UPDATED AT 1:45 P.M.

Seven weeks since stories about Harvey Weinstein in the New York Times and the New Yorker triggered a wave of sexual harassment allegations around the nation, California state lawmakers are on edge both about their pasts and what the future may hold.

Allegations about four named current and ex-lawmakers and a fifth unnamed one have been publicly reported. But lawmakers who faced past accusations of wrongdoing and thought they were past the risk of fallout could be in for a rude surprise if Assembly and Senate practices are changed and the results of previous disciplinary hearings and investigations are disclosed.

Going forward, all harassment allegations are going to be investigated independently – breaking with a system that long seemed to value keeping dirt hidden as much or more than having a healthy Capitol working environment. The Assembly will hold a hearing Tuesday on new policies and the Senate is likely to in coming weeks.

Four accused lawmakers identified; the fifth still not revealed

Here are the accused and where they stand:

Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-Pacoima. Bocanegra resigned Monday — a month to the day after the Los Angeles Times broke the story that Bocanegra had been secretly reprimanded in 2009 for an incident in which he allegedly groped and stalked Elise Flynn Gyore at a time when both were legislative staffers. Since then, six more women have come forward with allegations of improper behavior by Bocanegra. He initially said he would resign in September 2018 at the end of the next legislative session, but that didn’t placate critics who said he should quit now or be kicked out if he refused to leave. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, had promised Bocanegra would be “immediately” expelled if an independent investigation confirmed the allegations against him.

Former Assemblyman Steve Fox, D-Palmdale. On Oct. 18, the Sacramento Bee reported that it had obtained a copy of a settlement reached in April in which the Assembly agreed to pay $100,000 to Nancy Kathleen Finnigan, who worked for Fox as legislative director in 2013, during his only term in office. Finnigan alleged Fox had exposed himself to her and then fired her when she complained about his behavior. Finnigan’s suit was filed in 2014, when she first publicly accused Fox of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. Fox denied the allegations and dismissed her as a disgruntled ex-employee.

The political career of Fox, 64, who has worked as a teacher and lawyer, may not be over. His 2012 win of a long-GOP-held Assembly seat was considered flukish, and he lost by more than 20 percent to Republican Tom Lackey in his 2014 re-election bid. But in 2016, while Lackey defeated Fox again, his margin of victory was only 6 percent.

Assemblyman Devon Mathis, R-Visalia. On Oct. 20, anonymous allegations that had surfaced on a website run by conservative activist Joseph Turner claiming that Mathis had sexually violated a passed-out staff member were printed in the Fresno Bee. Mathis denied the allegations and on Nov. 15 was cleared by the Sacramento Police Department, which said detectives were “unable to substantiate” if a crime had occurred.

The Assembly Rules Committee, however, has hired a private attorney to investigate allegations of improper behavior, according to Mathis’ hometown paper, the Times-Delta.

State Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia. Starting with a Nov. 9 story in the Bee, three young women have come forward with allegations of improper behavior, including a 19-year-old intern hoping for a permanent job on his staff who was invited by Mendoza to come to the Sacramento-area home he lives in part-time to “review resumes.” The twist: Mendoza until recently shared the home with state Senate President Kevin de Leon, who denied knowing of any wrongdoing by his former roommate. Mendoza, like Fox, has denied wrongdoing. De Leon has not said what his intentions are if a pending independent inquiry finds the allegations against Mendoza credible.

The fifth accused lawmaker has so far not been identified. On Oct. 19, Sacramento lobbyist Pamela Lopez told CNN that a current member of the Legislature – a “big man” – had trapped her in the restroom of a Sacramento bar in 2016 and masturbated in front of her.

Lopez has been urged by activists to name the lawmaker but has so far declined to do so.

But not as much attention has been paid to the criticism a strong majority of the Assembly made of the governor on what he and others have described as California’s biggest issue: how it deals with its profound shortage in water. This criticism was reflected in 47 of the 80 Assembly members signing a letter asking for a special session to consider emergency drought legislation.

The Associated Press, which broke the story, reported that the bipartisan group believed a …

… special session is needed to address the unprecedented water crisis, which could worsen as California faces the prospect of an El Nino weather pattern that could bring severe flooding.

 

“We have seen from widespread reports that as much as half of the $687 million set aside to help drought-stricken communities remains unspent in state accounts – and will remain there until 2016,” says the letter. “In addition, we are seeing the same slow and lethargic project pace with the funds raised as a result of last year’s Proposition 1 ballot measure.”

 

The AP reported in June that more than $320 million that was supposed to be rushed to drought-stricken California communities was sitting unspent in government bank accounts, more than a year after lawmakers voted to use the money to provide water, protect wells from contamination and upgrade outdated water systems.

 

A special session addressing the drought should also include “thoughtful and careful review of environmental policies that — even if well-meaning — may be doing more harm than good,” the letter says.

Young Central Valley politicians taking on the governor

The Central Valley produced many of the 47 signatories to the letter. Assemblyman Devon Mathis, a 32-year-old Republican who represents Tulare and Inyo counties and parts of Kern County, was the leading organizer.

The leader of the opposition to Brown’s and state Senate President Kevin de Leon’s push for a long-term 50 percent reduction in gasoline use — the rejected central plank of the energy legislation — was Assemblyman Henry Perea, a 38-year-old Fresno Democrat.

This suggests that regional politics may be returning to prominence in Sacramento after a long period in which nearly all elected state Democrats went along with an agenda dominated by politicians aligned with environmentalists and union interests based in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Republicans got nowhere with appeals for regional solidarity on some issues.

In 2009, for example, a proposal by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to help divert some federally controlled water to farmers in the poverty-wracked Central Valley won the support of 37 House Democrats. But only one was from California — Rep. Dennis Cardoza of Merced.

Nunes’ measure suffered a decisive defeat in the House Rules Committee, partly because Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, wouldn’t support it. Matsui grew up in Dinuba, a poor town in Nunes’ district some 30 miles from Fresno.