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

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

Senate passes greenhouse gas global warming bill, 23-14, all Republicans present voting NO…coming our way.… 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

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

Hubris is defined as "Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance."

That is what came to my mind as I saw this press release come over the transom from the Governor’s office:

Sometimes you get it right, and sometimes you don’t.

I heard from Chris Anderson, the CEO over at the Orange County Register.

The last line of his note to me more or less summed up his take on those parts of my column yesterday that referenced the Orange County Register and Freedom Communications: "So basically you didn’t get anything right except the spelling of the editorial staff’s names."

This was in reference to my pointed comments about how the Orange County Register has been silent on the issue of the KOCE sale.

He pointed out that their paper has, in fact, covered the sale, and that there is no deal as of yet with KOCE to lease them space, due to the fact that KOCE’s status is in limbo, but that if they were to come over, they would be charged below-market rates. Anderson told me that, in fact, the space is not currently sitting vacant, but is being used. Lastly, Anderson said that he has never given any direction to the Editorial Staff to not write on this issue.

So,… Read More

Earlier this afternoon, I half-jokingly put up a photo of Orange County Register senior editorial writer Steve Greenhut, challening him (and the Register) to write on the attrocious attempt by the Coast Community College District and the KOCE Foundation to change state law to allow the District to sell KOCE Television to the KOCE Foundation for less than fair market value (creating a de facto multi-million dollar gift of taxpayer dollars to the Foundation).

Steve Greenhut, ladies and gentlemen, has risen to the challenge (click here for his whole piece).

Over on the Register website, on the O.C. Punch Editorial Blogpage, Greenhut pens a piece where he starts by saying: