Thursday, March 28, 2013 – 09:30 a.m.

Here’s some news flowing across the transom Thursday morning.

Barstow Court to remain open

The state has coughed-up funds to temporarily keep one courtroom open at the Barstow Court facility through early summer.

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March 17, 2013; 06:35 PM

Turnout in last Tuesday’s special election in Inland Southern California’s 32nd Senate District stands at a whopping 9.6 percent.

To read the Political Empire column in The Press Enterprise, click here.

Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Pomona, and state Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands. (Contributed Image)

March 06, 2013; 03:55 PM

SACRAMENTO – Inland Southern California lawmakers received more than $50,000 in gifts and travel from businesses, unions, and other groups in 2012, according to recently filed economic disclosure documents.

To read story by Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
January 06, 2013; 06:33 PM

You’ve spent more than a year running for Congress, endured millions of dollars in attacks from your opponent and shadowy Super PACs, and yet still prevailed.

To read column by Jeff Horseman, Imran Ghori and Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.

December 23, 2012; 08:00 PM

It didn’t get a single hearing last time around, but no matter: Assemblyman Brian Nestande is back with legislation that would prohibit the state from postponing required payments to schools from one fiscal year to the next.

To read column, by Ben Goad, Imran Ghori and Jim Miller in The Press Enterprise, click here.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012 – 09:00 a.m.

Republican Assemblyman Mike Morrell turned back a challenge by Businessman Russ Warner (D-Rancho Cucamonga) Tuesday night.

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By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

California lawmakers would repeal a controversial $150 fire prevention fee on rural homeowners in return for raising taxes on numerous out-of-state corporations under legislation proposed Friday.

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Nestande

Politics Blog
By Marisa Lagos
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 – 03:32 p.m.

It appears that California Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert (Riverside County), is the latest victim of the state GOP’s intransigent position on taxes.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
August 13, 2012

By a razor-thin margin, the California Assembly passed legislation today to raise a billion dollars annually for middle-class college scholarships by altering tax law for numerous out–of-state corporations..

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Emmerson

Posted on | June 25, 2012

Legislation by state Sen. Bill Emmerson that would let counties raise recording fees on certain real-estate documents didn’t get a warm welcome Monday from many of his fellow Republicans in the Assembly.

The bill by Emmerson, R-Hemet, would allow counties to increase real-estate recording fees from $3 to $10, with the extra money paying to beef up real-estate fraud protection and prosecution. The California District Attorneys Association sponsored the measure.

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Wednesday, June 6, 2012 – 09:45 a.m.

There were other contests that were mainly non-controversial in nature.

Here are those results.

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BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 25 May 2012 07:40 PM

SACRAMENTO — The campaign trail is mostly quiet in four Riverside County Assembly seats on the June 5 ballot where any potential for major action is in the fall.

Nowhere more so than in the county’s all-new 61st Assembly District, which includes the eastern half of Riverside, Moreno Valley and Perris.

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Nestande

By PE Politics
May 22, 2012 12:15 PM

Calling for an “honest conversation” about spending cuts, Assemblyman Brian Nestande and others Tuesday proposed a constitutional amendment to prohibit lawmakers from deferring scheduled payments to schools from one fiscal year to another.

The state has built up more than $10 billion in school-funding deferrals as lawmakers try to avoid permanent general-fund cuts.

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STAFF REPORTS
Published: 23 March 2012 07:29 PM

State lawmakers had a debate last week about nothing.

Nothing, as in the contents of some six-dozen sparsely worded “spot,” or shell, bills that someday will contain hundreds of pages of legislation implementing California’s 2012-13 budget.

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BY JULIET WILLIAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: 13 March 2012 07:56 PM

SACRAMENTO — Lawmakers in the Assembly will hit the campaign trail this year, touting their votes on all manner of bills. Can we believe them? What they say may not be a true reflection of the stand they took when the bill was being debated.

California is one of at least 10 states in which some lawmakers can cast or change their votes after a bill has passed or failed.

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Neil Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Posted: 11/28/2011 05:51:35 PM PST

Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series looking at the newly redrawn Inland Empire legislative districts for California’s Assembly. Sunday’s installment was Congress; on Monday we examined the California Senate.

When members of California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission compiled the state’s new political maps, they did so in hopes of ending gerrymandering.

An early look at Assembly races in this region seem to indicate they have succeeded in creating a more competitive atmosphere. The commission released the new maps in July.

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BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 27 November 2011 09:57 PM

SACRAMENTO – Instead of voting yes or no, members of Inland Southern California’s legislative delegation abstained on hundreds of bills that came before the full Assembly and Senate this year.

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Paul Gann, left, and Howard Jarvis, celebrate the passage of Prop. 13 in 1978. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association recently released legislative scorecards for 2011. The scores are of particular interest to Republicans./AP

FROM STAFF REPORTS
Published: 20 November 2011 05:33 PM

Various Capitol interest groups began releasing legislative scorecards shortly after lawmakers finished their 2011 session in September.

Holding particular interest for Republicans are the rankings put out by Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The organization, named after the force behind 1978’s tax-limiting Prop. 13, has a lot of influence in GOP circles, particularly at election time.

