Bill fails 39-37, can be reconsidered tomorrow.

AB 352, the bill to require that ammo cartridges have an ID stamp on them so they can supposedly be traced back to the gun owner in a crime scene, is on the floor, amidst a hot debate. It passed the Senate 22-18 previously withall Republicans voting no.Assembly votes sit at 37-29 in favor, on call.… Read More

Since awarding the Golden Trash Can Award to the KOCE bill that allows the de facto public subsidy of millions to the Foundation that wants to buy the TV station, we’ve been following the bill.

Today is the third day that this bill has been languishing on the Senate Floor. Early reports were that Senator Tom Harman had agreed to be the floor jockey for the bill, but then dropped it like a hot potato, leaving its author, Assemblywoman Carol Liu of Los Angeles, without anyone to bring it up for a vote. Then we heard that another Los Angeles County Democrat, State Senator Alan Lowenthal agreed to “jockey” the bill. But the ‘stink’ associated with this bad bill was too much even for him, and he dropped out as jockey. Now the latest is that the bill supporters had to go all the way to the Bay Area to find a new ‘jockey’ – State Senator Tom Torlackson. We’ll see if he holds on to the stinky hot potato, or not.

Perhaps they should keep looking for support even further to the north – perhaps just bilking Oregon taxpayers instead of ones here in the Golden State..… Read More

AB 2911, the bill forcing drug companies to offer voluntary discount drug pricing is up on our floor. It had passed out of the Senate, party line, 25-12 previously. "Republican Ally" Al Sharpton even opposes this legislation as it would hurt the poor as well as suppressing new drug research. It costs hundreds of millions to bring new drugs to market, especially considering the ‘dry wells’ that don’t work out after much research costs.

It’s funny [not funny] to hear how the drug companies have 3 years to comply with this "voluntary" mandate. The first tally is 42-28 on a party line vote.… Read More

As this year’s election year legislative session comes to a close yet another good government bill has been left stranded in Sacramento. The Senate Appropriations Committee currently holds AB 1634, authored by Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy with strong support from Secretary of State Bruce McPherson (pictured below), in suspense.

AB 1634 would fully reimburse county governments for the costs they incurred during last year’s Special Election with no impact on current or future budgets – as the money has already been set aside. When the Special Election was called, Secretary McPherson recommended that the proclamation include language to reimburse the counties for their costs. California has held a large number of elections in the last 5 years and county governments are feeling the squeeze.

If this bill does not pass, some counties are going to have to make cuts to important services such as law enforcement, health services and infrastructure… Read More

I don’t know whereJon finds the time. Check out his first post.

Since Matt Cunninghamhas already been amember of the FlashReport blogpen for a while, voluntarily blessing us with his eloquent writing and sharp wit, it’s probably only fair for Jon to contribute to Jubal/Matt’s site.

Red County/OC Blog(nee OC Blog) – for those unaware – is the make it or break it political websitein and onOrange County, having built up a powerful reputation as a highly credible (initially-) anonymous blog. It’s a site one should always have a window open to or tabbed.… Read More

The Trip III. Route: Sacramento to LA via the 99 then the 5 to downtown San Diego. Me, Valerie, and Ella.

9:30 Left Sacramento after a having to trot back home for something we forgot.

10:00 Stockton

10:10 – 10:45. Freeway gridlock south of Stockton for road repair. When we reached the location of the ‘repair’ (no joke) we found 14 CalTrans workers literally leaning on their shovels while one fellow shoveled in a hole. Much to my chagrin, my camera was in the trunk.

11:00 Modesto

11:30 Merced

12:30 Fresno. Here we went through the Jack in the Box drive through. My second hamburger was most unwholesome (It felt like it had a four day growth of beard) and I had to put it down. I’m still a little nauseous from thinking about it and don’t think I’m game for fast food for a while.

1:45 Bakersfield. The worse part of this drive, without a doubt, either direction, is the drive between Fresno and Bakersfield. It may only be an hour and fifteen minutes but it seems like 3 hours.

2:45 Magic Mountain. I was going about 85 mph here and a Hell’s Angels fellow sped past me like I was… Read More

FR friend Hank Shaw, State Capitol reporter for the Stockton Record, penned a blog post yesterday where he noted that Congressman Richard Pombo’s Democrat challenger in the 11th District, Jerry McNerney, had dumped his campaign spokesperson (after some stories surfaced about person’s drinking habits). In his place, McNerney has brought on Rob Caughlan, who was the spokesperson for Pombo’s now-decimated Republican primary opponent, Pete McCloskey.

McNerney has famously changed his positions on dozens of issues since winning his Democrat primary. You have to wonder, by bringing on McCloskey’s old flack, if that means that McNerney shares McCloskey’s alarmingly dismissive views about the "so-called Holocaust" (those are McCloskey’s words).

I’m not in Stockton, but as a Jewish kid, I will be offended at long-distance. McNerney should be distancing himself from anyone and anything having to do with McCloskey — instead,… Read More

Every piece of legislation that comes up for a vote in the legislature is analyzed by consultants on both the Republican and Democrat sides of the isle. This review and summary of a bill help legislators to sort out the good from the bad.

Well, it is no wonder why Republicans are distancing themselves from Assembly Bill 523, by LA Democrat Carol Liu, that would allow the Coast Community College District to sell their television station (KOCE) to KOCE’s Foundation for millions under top market value. Current law prohibits that, but now the district, helped by Liu (who isn’t even from Orange County) are working an end-run around the law, by trying to ‘sneak through’ legislation that, literally, only applies to this one instance, and would specifically allow the station to be sold at less than market value.

Well, the experienced analysts for Senate Republicans looked at this bill and they have some very serious concerns that this bill could in fact allow for a "gift of public funds" by allowing a government asset to specifically be sold at less than market value, and therefore the proposed law if enacted could very well be a… Read More