Politics, Government & Business in California's Inland Empire
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 22, 2016 – 7:00 PM
There are few things more fundamentally important to life in contemporary California than transportation and housing, and both are in crisis.
By Darcy Costello and Alison Noon, The Associated Press
Posted: 09/20/16 – 8:17 PM PDT |
SACRAMENTO >> In addition to their six-figure salaries and benefits, California’s 120 lawmakers are compensated for their cost of living and meals when they leave home and travel to Sacramento to write and pass bills.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 18, 2016 – 4:00 PM
The last night of the Legislature’s biennial session on Aug. 31 was, as usual, a hectic free-for-all.
By Jeff Horseman / Staff Writer
Published: Sept. 6, 2016 – 10:00 a.m.
The candidates in the competitive race for California’s 40th Assembly District are using video to tout their strengths to voters ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
To read expanded article, click here.
Capitol Alert
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 2, 2016 – 10:49 AM
Wednesday night’s legislative stalemate on giving the State Bar permission to continue collecting dues from the state’s lawyers and, more controversially, overhauling its organization and operations, is already creating fallout.
Liam Dillon
August 1, 2016
A major effort to overhaul the state’s energy regulator surprisingly collapsed after late legislative maneuverings led to the unraveling of the broad coalition that had pushed for changes at the scandal-ridden agency.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 1, 2016 – 5:16 PM
The biennial legislative session that ended very early Thursday morning amassed a very substantial record of action – some positive, some negative and much whose real effects won’t be known for years.
By John Myers
August 31, 2016
California’s 120 legislators took the oath of office in December 2014 with pledges to tackle issues like the cost of a college education, the state’s minimum wage and beyond.
So how did they do?
By Melody Gutierrez
Published: August 28, 2016
Updated: August 28, 2016 – 8:37pm
SACRAMENTO — The fate of hundreds of bills will be decided by Wednesday, when state lawmakers wrap up their two-year session.
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
August 25, 2016 – 7:07 PM
There’s nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.
That chestnut of time management holds particularly true for the California Legislature. In session for about eight months each year, the Legislature goes into overdrive in the days leading up to committee and floor deadlines.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
August 25, 2016 – 4:27 PM
As the Legislature begins the last few days of its biennial session, hundreds of measures are pending – not counting, of course, “mushroom bills” that will sprout in the dead of night and pass before anyone outside the Capitol can react.
By Kevin Smith, San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Posted: 08/10/16 – 10:54 AM PDT |
Twenty-six energy companies with business before the state donated nearly $10 million to Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Democratic Party over the past eight years — donations that often were made within days or weeks of winning favors.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
July 31, 2016 – 6:00 AM
Writing a new state budget in June turned out to be, in an old saying, easy-peasy.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
July 26, 2016 – 6:54 PM
The California Assembly has shown a certain appetite for institutional reform this year – noteworthy because it happens so rarely in the Capitol.
Patrick McGreevy
July 26, 2016 – 11:28 a.m.
A political committee funded by oil companies has launched ads on the Internet attacking state Sen. Connie Leyva of Chino for opposing the reelection of Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown of San Bernardino, a fellow Democrat, and questioning Levya’s party loyalty.
Jazmine Ulloa
Patrick McGreevy
June 30, 2016 – 2:25 P.M.
Spurred by outrage over recent mass shootings, California lawmakers on Thursday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a sweeping package of gun control bills, including a ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, background checks for those buying ammunition and new restrictions on homemade firearms.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 27, 2016 – 3:29 PM
It’s showdown time for two fiercely competitive measures that would give the public more time to see legislative bills before they are passed.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 23, 2016 – 4:24 PM
California’s highways are in bad shape and getting worse every day, with a backlog of deferred maintenance totaling tens of billions of dollars.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
June 14, 2016 – 3:52 PM
The timing could not have been more perfect.
As dozens of state budget “trailer bills” were being given their first public airing Monday, in another part of the Capitol legislators were mulling whether the public should be given more time to review legislation before it is passed.
Capitol Alert
By Alexei Koseff
akoseff@sacbee.com
June 13, 2016 – 3:28 PM
With little debate, a bill to end California’s observance of daylight saving time cleared its first committee on Monday.
Saturday, June 4, 2016 – 03:30 p.m.
Well the much talked about California Primary Election is before us.
Then things will get dull until the presidential nominating conventions. One can expect more policy speeches and sniping between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
John Myers
June 2, 2016 – 4:50 P.M.
Two days of private negotiations among lawmakers resulted Thursday in brand-new legislation that would change the State Bar of California’s governing board and examine the idea of a major overhaul of the quasi-state agency.
