of slot machines they can operate.
"Torlakson, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is sponsoring SB 957, which would allow the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians to increase slot machine operations in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage from 2,000 to 5,000."
From our
When the Feds go Marching in Files,
the FBI dropped by unexpectedly at the home of Congressman John Doolittle yesterday. The Bee's David Whitney reports, "FBI agents who raided Rep. John Doolittle's Virginia home were
searching for information about his wife's fundraising business, the congressman's attorney said Wednesday.The FBI served a search warrant Friday on the Doolittle home, where Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions is based.
Rep. Doolittle's attorney, criminal defense lawyer David Barger, said Wednesday that Friday's raid stemmed from a search warrant for Sierra Dominion records and not anything directly related to the congressman.
"'The congressman continues to be fully supportive of his wife, Julie, and believes that the truth ultimately will prevail,' Barger said."
Finally, our
best wishes go out to Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald. "Rep.
Juanita Millender-McDonald, D-Carson (Los Angeles County),
has taken a six-week leave of absence from the House after being diagnosed with cancer, her office said Wednesday.
"'The congresswoman wishes to thank everyone for their expressions of love, well-wishes and prayers,' said the statement.
"There has been speculation for some time about Millender-McDonald's health, but she has been protective of her personal health information. Even members of her staff and some congressional colleagues do not know the exact nature of her illness."
