Whitman initially gave a cautious response to [...]
California Attorney General Jerry Brown ruled Thursday that the California Citizens Compensation Commission can cut the salaries of state lawmakers, setting in motion an 18% pay cut for members of the Assembly and Senate. The salary reduction will take effect Dec. 7, and reduce legislators' pay from $116,208 a' [...]
So much for getting a break from the state budget.
On this week's Capital Notes Podcast, we take a look at this week's prediction of a $20.7 billion budget gap and what that means for lawmakers once they return to Sacramento.
Capitol Weekly's Anthony York and I also discuss the staffing changes [...]
Because it takes a two-thirds majority of the legislature to raise taxes in California, the lawmakers and the governor last summer came up with something called “an involuntary tax-free loan” from you and me to the State. That did not require a two-thirds majority.
All of us who get paychecks now [...]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi allowed only two amendments to be brought up to the nearly 2000-page health reform bill. One was the Republican substitute to the Democrat’s measure. The other was on abortion.
Lawmakers got 20 minutes to debate a bipartisan amendment that would make it crystal clear that [...]
Lawmakers working into the night on health reform.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez won’t say yet whether she’ll vote for the health bill even though she favors health reform and a public option.
The Santa Ana Democrat has been spending the day negotiating with [...]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi,flanked by Rep. James Clyburn, left, and President Barack Obama, right.
President Barack Obama was in the White House Rose Garden a few minutes ago urging lawmakers to vote yes on health reform even [...]
Sens. Barbara Boxer and George Voinovich at climate change meeting.
The partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans over global warming legislation got even deeper today when lawmakers on both sides couldn’t even agree on whether the Environmental Protection Agency [...]
Reps. Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sanchez
“Sanchez sisters eyed by House ethics panel for alleged collusion” is the headline on a Washington Post story that profiles more than 30 lawmakers who are under investigation by the committee charged with investigating representatives.
This story [...]
Families for a Clean Tennessee wants to ends this noxious practice.
In California, lawmakers secretly talk about the “Tennessee Loophole” which allows nuclear waste to be dumped in ordinary Tennessee landfills. Unbelievable? Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact and it is done through a process known as Bulk Survey for Release [...]
More than 50 lawmakers, including all five GOP House members from Orange County, have written to President Barack Obama asking him not to restrict the ability of local police to arrest illegal immigrants.
Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano – a former Arizona governor- recently set limits on [...]
This piece originally appeared in the Sacramento Bee.
The 2003 recall that propelled Arnold Schwarzenegger into office was billed as the pinnacle of voter frustration with their state government. Californians were fed up with a bureaucracy they felt was bloated, unresponsive and for that matter, even unable to keep on [...]
Capitol insiders say state lawmakers are moving toward a water reform package that would upgrade California's water system, and allow it to serve the state's 38 million people. The current water system was constructed for 19 million people and doesn't adequately serve urban and agricultural users or allow enough water' [...]
The Los Angeles Times reports 
