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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Sacramento, CA – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law legislation that will help law enforcement officials track down and apprehend armed criminals and other prohibited persons. AB 962 by Assembly Member Kevin DeLeon (D-Los Angeles) had the support of law enforcement officials from across the state and was modeled after successful city ordinances, including the cities of Sacramento and Los Angeles. AB 962 was the Brady Campaign´s top priority bill in this year´s legislature. The law requires maintenance of purchaser records by handgun ammunition vendors. Local law enforcement can use these records to find illegal guns. "The purchase records will...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California is imposing a 90-day moratorium on housing foreclosures under a new law that takes effect Monday. The law is expected to make lenders try harder to keep borrowers in their homes. Loan companies must prove they tried to modify the delinquent loans before they can begin foreclosing. But supporters acknowledge the California Foreclosure Prevention Act won't stop thousands of foreclosures from eventually happening. There have been more than 365,000 foreclosures in California since early 2007, with many more already scheduled. The bill passed in February is similar to the Obama administration's Making Home Affordable Program that began in...

CALIFORNIA ALERT SYSTEMMultiple Organization Alert NRA Members' Councils of California   CAL-ERT  06/12/09 --- Noon ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ CALIFORNIA REGULATORY ALERTThis information is accurate at the time this CAL-ERT was written and originally distributed. The NRA Members' Councils of California and the California Rifle and Pistol Association have issued this alert in a cooperative effort and will keep you informed as issues affect your gun-rights in California. EXPANSION OF THE BAN ON LEAD AMMUNITION MAY BE ATTEMPTED BY FISH & GAME HISTORY: On February 5, 2009, we informed you that the California Fish and Game Commission was considering a state-wide ban...

After being placed in the suspense file, and everyone thinking it was dead, Assembly Bill 962 is moving through the state legislature again. It passed the state Assembly Wednesday and now moves to the state Senate. How it got this far is a mystery. In case you've forgotten, Los Angeles Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon's bill would: 1. Stop the sale of more than 50 rounds of handgun ammunition per month to individuals. Since "handgun" ammunition is not defined anywhere in the bill, it effectively means "all" ammunition, since you can buy handguns in just about any metallic cartridge today. It would...

What budget crisis? As California faces what one official this week called a complete meltdown of state government, some lawmakers have their minds on other matters. Like creating a blueberry commission. Or standing up for pomegranate juice. And, in what passes for health reform in the nation's most populous state, ensuring that the name tags of medical workers are in 18-point font. Those are among the hundreds of bills being debated in the California Legislature as the state faces a $24.3 billion deficit and the prospect of running out of cash by late July. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has urged lawmakers...

State workers, you're the face of California government – and for many outside of it, you're also the hired help.What really ticks off the "boss" is that their money pays your wages, but they feel powerless to dictate what you do or what you earn doing it.The complaints surface on The State Worker blog, in phone calls and e-mails. Here are a few, with numbers: • State workers make more than the "boss." California state employees' average base pay in 2008 was $63,815, according to a Bee analysis of state wage data that excluded the university systems. The median, the...

The Assembly today approved a union-backed bill that would prohibit cities and counties from filing for bankruptcy without state approval. ... Unions want the state to weigh in on bankruptcies because the filings could void union contracts cities and counties have with workers.

California voters freed the state's egg-laying hens last fall, but Proposition 2 left a big loophole: Supermarkets could still sell eggs laid by caged birds in other states. Now, animal-welfare advocates are backing legislation requiring every egg sold in California to be from a cage-free hen. Assembly Bill 1437 would greatly expand the scope of the state's ban on standard egg-laying cages, which is scheduled to take effect in 2015. Economists predict Proposition 2, on its own, will drive up imports of cheap, conventionally produced eggs, pushing many in-state farms out of business. If AB 1437 passes, though, it would...

Calif. bill would require Rx for cold pills Tuesday, June 2, 2009 A crime-fighting bill moving through the California Legislature would force patients to get a doctor's prescription to buy a common remedy for stuffy noses. The measure by Sen. Rod Wright, an Inglewood Democrat, would make it an infraction or misdemeanor to obtain ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or related drugs without a prescription. Those are common ingredients in cold medicines, but they're also used to make illegal methamphetamine. Wright says he wants to get them out of drug dealers' hands. But Sen. Sam Aanestad, an oral surgeon and Republican from Grass...

Already struggling to pay the state's current bills, California lawmakers took a sledgehammer Thursday to hundreds of proposals for new money-spending programs totaling billions of dollars. The message was simple: Coffers of the nation's largest state are bare. A torrent of legislation with a cumulative price tag of nearly $213.5 billion annually was reduced to a veritable trickle that would cost the state's general fund about $9.3 million annually if all bills ultimately become law. Victims included the most expensive legislative proposal of all, Senate Bill 810, which called for creation of a state-run system to provide health care to...

As the state's acute budget crisis shows, it is absolutely crucial for California to have a hospitable business climate. Without a healthy economy, there is not enough tax revenue to sustain even basic government programs. One would think this would have finally sunk in with the Democrats who control the Legislature, given the plunge in revenue over the past two years and the resulting budget carnage. One would be wrong. The California Chamber of Commerce's recently released list of “job-killer” bills now pending in Sacramento is like a greatest hits collection of anti-business legislation. There are the usual attempts to...

With encouragement from an Oscar-winning screenwriter, a state Senate committee approved legislation Wednesday that would designate a day honoring slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk. The Senate Education Committee voted 7-2 to send the bill by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, to the full Senate. It would designate each May 22 — Milk's birthday — as Harvey Milk Day. The "day of special significance" would recognize Milk's life and contributions to the state but would not be an official holiday, meaning there would be no cost to state government. It also would encourage public schools to conduct "suitable commemorative exercises"...

