February 2015 | Page 7 of 11

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Kevin McCarthy talks Senate seat, power, trains

While he was in town, I talked with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., about retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat, the Republican Congress sharing power with Democratic President Barack Obama, California’s high-speed rail project and more. A former state legislator,

Reaching 50 percent renewable goal won’t be easy

Wayne Lusvardi February 11, 2015

Yesterday Democratic leaders in the California Senate introduced a series of bills to move the state to a goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. That would be an increase from the current goal of 33 percent by 2020. The goal also

Tech giants back privacy bill

James Poulos February 11, 2015

Bolstered by crucial support from industry leaders and Republicans across the aisle, Sacramento’s most prominent privacy-rights proponent took another stab at restricting the state’s access to personal information. State Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, repackaged some of his long-cherished plans for

GOP senator may challenge incumbent GOP supervisor

Chris Reed February 11, 2015

After winning re-election three months ago with 69 percent of the vote, state Sen. Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, knows he is termed out in 2018 and that there are a finite number of significant elected positions that Republicans can win in

GOP struggles finding U.S. Senate candidate

James Poulos February 10, 2015

With California Sen. Barbara Boxer retiring in 2016, Democrats have enthused over their deep bench of ambitious politicians ready and willing to replace her. Republicans, by contrast, have been more timid. A few party figures have stepped forward, but bold-faced names have not, leaving

Soaring costs vex health care witnesses

Dave Roberts February 10, 2015

The escalating cost of health care is making sick patients wait until they get sicker before receiving the medicine that would cure them. That was one of the warnings from a Feb. 4 California Senate Health Committee hearing titled, ”Making Health Care Affordable:

Gov. Brown, Legislature seek road funds

John Seiler February 10, 2015

No question California’s roads are close to those in Iraq. The only makes car repair shops happy. Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature now are looking at taxing cars by the mile, instead of at the pump. Reported KPCC: California lawmakers are

Two new legal actions crash into high-speed rail

Kathy Hamilton February 10, 2015

Yesterday California’s high-speed rail project faced two new legal actions in its path to construction. The first was in state court about the adequacy of the electrification environmental document of CalTrain, the Bay Area commuter system. The second was in

Gov. Brown breaks drought funds dry spell

James Poulos February 10, 2015

Flanked by U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Gov. Jerry Brown recently announced a combined $50 million in drought relief funds, much of it headed the Golden State’s way. But Jewell and Brown tamped down criticism, suggesting the crisis was far from

SoCal carpool lanes could open up

John Seiler February 9, 2015

If you have traveled in Northern California or the East Coast of the USA lately, you know they do carpool lanes differently. After rush hour, the lanes are opened to anybody, helping traffic flow more easily — and thus actually