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John Tavaglione

Political Empire

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Press-Enterprise

Riverside County Supervisor John Tavaglione already is gearing up for his congressional bid in a new district centered on Riverside and Moreno Valley.

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10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Press-Enterprise

Inland lawmakers state Sen. Joel Anderson and Rep. Ken Calvert would seem to have had their prayers answered in the Senate and congressional remaps approved last month.

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By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press
Posted: 08/15/2011 10:53:38 AM PDT
Updated: 08/15/2011 10:53:40 AM PDT

SACRAMENTO — The Assembly this month released budget figures that should have shined a light on lawmakers’ spending, after a formal request for them from a legislator who is embroiled in a feud with the Democratic leadership over his office budget.

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10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 2, 2011

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – Being at the center of Capitol budget negotiations earlier this year seems to have been good for the bottom line of state Sen. Bill Emmerson’s campaign committee.

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State Controller John Chiang

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, July 3, 2011

The Press-Enterprise

Word came late last week in the state Capitol that some Democratic lawmakers were jettisoning bills sponsored by Controller John Chiang.

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By PE Politics
May 31, 2011 2:17 PM

Legislative appropriations panels claimed dozens of Inland Southern California lawmakers’ bills late last week.

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Lake Elsinore Councilwoman Melissa Melendez and Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, answer questions Thursday during the California Speaks Out event organized by the state Republican Party in Riverside. (Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer)

By James Rufus Koren Staff Writer
Created: 04/21/2011 09:26:18 PM PDT

RIVERSIDE – Republicans brought their traveling budget show to the Inland Empire on Thursday evening, with state Republican leaders and elected officials talking about their ideas for restoring prosperity to California.

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Mitzelfelt

10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt wants to give transportation planners in the nation’s biggest county a higher profile.

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By PE Politics
March 30, 2011 1:56 PM

California would award its 55 electoral votes to the presidential candidate who won the national popular vote under bipartisan legislation co-authored by Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert.

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Wyatt Buchanan, Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, March 15, 2011

(03-15) 04:00 PDT Sacramento – –

Democrats are planning to put at least part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget plan up for a vote this week, days after the governor’s self-imposed March 10 deadline.

And while no budget deal has been reached, Republican lawmakers already wary of a compromise are facing a new pressure: At this weekend’s GOP convention, one group is threatening to label anyone who supports the governor’s plan a traitor.

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11:46 PM PST on Tuesday, March 8, 2011

By JIM MILLER and BEN GOAD
The Press-Enterprise

California’s political landscape lurched to the east Tuesday as new census numbers point to a major increase in representation for Inland Southern California over the next decade.

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10:00 PM PST on Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Press-Enterprise

The next election is never far off and two Inland Southern California lawmakers already are taking steps toward a possible future candidacy.

Last week, Assembly members Wilmer Amina Carter and Paul Cook opened campaign committees to run for state Senate.

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Baca

10:00 PM PST on Sunday, December 19, 2010

The Press-Enterprise

Four of the five members of Inland Southern California’s congressional delegation are poised to return to the majority party when Republicans take back control of the House of Representatives next month.

And then there is Joe Baca. The Rialto Democrat has enjoyed majority status for the past four years, but will be relegated to the House minority, at least for the next two years.

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By PE Politics
on December 15, 2010 12:56 PM

Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, released committee assignments Wednesday for the 2011-2012 session.

A few notables among the Inland Southern California delegation:

* Democrats picked up two seats in the last election, but Assemblyman Paul Cook remains chairman of the Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. Cook, R-Yucca Valley, is one of just two Republican committee chairs in the Assembly.

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Nestande

By PE Politics
on December 13, 2010 12:07 PM

Assembly GOP Leader Connie Conway has tapped Inland Assemblyman Brian Nestande as Republican Caucus Chair, the 28-member caucus’ second-highest job.

Nestande, R-Palm Desert, represents a district that extends from Riverside to the Coachella Valley. First elected in 2008, Nestande was re-elected to a second term last month with 57.3 percent of the vote.

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10:26 PM PDT on Wednesday, October 13, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger soon will sign legislation that rolls back retirement benefits for state workers, achieving a years-long goal after he and the Legislature’s Republican caucuses demanded pension changes as part of any budget agreement.

But several Inland GOP members nevertheless opposed the measure or abstained from voting during last week’s all-night session, amid heavy lobbying by the union representing prison guards.

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Nestande

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, June 24, 2010

Residents can meet with Assemblyman Brian Nestande from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday in Riverside. Nestande represents an area that includes Lake Elsinore, Murrieta, Temecula, Perris, Hemet and Riverside.

Nestande will meet with constituents at Coco’s Restaurant, 1303 University Ave., Riverside. Information: 951-369-6644.

10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, May 27, 2010

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO – Primary losses for legislative incumbents are about as common as meteor strikes in California, but two Inland members find themselves with challenges next month in this most sour of campaign seasons.

Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, D-Rialto, and Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, are among five legislators statewide who face primary opponents in the June 8 election.

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