Understanding Jerry Brown’s Prison Realignment Program
Two and a half years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that California’s prisons were overcrowded, and that the prison system could not hold more than 109, 805 inmates at a time. The ruling also required state prison officials to reduce the inmate population by about 33,000 criminals. Prior to the ruling, Democrats drafted legislation […]
Initiative Proponents As Elected Officials
The recently filed pension initiative includes language at the end (as noted by Joel Fox here) designed to make sure that the measure’s proponents can defend it in court if it passes. One way it does that is by including language that would treat proponents somewhat like elected officials, who would take the state constitution’s […]
Loading Ammunition to Beat the Recalls Over Guns
On Friday, I wrote about the effort of gun rights supporters to recall a sampling of legislators who voted for legislation regulating access to guns and ammunition. I further wrote that the proponents erred in selecting five Democrat legislators who are all Latino, providing ample, uh, ammunition, against the effort. None of the targets were authors of […]
Stop the Presses – California Continues to Pass Legal Reforms!
As the first half of the 2013-2014 legislative session comes to a close, it’s time to review what has happened so far. According to the Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC), there were over 2,500 bills introduced in 2013. Of those, Governor Brown signed 800 regular session bills into law and vetoed 96 bills. His […]
Critics are Barking Up the Wrong Tree
In the dog-eat-dog world of Sacramento politics, no one is off limits. Not even man’s best friend. Last Friday, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a front-page story by newshound Carla Marinucci about an arrangement between the governor and an influential lobbyist. Jennifer Fearing, the Humane Society’s top dog in Sacramento, regularly walks Sutter, a loveable […]