By Debra J. Saunders
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 – Updated 4:23 pm
California lawmakers seem intent on making Sacramento the place where reasonable reforms, much like runaway trains, jump the tracks. In that no-speed-limit spirit Tuesday, the California Assembly voted 41-37 to allow convicted felons to vote in jail. (Yes, you read that correctly — in jail.) If Assembly Bill 2466 becomes law, the ACLU estimates that 50,000 adults will be able to vote behind bars. The state doesn’t trust these people on the streets, but they are welcome in the voting booth.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
May 31, 2016 – 3:39 PM
In a clear rebuke to California’s system for regulating attorneys, the Assembly on Tuesday decisively rejected a bill that sought to overhaul the State Bar.
Published: May 9, 2016
Updated: May 11, 2016 – 6:45 a.m.
Critics of San Bernardino Democrat Cheryl Brown have a new nickname for the Inland assemblywoman – “Chevron Cheryl.”
Melanie Mason
May 5, 2016 – 2:25 P.M.
Just six days ago, Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes was the opening act to his preferred presidential pick, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, at the California GOP convention.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
April 28, 2016 – 2:51 PM
Joe Dunn’s ears must have been burning Tuesday.
Capitol Alert
By Taryn Luna
tluna@sacbee.com
April 20, 2016 – 2:29 PM
A California environmental group is crying foul after Chevron helped fund a campaign mailer casting Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown as an “environmental champion for us all.”
Ralph Vartabedian
April 18, 2016
A key state legislative committee on Monday unanimously approved a Republican-led bill to strengthen oversight of the California bullet train, a sign of growing bipartisan concern about the project.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
April 17, 2016 – 12:05 PM
One might think – or at least hope –that the men and women who occupy the state Capitol would devote themselves tirelessly to resolving complex issues of a very diverse and difficult-to-govern state.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
April 14, 2016 – 12:24 PM
The independent expenditure on behalf of Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernardino, should sharpen the divisions in a race showcasing liberal discontent with business-friendly Assembly Democrats. Environmental and labor groups angered by Brown’s stance on climate legislation last year have backed a challenger and fellow Democrat, attorney Eloise Gomez Reyes.
Phil Willon
April 13, 2016
The calls to Encino attorney Janice Kamenir-Reznik came every few weeks, pleading for her to run for the California state Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Fran Pavley.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
April 12, 2016 – 3:27 PM
Elections come and go, legislative leaders rise and fall, but one constant remains in Sacramento: Soda taxes can’t get traction.
April 5th, 2016 – 11:10 am ·
The signing of a bill that will gradually raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour was a cause for celebration among the state’s Democrats on Monday, April 4.
But in the race between two Democrats for an Inland Assembly seat, the new wage provided more fodder for attacks. Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, D-San Bernardino, voted for the minimum wage legislation signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.
By Shea Johnson, Staff Writer
Posted Apr. 3, 2016 at 3:21 PM
The California Secretary of State and San Bernardino County Election’s office released their lists of certified candidates Friday, detailing the make-up of six pivotal local races. The lists show not much changed in recent weeks with the exception of some fringe candidates not qualifying for the ballot.
Liam Dillon and Patrick McGreevy
March 31, 2016
In a move that puts California at the forefront of efforts to raise wages for low-income workers across the country, the Legislature approved a sweeping plan Thursday to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years, boosting the future paychecks of millions of the state’s workers.
By Monica Rodriguez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Posted: 03/12/16 – 7:48 PM PST |
After meeting Friday’s deadline for submitting nomination papers to county Registrar of Voters offices, scores of candidates seeking seats at the local, state and federal level are gearing up for the June 7 primary election.
Christine Mai-Duc
March 12, 2016
What happens when a Democratic lawmaker strays from party leaders on a key piece of Gov. Jerry Brown’s policy agenda? One assemblywoman who held back support for a sweeping climate-change bill last year is starting to find out.
Patrick McGreevy and Liam Dillon
March 2, 2016
State legislators accepted more than $892,000 in gifts last year, including foreign trips, expensive dinners, concert and sports tickets, golf games, spa treatments, Disneyland admissions and bottles of tequila and wine, according to filings released Wednesday.
Patrick McGreevey
March 3, 2016
Twenty-one state legislators on Wednesday disclosed that they attended a conference in Maui last November that was paid for by a non-profit group funded by special interests including the oil industry and state worker unions.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
March 1, 2016 – 2:59 PM
There was a time, at least 40 years ago, when the governor and the Legislature made public policy for California.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
February 29, 2016 – 6:10 PM
When Republicans gained a few seats in the Legislature two years ago, they regained their power over tax increases.
