A bill to help fund higher education by taxing on oil pumped from the ground passed its first Senate committee yesterday.
Patrick McGreevy reports in the L.A. Times: “The Senate Education Committee voted, 5-2, to advance the bill that would levy a 9.5% tax to raise $2 billion annually to be divided among state universities and colleges, state parks and human service programs.”
“California is the only major oil producer in the world that does not collect taxes on oil production,” Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) told the panel. “As a result, California is losing out on billions of dollars in revenue amounting to a massive subsidy to big oil companies, and as a result our children are suffering.”
A state Senator was penalized by the Fair Political Practices Commission for his alleged effort to bypass contribution limits, and collude with his brother and two GOP central committees.
Jim Miller reports for the Sacramento Bee: “California’s political-ethics panel Thursday unanimously approved a $40,000 money-laundering penalty against state Sen. Tom Berryhill, agreeing with an administrative law judge’s recommended decision that the Twain Harte Republican committed “serious and deliberate” violations of campaign-finance rules.”
Assemblyman and GOP candidate for governor Tim Donnelly looks to energize core Republican primary voters by introducing a bill that targets state gun-carrying requirements.
Beau Yarbough reports for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: “At the moment, counties and municipalities interpret the state’s handgun carry license requirements differently, creating “a maze of different regulations riddled with discretionary abuse and unequal treatment of applicants,” according to the press release from Donnelly’s office.”
"The bill was brought to Donnelly by the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, according to a Donnelly staff member.”
In a new governor poll, Republican candidate Neel Kashkari ranks below a registered sex offender, among others.
Carla Marinucci reports in S.F. Gate: “Republican gubernatorial candidate Neel Kashkari was already facing an uphill climb to unseat Gov. Jerry Brown this year, and now a new poll shows just how steep that hill is — he’s trailing a registered sex offender.”
“The private poll shows the one-time federal bailout czar lagging behind not just Brown but also a field of Republicans that includes Glenn Champ, who was put on the state’s sex offender registry after he was convicted in 1993 of two counts of assault with intent to commit rape. Before his professed conversion to Christianity, Champ also killed a man while driving and was convicted of soliciting a prostitute.”
Apple, Google, Adobe and Intel have reached a settlement in the Silicon Valley employee poaching case.
Howard Mintz reports in the Mercury News: “The settlement, disclosed in a letter to the federal judge handling the case, did not reveal the amount of the pact, but Reuters reported the figure was around $324 million. The valley employees who sued over the "no poaching" agreements were expected to demand at least $3 billion from a jury if the legal fight had moved to a late May trial.”
“More than 64,000 valley employees in the class action lawsuit, many of them in jobs such as software engineering that form the lifeblood of the local tech economy, stand to benefit from the deal. In addition to Thursday's settlement, Lucasfilm, Pixar and Intuit settled last year with the employees for about $20 million.”
Telsa Motors now has the backing of a major federal commission for its direct-sales business model.
Jon Xavier reports in the Silicon Valley Business Journal: “In an unusual move, three officials at the Federal Trade Commission have publicly come out against laws that ban automakers from selling cars directly to consumers. Those laws are the subject of an ongoing fight by Tesla Motors, which is trying to sell its Model S sedan through Apple Store-esque outlets over the objections of local dealer groups in multiple states.”
Michael Drobot – one character in the Ron Calderon scandal – pled guilty to federal charges in possibly the largest medical fraud scheme in California history.
Andrew Edward reports in the Press-Telegram: “The activities may have led to as much as $500 million worth of fraudulent claims, mostly filed through the state’s workers compensation system.”
“The Drobot case is related to the corruption cases that have been filed against state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, and his brother, former Assemblyman Tom Calderon. Drobot has told federal officials that he bribed Ron Calderon in order to keep on the books the law that made it possible to seek inflated reimbursements for spinal hardware.”
Twitter’s #myNYPD backlash spurred the uprising of some Los Angeles Police Department critics.
Associated Press reports: “Some tweets under the hashtag #myLAPD mentioned referenced officers who recently tampered with in-car recording equipment in order to avoid being monitored. One included a photo of a woman who fell out of a moving police cruiser. Another put up images from a May Day melee in 2007 that resulted in punishment for many officers.”
