A Superior Court judge says the Brown administration's use of cap-and-trade auction money to pay for the high-speed rail project is legal, dealing a blow to opponents of the $68 billion bullet train.
AP's Don Thompson: "California regulators did not abuse their discretion when they decided to pay for the state's high-speed rail project with money from a greenhouse gas emissions program, a Sacramento County judge said in a ruling made final on Monday."
"The Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, which opposes the bullet train, argued that constructing the $64 billion project would create more pollution than it would eliminate for at least a decade."
"The state has argued high-speed rail will help it meet its greenhouse gas-reduction targets."
The life of the political pollster has been made more difficult by that device upon which we're all increasingly relying -- the cell phone.
Paul Mitchell in Capitol Weekly: "For decades, polling relied on a strong pool of easily reached voters with a traditional land-line telephone. Before caller-ID became prevalent, nearly every call was answered as long as someone was home."
"But now more voters are untethered from traditional phones (I haven’t had a land line since 1998), and those who do still have them complain that most incoming calls are from telemarketers."
"In response to the reduced use of land lines, Pew Research in 2007 started calling cell phones. At that time only 5% of voters were living in households with only wireless service. That number has since grown to 47%, and Pew has increased its cell-phone percentage of public research surveys from 20% to more than 75% wireless."
READ MORE in politics: Out-of-district money flows into effort to oust senator -- Jim Miller, Sacramento Bee; Loser in race to lead state Democratic Party says she was cheated -- AP's Jonathan Cooper; A quick primer on how to lobby elected officials -- Marty Block and Chris Micheli in Capitol Weekly
It's Election Day in Los Angeles to pick a replacement for former Congressman Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who left the House to become California's state attorney general.
Christine Mai-Duc in the LA Times: "Voters in central and northeast Los Angeles head to the polls today to pick California’s newest member of Congress in a rare open seat."
"With a handful of competitive special elections underway across the country, the race to replace Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional District has gotten far less attention since the April primary winnowed a field of two dozen candidates to two."
"But the runoff between Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez and attorney Robert Lee Ahn, both Democrats, will either continue a decades-old tradition of Latino representation or hand a political milestone to the district’s Korean American minority. If elected, Ahn would become the first Korean American Democrat elected to Congress and only the second ever."
Are you tired of liberal California? Not to worry: There's a company out there that will help you pick up stakes and move to Texas.
From the Bee's Thomas Oide: "That’s the mission of a new company called “Conservative Move,” a company started last month by Iraq War veteran and former U.S. Congressional candidate Paul Chabot."
"In January, Chabot moved from California to North Texas for “a better life for our four young children,” according to Conservative Move’s website. Conservative Move said its focus is on moving families to Collin County, which is just north of Dallas and is one of the “Best of Places to Live” with “great schools, good paying jobs and low crime.”
"Chabot said that the website received more than 3,700 visits within four hours of going live."
Speaking of conservative, all is not well in Orange County: An alleged $300 million worker's comp scam has been disclosed by the county's top prosecutor.
From the OC Register's Sean Emery: "The Orange County District Attorney’s Office filed felony fraud charges against 10 attorneys and 6 others Monday in what prosecutors say is a massive workers’ compensation-referral scheme with more than 33,000 patients and an estimated $300 million-plus in insurance payouts received."
"DA Tony Rackauckas said the charges were the start of an investigation by his office and the California Department of Insurance, which scrutinizes the role medical providers played in an alleged fraud ring that targeted mostly Spanish-speaking communities."
“This type of fraud factory drives up the prices of workers’ compensation insurance and drives businesses out of California,” Rackauckas said Monday, June 5."
And still more on conservative: Many Republicans in the House want to repeal Obamacare, but that can be a tough vote for California Republicans who are feeling vulnerable.
Politico's Rachel Bade: "Rep. David Valadao’s colleagues privately thought he’d vote against the House GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare."
"The California Republican’s Hispanic-populated swing district went for Hillary Clinton by a whopping 15 percent margin. And with more than half his impoverished constituency here in rural San Joaquin Valley on Medicaid, opposing a bill to cut $800 billion from the low-income health care program certainly would have been the politically prudent thing to do."
"But after weeks of internal debate with his staff and fellow lawmakers, the 40-year-old dairy-farmer-turned-congressman backed the measure. And now, Valadao is spending hours justifying that vote back home."
Despite all the talk lately about environmental protection, several bills that emerged from the Assembly all got killed in the Senate.
From Rennie Svirnovskiy in the Bee: "If you’re a Californian stoked about Gov. Jerry Brown’s continued commitment to clean energy and a sustainable future, maybe temper your excitement. Despite all of the bills passed on to the Assembly from the Senate before last week’s deadline, the only three bills lawmakers rejected in the Senate were environmental ones."
"The fallen were the Beverage Container Recycling Act of 2017 by Sen. Bob Wieckowski, D-Fullerton,the Ocean Pollution Reduction Act of 2017 by Sen. Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica and an Aliso Canyon bill by Democratic Sens. Henry Stern and Robert Hertzberg of Los Angeles."
"All three faced opposition from Senate Republicans and groups like the California Chamber of Commerce, the Western States Petroleum Association and the California Retailers Association."
Meanwhile, down in Los Angeles, a debate is emerging over whether the services of the Public Defender's office should be free.
From Susan Abram in the LA Daily News: "A $50 fee charged to defendants who seek legal counsel from a public defender is expected to come under a vote Tuesday when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will discuss whether the payment should be revoked."
Dozens of states and counties across California charge defendants with the up-front fee, including Los Angeles. But a recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California found that the fee can turn into a steep debt for low-income or indigent defendants, who may then be contacted by collection agencies."
“For the poor defendants, up-front registration fees are especially troubling,” according to the report by the ACLU. “These fees discourage some defendants from exercising their right to a lawyer, and can frustrate a public defender’s attempts to build trust and clients.”