By Melanie Mason
February 29, 2016
Culminating a prolonged, wonky debate that has consumed the Capitol for months, legislators on Monday approved a new tax on healthcare plans that would help finance the state’s public healthcare program for the poor.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
February 28, 2016 – 4:01 PM
So you, a conscientious voter, read the language, the official summary, the economic analysis and the pro and con arguments before voting on a state ballot measure.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
February 22, 2016 – 3:54 PM
Opposition to new taxes has been a bedrock stance for Republican legislators, one they can enforce because taxes require two-thirds legislative votes.
Published: Feb. 18, 2016 2:14 p.m.
Two Democrats running to represent part of San Bernardino County in the Assembly continue to gather endorsements that reflect a matchup between the Democratic establishment and liberals who want to take down a moderate incumbent.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
February 10, 2016 – 3:33 PM
The daily fantasy sports industry’s string of easy wins in the California Legislature may be about to end.
By Melody Gutierrez
February 8, 2016
Updated: February 9, 2016 – 7:27am
SACRAMENTO — A fight over encryption-protected smartphone data is heating up in California and New York where lawmakers and law enforcement groups are pushing bills to enable investigators to unscramble data to obtain critical evidence in human trafficking, terrorism and child pornography cases.
Published: Feb. 5, 2016 Updated: 1:49 p.m.
After her rival won the Democratic Party’s pre-endorsement, state Assembly candidate Eloise Reyes is striking back with the AFL-CIO’s help.
To read post by Jeff Horseman in The P-E Political Empire Blog, click here.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
February 5, 2016 7:17 PM
California’s campaign finance disclosure calendar means the public only now is getting a look at elected officials’ fundraising and spending during the second half of 2015.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
February 5, 2016 2:06 PM
Members of the California Legislature began the election year with more than $40 million cash on hand after raising about $39 million last year, according to campaign reports filed this week.
Capitol Alert
By Alexei Koseff
akoseff@sacbee.com
January 30, 2016 3:23 PM
Despite an unusual challenge from a fellow Democrat, Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown received enough support at a delegate vote in her San Bernardino-area district Saturday to secure the party’s endorsement at its upcoming convention.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
January 29, 2016 3:07 PM
Assemblyman Eric Linder could be a Democratic target this year, with at least three Democrats so far announcing candidacies for Linder’s western Riverside County district.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
January 24, 2016 – 9:02 AM
The single most important factor in writing a new state budget is determining how much money there is to spend.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
January 14, 2016 3:39 PM
There’s nothing like a family feud to expose jealousies and rivalries that have been percolating for years.
Published: Jan. 7, 2016 – Updated: 10:24 p.m.
Most if not all of the elected offices on the 2016 Inland ballot will have a choice between two or more candidates.
But right now, a handful of races for assembly, state senate and congressional seats appear to be more competitive than others. Incumbents tend to have a big advantage because they can raise more money and enjoy greater name recognition than their opponents, and many legislative districts are drawn in a way that favors one party.
To read article by Jeff Horseman in The Press-Enterprise, click here.
By Staff Reports
Posted Jan. 5, 2016
Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, was named Tuesday to a leadership position in the state Assembly.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
January 4, 2016 2:37 PM
Halfway through the 2015-16 fiscal year, state finances are continuing to improve with billions of extra revenue dollars.
Ordinarily, that would be good news.
Juliet Williams, Associated Press
Sunday, January 3, 2016 – Updated: 10:57 am
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers return to the Capitol Monday facing two of the most vexing problems from last year: a looming $1 billion hole in funding for the state’s health care program for the poor and a $59 billion backlog in road repairs needed over the next decade.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
January 3, 2016 4:01 PM
Democrats won supermajorities – more than two-thirds of the seats – in both houses of the Legislature in 2012.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
December 31, 2015 – 2:26 PM
Since 2016 is a number divisible by 2, this is also an election year, and that biennial fact will dominate – and perhaps distort – California politics in the forthcoming months.
Capitol Alert
By Alexei Koseff
akoseff@sacbee.com
December 30, 2015 10:00 PM
No legislators were arrested for corruption, but 2015 was another turbulent year in California politics, full of globetrotting politicians, hours upon hours of emotional testimony at the Capitol, and the state’s first open U.S. Senate race in more than two decades. If you can’t remember it all, we’ve got you covered – from the landmark legislation to the television sitcom appearances.
John Myers
December 11, 2015
In the eyes of Martin Weil, it’s not the hard slog of political deal-making that explains why his 26-year old daughter, a quadriplegic with cerebral palsy who is unable to speak, struggles to keep the services she needs.
