Recently in California Category

- Gov. Jerry Brown told a Los Angeles TV station today that the state's proposed high speed rail system will cost much less than $100 billion, and will partly be funded by new taxes on major air pollution emitters. Daily News,

The governor told ABC 7's "Eyewitness Newsmakers" program that environmental impact fees paid by industries that emit large amounts of greenhouse gas will help fund the big train project. California has a "cap and trade" law that will collect fees if businesses do not reduce emissions, the governor said.

As he did during his first term as governor, Gov. J erry Brown is planning to make a Los Angeles version of his "State of the State" address Wednesday afternoon _ and capping off his day with a visit to an old haunt, Lucy's El Adobe.
Brown is scheduled to make his formal address tomorrow morning in Sacramento and then fly down to Los Angeles where he will make a speech in City Hall's Board of Public Works hearing room.
From there, he will go to El Adobe to meet with political supporters.

This spring, a group of California Democrats gathered at a modern, airy office building just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. The meeting was House members only - no aides allowed - and the mission was seemingly impossible. Pro Publica in the Daily News.

In previous years, the party had used its perennial control of California's state Legislature to draw district maps that protected Democratic incumbents. But in 2010, California voters put redistricting in the hands of a citizens' commission where decisions would be guided by public testimony and open debate.

The question facing House Democrats as they met to contemplate the state's new realities was delicate: How could they influence an avowedly nonpartisan process? Alexis Marks, a House aide who invited members to the meeting, warned the representatives that secrecy was paramount. "Never say anything AT ALL about redistricting - no speculation, no predictions, NOTHING," Marks wrote in an email. "Anything can come back to haunt you."

Even on a Casual Friday, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom still looks sharp. Capitol Weekly.

In a fitted navy suit and a cup of green tea freshly steeping in his manicured grasp, the political professional breaks from the bustling city streets with ease. Upon entering the Founders Den, a downtown San Francisco co-op that provides office space for fledgling online companies and serves as his headquarters, Newsom is quick to confess a sense of urgency that perhaps only a new father would understand.

Edward Headington, a long-time staffer on Democratic campaigns and a public affairs executive, announced Wednesday he will be seeking the Democratic nomination for the 38th Assembly District.
Headington, 38, is the only San Fernando Valley-based candidate in the district, which continues to include a large portion of the Santa Clarita Valley. The district has been represented by Republcian Assemblyman Cameron Smyth, who is being termed out of the seat.

After nearly 30 years of being on the cutting edge of campaign reform and political ethics issues, the Center for Governmental Studies announced Thursday it is closing its doors, a victim of the national economy.
"It's been coming for some time," said Bob Stern, president of the organization which has been involved in all major campaign reform issues in the past 30 years, including the city Ethics Commission, the California Commission on Campaign Financing, the California Channel and numerous other projects.
Stern and Tracy Westen began the center in 1983 and over the years worked to develop a number of reforms, with the goal of improving public awareness and knowledge of the political system.
Stern said the foundations they relied on for financial support were unable to continue to provide the funding needed to continue their work.
He said the staff at CGS will be completing their projects before closing down for good. The organization's website, cgs.org, will continue to be available with all its reports and information.
Stern said he will continue to work in the field as a consultant and expert witness. Weston plans to continue his work on government reform.

Tipoff:; Gov. Jewrry Brown says he's having fun, but will he seek a second term?

Probation officials shifted caseloads on Thursday while the sheriff's department finalized security plans as Los Angeles County braced for this weekend's overhaul of California's correctional system.

The so-called "prison realignment" beginning Saturday will transfer the state's responsibility for lower-level drug offenders, thieves and other convicts to county jurisdictions.

An estimated 9,000 parolees will be added to the caseloads of the Probation Department, whose workers already oversee inmates released from county jails.

When distressed neighbors learned the city of Los Angeles was planning a trucking academy at the old Lopez Canyon landfill site, it wasn't a City Council change of heart or a petition drive that rescued them from the feared influx of noisy, diesel-spewing big rigs. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

It was CEQA.

The California Environmental Quality Act - which requires big developments to go through extensive studies to lessen community impacts - has played the role of both savior and villain for a host of projects up and down the state since it was enacted in 1970.
ugh residential streets?

Picnics and beach trips aside, this Labor Day is not bringing good times for the American worker. Daily News,

Unemployment remains stubbornly high. Salaries and benefits are stagnant. And union membership has dropped to historically low levels throughout the nation.

Around Los Angeles, several potential strikes are looming, but the state of the economy has made many union members wary of anything that threatens their employment or income.

A new study by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment shows the recession is taking a dramatic toll on union membership.

Renewing his call on business to work with government in a "radical conversation in the middle," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday urged local business leaders to help solve the state's problems and boost its commitment to education.Daily News.

By increasing tuition while cutting the budgets of public colleges and universities, he said, "we are pricing the middle class out of education."

"We are making it that so many people can no longer get the education they need to get ahead."
\

Pitted against each other because of redistricting, two powerful San Fernando Valley congressmen are gearing up for an expensive, tough campaign next year that will test the loyalties of local Democrats.Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Reps. Brad Sherman and Howard Berman, who collectively have 42 years in Congress, are launching early campaigns for a new district that encompasses parts of both their previous seats.

Neither man has officially declared yet, but in separate interviews this week, both said they will run.

Given that both men are very well-liked, have similar political leanings, and appeal to the same type of voters, securing allegiances from Valley residents will be a battle.

The California Redistricting Committee certified maps Monday for congressional and legislative districts, but drew an immediate challenge from the state GOP. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

The group Fairness and Accountability in Redistricting plans to launch a ballot referendum to overturn approval of the state Senate maps, according to Dave Gilliard, a Sacramento-based consultant hired by the committee. The group intends to submit a challenge with the state Attorney General's Office.

FAIR is being led by Julie Vandermost, former president of the California Women's Leadership Association.

Adult day health care providers reacted with skepticism Tuesday to Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to replace a program that caters to needy seniors with an array of managed health care options, calling it vague and "hastily assembled." Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

Last Friday, Brown released a formal plan to transition the 35,000 clients of California's 300 adult day care centers into managed health care programs.

Critics seized on the vagaries of the proposal.

As political experts study the draft maps released last week by the California Redistricting Commission, the newly drawn boundaries are being scoured for anticipated battles in the state legislature. Dakota Smith in the Daily News.

One of the biggest skirmishes could go down in the San Fernando Valley.

A new state senate district stretches from Stevenson Ranch to Malibu, and from Moorpark to the 405 Freeway. The new area could see Sens. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, and Tony Strickland, R-Simi Valley, face off.

Statistically, the region is 40.5 percent Democratic and 34.5 percent Republican.