"On July 1, California will become America's first state
to initiate a mandatory recycling program to cut down on its mounds of plastic bags," reports the Bee's Peter Hecht.
"Under legislation sponsored by [
Lloyd] Levine -- Assembly Bill 2449 -- and signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year, supermarkets, pharmacies and other major retail outlets must provide recycling bins to make it easier for customers to recycle their bags.
"Many California supermarkets and retailers -- including Safeway, Raley's, Ralphs, Whole Foods supermarkets and Wal-Mart -- have already made plastic-bag recycling bins available in anticipation of the new law.
"'We're in the process of ramping everything up and getting everybody ready to go,"'said
Dave Heylen, spokesman for the California Grocers Association. 'We're trying to get consumers to change their habits so that they don't just immediately discard those plastic bags and that they use this as a vehicle to help clean the environment.'"
"A Silicon Valley state legislator
vowed Monday to try again next year after the defeat of his
provocative bill that would have given buyers of new Toyota Priuses and other fuel-efficient vehicles rebates of up to $2,500 - paid for by fees on buyers of new Hummers and other gas guzzlers.
"'There are times when you bring up a new idea and it is opposed by strong interests that it can take a while,' said Assemblyman
Ira Ruskin, D-Los Altos. 'I intend to keep coming back with it.'
"Ruskin's bill, AB 493, failed Wednesday night on a 35-35 vote in the state Assembly. The measure needed 41 votes to advance.
"Democrats have a 48-32 majority in the Assembly. Every Republican voted no. Three Democrats joined them in opposing the bill:
Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton;
Nicole Parra, D-Bakersfield; and
Charles Calderon, D-City of Industry.
"Ten other Democrats did not vote, nearly all of them from the Los Angeles area."
Dan Walters looks at the
fight over the California Horce Racing Board. "The intense backroom political battle over the CHRB, however, is not about its money, but about the hundreds of millions of dollars in operations at the state's five major horse racing tracks and in the profits from the potential conversion of two of those tracks, Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows, into big-scale housing and office developments.
"In its simplest terms, it's a power struggle between
Terry Francher, who runs the corporations that own the two tracks, and
Richard Shapiro, the chairman of the CHRB. But the battle also reflects the erosion of what had been horse racing's near-monopoly on legal gambling in California with the advent of casinos owned by Indian tribes."
Matier and Ross follow-up on Gloria Romero's SB 1019,
which would expand public access to police disciplinary records. "Romero stood up and told the world that she had just received a copy of an e-mail from the Professional Peace Officers Association -- representing supervisory officers and staffers at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department -- threatening to fight a proposed extension of legislative term limits held so near and dear by lawmakers if the senators voted to make public their police records.
"'We can't be threatened,' Romero told her colleagues. 'This is an outrage.'
"Romero and fellow Democrats briefly adjourned for a private caucus to plot their next move. Fifteen minutes later, some very angry members returned to cast their votes.
"The tally? Twenty-one in favor, the bare minimum to pass, and 10 against. And it was Perata who supplied the tipping vote.
"'All bets were off once the PPOA threatened members of our caucus with a quid pro quo, which is illegal,' said Perata spokeswoman
Alicia Trost.
"The association's legislative representative,
Jim Vogts, told us, 'Nobody threatened a legislator. ... The mistake was putting this in writing (to a law enforcement group), and they got it.'"
Matier and Ross also write "Within a day of the California Highway Patrol recommending that she be charged with reckless driving, state Sen.
Carole Migden sent out a letter to some 100,000 of her Bay Area constituents explaining her long battle with cancer and vowing to continue the good fight in Sacramento.
"The letter -- which was paid for privately out of Migden's re-election campaign fund -- is sort of a personal follow-up to voters, just in case they missed the series of media interviews Migden has given recently.
"And considering the results of a KPIX-TV Survey USA poll of 500 voters in Migden's Third District last week, she might need a little one-on-one.
"The poll found that
43 percent of respondents said Migden should resign, 30 percent said she should stay in office and 27 percent weren't sure."
Dan Weintraub writes that California
is ahead of other states in responding to the accounting requirement to set aside funds for retiree health benefits. "Fortunately, the kind of pushback the standards are getting elsewhere hasn't been happening in California. State Controller
John Chiang hired an actuary a year early to determine what the state's liability will be. His answer: $48 billion.
"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the legislative leaders, meanwhile, have appointed a commission to study the problem and recommend ways for the state and local governments to deal with it, either by setting money aside or by reducing benefits, or both.
"And CalPERS, the state pension agency, has established an investment fund to which the state and local governments can contribute and (it is hoped) see their money grow over time, paying for retiree health benefits the same way that pensions have been financed for years.
"Getting on top of this issue is not going to be easy. There may be more resistance once the government is forced to actually put some money away rather than only talking about doing so. But California is at least not in complete denial. And that's better than some other places are doing."
Could Paris Hilton lead to Lee Baca's downfall? She might, if Andrew Aherling has his way. "A former Los Angeles County employee
launched a campaign Monday to recall Sheriff Lee Baca, citing last week's early release of Paris Hilton as an example of gross mismanagement of the nation's largest Sheriff's Department," report LAT's Stuart Pfeifer and Jack Leonard.
"Andrew Ahlering conceded that recalling Baca would be costly and time-consuming but said the public frenzy about Hilton's release could generate the necessary interest. He discussed the recall drive live on CNN Headline News and has been interviewed by half a dozen local television and radio stations."
Antonio Villaraigosa held a press conference yesterday to
discuss his separation from his wife, reports the LAT's Duke Helfand.
"In a somber meeting with reporters at City Hall,
Villaraigosa declined to answer questions about whether the break with his wife, Corina, was triggered by another romantic relationship."
We can't imagine why anyone would think that.
"'I want you to know that I take responsibility for what is happening and I feel a personal sense of failure about it, and that's all I'm prepared to say on this question,' Villaraigosa said at a news conference.
"Villaraigosa's brother, sister, nephew and two adult daughters from past relationships sat silently near his side as he addressed journalists. Corina and the couple's two teenage children did not attend."
Rumors that he called Lloyd Levine for the phone number for the producers of The Bachelor were unconfirmed as of press time. And
Michael Moore will be
making a series of appearances around the Capitol today before screenings of his new movie Sicko. The Bee reports, Moore "is expected to speak at an afternoon legislative briefing for Senate Bill 840, by Sen.
Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, which proposes a state-run system of universal health coverage."
"Moore then will take part in a rally sponsored by the California Nurses Association on the west steps, followed by a march to the Crest Theatre (1013 K St.) for a private screening of "Sicko" for CNA members.
"Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez will host a second screening of 'Sicko' at 8 p.m. at the Crest for legislators and other invited guests."
