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Critics charge AB 375 doesn't really protect students

SACRAMENTO –The Legislature still is working on teacher-discipline legislation. AB375 is by Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo. It passed the Senate Education Committee Tuesday and is being heard Wednesday in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, all of the

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Audit uncovers embers in Cal Fire slush fund

A new state audit shows that in 2005 a secret, $3.66 million off-the-books account was established by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The Wildlife Fire Investigation Training and Equipment Fund, a private, nonprofit account, was filled through

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Bill would allow AWOL state employees to keep jobs

SACRAMENTO — Imagine you miss work for five consecutive days and don’t call your supervisor to explain why. You probably wouldn’t have a job for very long. But employment conditions in state government are very different, and about to get

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Hearing uncovered abuse of CA special funds

SACRAMENTO — Only in government is borrowing considered a legitimate way to balance a budget. In California it has become standard operating procedure. To address this growing problem, the state’s Special Funds were the subject of a hearing last week

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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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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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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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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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