Nearly 650 pieces of legislation are awaiting action from Governor Jerry Brown, with a deadline for action looming less than a month away. Alexei Koseff of the Sacramento Bee has a rundown of some of the most significant bills on the governor’s desk, along with analysis of each bill’s chances.
Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission - and former head of the state Fair Political Practices Commission – will neither confirm nor deny her support for a proposed ballot initiative to reform campaign finance in the state. Christopher Cadelago, Sacramento Bee:
“Before the proponents submitted a campaign finance initiative Wednesday, they provided a news release brimming with laudatory statements about their measure, including one from the chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission….
“So, she supports it, right?
“Not so fast, said Gary Winuk, who is helping out with the ballot measure and used to work under Ravel at California’s Fair Political Practices Commission.
“Winuk acknowledged that while it certainly appeared that Ravel was a supporter, her job on the FEC prevents her from taking an official position on the initiative..”
While most observers didn’t come away from last week’s neutering of two climate change bills with the thought that now would be a good time to take on the oil industry, George Skelton is not most observers. From the Los Angeles Times:
“Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have the petroleum industry right where they want it even if they did just get rolled by the oil lobby on anti-global warming legislation they sought.
“Here's why the time is ripe for a tax on oil severance — or extraction or depletion, whatever word you choose:
“• The governor and legislators are desperately searching for money to repair California's deteriorating roads and bridges. There's a $58-billion backlog on state highways and $78 billion on local roads. Why not raise the money by taxing the oil extracted to fuel the vehicles that tear up the pavement?”
Longtime newsie Dan Weintraub sat down on the other side of the interview for Capitol Weekly’s Alvin Chen to discuss the state of California health care, including the Medi-Cal expansion.
“’There are very few doctors and hospitals that are open to Medi-Cal patients in rural parts of California, so that’s a big problem, but even in the inner cities where there are more doctors that serve Medi-Cal patients there are so many people eligible that those doctors are being overwhelmed. So even though there are millions more people with a Medi-Cal card, they don’t have access to doctors. We heard stories about people who called five, six, or 10 doctors’ offices and being told that they don’t take Medi-Cal or they are not taking new patients.’”
The New York Times reviewed the numbers in this year’s College Access Index and noted that six of the top seven slots are University of California campuses. David Leonhardt:
“It’s true that the California colleges have a built-in advantage: the many high-performing students from immigrant families who live there. But that’s hardly the only reason for the economic diversity. The University of California’s aggressive steps to recruit, admit, enroll and support low-income students are also crucial.
“’It takes a lot of systematic effort,’ Mr. Gillman, the Irvine chancellor, said.
“And yet American society seems to be making less of this broad effort than it once did.
“California, rather than making another push to bring college to the masses, is taking small steps in reverse. With state funding declining, the University of California has been enrolling fewer in-state students (even as the population keeps growing) and a greater number of affluent students from other countries and states. Outside California, the educational gap between rich and poor is much wider – and not narrowing very rapidly.”
And the “Draft Jerry” drumbeat continues… Michael Kinsley, Vanity Fair:
“They keep saying that the Democrats have no ‘bench,’ meaning the party has no potential candidate to fall back upon if Hillary turns out to have a third e-mail account. Look at the Republicans: they’ve got governors like John Kasich and Bobby Jindal, senators like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, fruitcakes like Donald Trump and . . . well, Trump is unique.
“But the Democrats do have someone. He’s had more gubernatorial experience than anyone else in the country, and he’s had it in the largest state—a state larger than most nations; unlike, say, Carly Fiorina, who seems to think that as long as you’ve had experience, it doesn’t matter whether it was positive or negative experience. It’s good to learn from your mistakes but, as Warren Buffett says, it’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes.
“Jerry Brown has done both. Unlike all the current presidential candidates in both parties—and certainly unlike Hillary Clinton, though not unlike her husband—Brown is intellectually curious. He has a speculative mind and likes to play with ideas—and not, like so many politicians, just the idea of ideas.”
And, finally, time to leave you with our pick for #WorstWeekinCA…. with the legislature quiet after last week’s end-of-session frenzy, frankly, we didn’t have a lot to choose from. There was, however, one pol who took another hit this week, another hole in what sure looks like a slowly sinking boat. Alexei Koseff, Sacramento Bee:
“The intraparty slugfest last year between Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, and intellectual property lawyer Ro Khanna ended with Honda winning an eighth term in Congress by fewer than 5,000 votes.
“Now Khanna is taking another stab at the 17th Congressional District seat, which wraps around the southeast portion of the San Francisco Bay, and aiming to peel off some of the Democratic establishment support that buoyed Honda in 2014. On Thursday, he unveiled an endorsement from state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, who praised Khanna’s ‘commitment to grassroots organizing.’
Ouch. Khanna already has already gotten endorsements from players as disparate as Gavin Newsom and former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, but de León’s defection has gotta hurt. More from Koseff:
“…The rematch is sure to be another brawl; the personal attacks began again even before Khanna formally announced his candidacy in May. But there will be a new dynamic at play this time: Honda is currently under investigation for allegedly breaking House ethics rules by using his congressional staff and other official resources to do campaign work.”
In short: the Pro Tem’s endorsement of a bitter rival is just the latest in a strong bad news for Mike Honda – we’ll see how much worse it can get.
