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Gun controllers fire volley of bills through Legislature

A new Harvard University study found that gun bans don’t lower the murder rate. That hasn’t prevented the California Legislature from firing a fusillade of new gun-control laws. AB 711, by Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, would make California the first state in the

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Judiciary Committee kills civil liberties bills

  SACRAMENTO — Two Republican members of the California Assembly recently authored resolutions encouraging Congress to halt the eavesdropping on the America people by the National Security Agency. Both resolutions were smacked down Tuesday in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, whose

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Will CA trust SF Bay Bridge re-opening?

After months of controversy over the 36 cracked bolts on the new eastern span of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee made the decision in July to delay the Bay Bridge opening. But that decision was

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AB 154: Fuzzy numbers used to justify increasing abortion providers

SACRAMENTO — Despite questions about statistics, AB 154  passed both houses of the state Legislature and is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature or veto. In addition to medical doctors, it would allow nurses, midwives and physician assistants

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Vidak: ‘Let the people re-vote on High-Speed Rail’

SACRAMENTO — Newly elected Sen. Andy Vidak, R-Hanford, has authored a set of amendments to an existing Assembly bill to allow Californians to vote on whether or not to proceed with the High-Speed Rail project, and would halt any further bond sales

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SB 25: A ‘surgical strike’ against CA agriculture

California’s vital farm sector could see costs rise sharply if SB 25 becomes law. Backed by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, it would allow the United Farm Workers labor union to force an employer into mandatory mediation at

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CA Lifeline program cost could triple under AB 1407

  It’s been trendy for a couple of years now for people to dump their phone landlines and go only with their mobile phones, saving money and hassles. The government is going in the opposite direction, setting up both land

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Election reform Part 2: ‘Dark money,’ vs. public money

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of 2. Part 1 is here. Two election bills caused a stir in the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee last week. The first, SB 27, I covered in Part 1 of this series. A

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Steinberg seeks CEQA changes to boost Sacto arena

SACRAMENTO — The task of reforming the California Environmental Quality Act is being mingled with local Sacramento politics. At a hearing in the Assembly Local Government committee last week, State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, passionately defended SB

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Bills address campaign donations from private parties, not unions

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of 2. California lawmakers object to “dark money,” a term for campaign contributions used to pay for an election campaign without disclosing the source of the money. But while Democratic lawmakers object to “dark

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