It’s more like political malpractice.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
November 8, 2015
Thirty-six years after it erupted, Capitol old-timers still marvel at the ferocity of a historic Democrat-vs.-Democrat battle for the Assembly speakership.
Dan Walters
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
October 26, 2015
Odd things happen during the final hours of any legislative session as hundreds of bills are processed in what one sage accurately termed a “sausage factory.”
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
October 25, 2015
Were the El Niño phenomenon to actually generate copious rainstorms in California, it could create a dilemma for homeowners with elderly roofs – patch the leaks or spend big bucks for a new roof.
Chris Megerian
October 18, 2015
A little more than a year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown was touting an outbreak of bipartisanship in the Capitol. Lawmakers from both parties backed crucial deals on water and state finances — “a high point in our work together,” the governor said.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
October 13, 2015
More than 100 of the 133 bills Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed this year cleared the Legislature with bipartisan super-majority support. That also happens to be the threshold needed for a gubernatorial veto override, should lawmakers so desire.
They probably don’t.
By Jessica Calefati
jcalefati@bayareanewsgroup.com
Posted: 10/12/2015 06:02:18 AM PDT
Updated: 10/12/2015 06:03:01 AM PDT
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown often quotes erudite authors and ancient texts to help explain his thinking. But in a raft of vetoes issued ahead of Sunday’s midnight deadline to act on legislation, his message came through loud and clear — Legislature, you messed up.
.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
October 11, 2015
One of the chores the Legislature left undone when it adjourned was spending billions of dollars from auctioning carbon dioxide emission credits.
Capitol Alert
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
October 10, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown, warning of a “precariously balanced” state budget and the prospect of more than $1 billion in spending cuts next year, on Saturday vetoed a slate of bills to create new tax credits or expand existing ones.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
October 10, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown, offering a mixed reaction to legislative proposals to change the political-ethics law he helped pass 40 years ago, signed a bill Saturday to require nonprofit groups that pay for lawmaker travel to disclose their donors.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
September 25, 2015
Lawmakers miss votes for multiple reasons.
Sometimes they are not present because of illness or have been excused from session for legislative or personal business, such as campaign meetings. Sometimes lawmakers are present yet still don’t vote.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 21, 2015
Toni Atkins probably would prefer to remain the Democratic speaker of the state Assembly indefinitely, but she can’t.
By Chris Megerian and Melanie Mason
September 12, 2015
One of Gov. Jerry Brown’s most ambitious environmental goals was hanging in the balance when two powerful California lawmakers met for dinner near the Capitol.
By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
September 12, 2015
As the final fortnight of the 2015 legislative session began, Capitol handicappers were predicting a concluding cascade of landmark legislation.
By Juliet Williams
Associated Press
Sep 12, 2015 – 1:32 PM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown has grown accustomed to reveling in political victories since his return to the state capital in 2011, his national luster restored by shoring up the state’s finances and the spotlight on his agenda to cut carbon emissions.
By Jeff McDonald |
Sept. 11, 2015 – 6:01 p.m.
Four bills aimed at reforming the California Public Utilities Commission passed the state Legislature on Friday and are headed to the Governor’s Office for consideration.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
September 11, 2015
Sometime early this morning, weary lawmakers will trudge out of the Capitol following a final rush of votes for the year.
Lisa Leff
Associated Press
Sep 11, 2015 – 5:08 AM EDT
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers were expected to vote Friday on a proposal to create the first regulatory framework for the state’s thriving but unruly medical marijuana industry after lawmakers reached an 11th-hour compromise on a trio of marijuana bills.
Capitol Alert
By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
September 10, 2015
Gov. Jerry Brown gets his way with the California Legislature so often that his defeat on major climate and transportation initiatives this week put him in an unusual defensive spot.
By Melanie Mason
September 8, 2015
Lawmakers in the Assembly narrowly approved a bill that would put in place stricter privacy limits on police access to emails and other electronic communications.
Capitol Alert
By Jim Miller
jmiller@sacbee.com
September 7, 2015
Lawmakers soaked up the sun and applause at Labor Day picnics around California on Monday, a respite of friendly crowds before a final rush of legislating that begins Tuesday.
September 5, 2015
In July of this year the State of California passed a total budget of $167 Billion including general fund, special funds, and bond fund expenditures. This is an all-time record funded primarily by increased revenue created by higher taxes on all Californians as well as improved revenues from wealthy taxpayers whose income actually increased.
Capitol Alert
By Jeremy B. White
jwhite@sacbee.com
September 3, 2015
Moving to designate a leader with just days remaining in this year’s legislative session, Assembly Democrats on Thursday voted unanimously to make Assemblyman Anthony Rendon their next speaker.