The state energy commission denies it wants to ban any kind of television sets. They claim that they just want to limit the market only to those models that provide better energy efficiency in order to save costs and cut down on emissions. The Orange County Register notes that the annual savings in energy costs between comparable plasma and LCD models amounts to a grand total of $30 per year.

The Los Angeles times is reporting that the California state senate has passed a bevy of bills that will increase the cost of doing business. First, they passed a bill, SB 789, to allow the state equivalent of federal “card check,” allowing farmworkers unions to form without a secret ballot. According to the LA Times, “Instead of holding an election with secret ballots, workers could submit cards, signed by a majority of the workers asking for representation, to state labor authorities.” This is bad policy – and more than that, it encourages bullying tactics from union thugs. How many people...

Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009. It has already started: 'Ammunition Accountability' Legislation. Remember how Obama said that he wasn't going to take your guns? Well, it seems that his allies in the anti-gun world have no problem with taking your ammo! The bill that is being pushed in 18 states (including Illinois and Indiana) requires all ammunition to be encoded by the manufacturer, a data base of all ammunition sales. So, they will know how much you buy and what calibers. Nobody can sell any ammunition after June 30, 2009 unless the ammunition is coded. Any...

California gun laws could get tighter On the tenth anniversary of the deadly high school shootings in Columbine, Colo., California lawmakers announced new efforts to keep guns and ammunition away from people who are barred from possessing those items. Assemblyman Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, is backing a bill to require people who sell handgun ammunition to be licensed. It would also require sellers to conduct business face-to-face, bar Internet or mail order sales and require a thumbprint and other identifying information of people who buy ammunition. That information would be given to state officials who could check it against...

DALY CITY — Every other minute, the Cow Palace marquee flashes, "Gun Show Coming, Gun Show Coming." That's a message that must stop, state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, said Friday in a news conference announcing the reintroduction of a bill intended to end gun shows at the venue. "It's astounding a state-owned property is being used to promote weapons of death," Leno said. "We know they're used legally, but in a neighborhood that experiences unconscionable rates of gun violence, it's just maddening." Crossroads of the West Gun Show is scheduled to take place at the Cow Palace on May...

A measure that would require utilities to receive one-third of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020 passed off the Senate floor Tuesday with the bare minimum of 21 votes. The bill, SB 14 by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-San Jose, has been tagged as a top priority for Senate leader Darrel Steinberg. The bill’s passage was the first major policy decision in which Steinberg muscled a proposal out of his house, despite reservations from many within his own party. When Steinberg took the leadership gavel in December, he noted three top legislative priorities that could give the Legislature “a...

. The author of California’s landmark law to curb greenhouse gas emissions has launched a two-year effort to expand the law’s reach into other operations, including logging, and shape the market place governing potentially billions of dollars worth of emissions credits. As the Legislature turns its focus from the state budget to legislation, dozens of ambitious new environmental proposals are emerging. But a bill by Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, could be among the biggest pieces of environmental legislation this year. Pavley is best known as the author of AB 32, California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Pavley, who...

Reporting from Sacramento -- Close to half a million jobless Californians are in line to get $3 billion in extended unemployment benefits from new legislation that could be signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as early as Friday. The money, part of President Obama's economic stimulus program, will be an immediate help to 76,000 people, whose current benefits were scheduled to run out on April 11. They'll now get an additional 20 weeks of assistance, increasing the total number available to a maximum of 79 weeks. Weekly unemployment benefits range between $65 and $475, depending on a person's earnings...

Here it is, AB 859 now in transportation committe in california. this would require yearly smog testing of cars 15 years and older with 1975 cut off. See below link listing teh proposed law, and the list of committee members with contact info: http://www.semasan.com/main/main.aspx?id=62541 Slowly but surely they have been increasing smog laws, registration fees and now this, yearly smog testing, which can coat nearly $100 for advanced enhanced area dyno tests. This will effect many classic cars, cars that may not be driven much at all (my 1980 Triumph will now require yearly smog testing, it is only used...

We are about to cripple California’s trucking and construction industries for absolutely no good reason. If I really believed the California Air Resources Board’s draconian new diesel emissions standards would save thousands of lives a year, I might say, sorry guys, you gotta suck it up for the greater good. But when you scratch the surface of the alleged science used by CARB to justify these rules, there’s just no “there” there. Our air is NOT killing us, despite what the “environmental alarmist complex” would have us believe.

A bevy of bipartisan California legislators vowed Monday to be better parents to the state's foster youth, pledging to extend their life-sustaining benefits through age 21 rather than casting them off as teenagers. Currently, most youth "aging out" of foster care are bounced off state support at 18, a tender age for a vulnerable population that often has nowhere to go and no one to rely on. But an assembly bill written by Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, would draw on newly available federal funds to support relative caregivers and transitional living programs through...

The California budget deficit could go away easily if liberals removed some of its unnecessary environmental regulations. California holds deposits of many resources including oil and gas that could be leased to companies for over 50 billion dollars. Unfortunately, the elite are blocking those efforts with shrieks of global warming and the fear of more people using cars and depending less of public transit, not to mention fears of oil spills and all this mumbo jumbo about animal rights. (Which take precedent over the rights of human beings every time, especially if they are not yet born.) Rich liberals and...

SACRAMENTO, CA (KGO) -- Finally, some much needed good news for homebuyers in California. New homebuyers will get a $10,000 state tax break starting this weekend. It is part of the deal that was negotiated to get the state budget passed.In a last minute deal to get Republican Senator Roy Ashburn to support the budget compromise last week, he asked for and got the credit. The properties in California must close escrow between March 1, 2009 and March 1, 2010. They must be brand new, single family homes that have never been occupied, and it must be the buyer's principal...

This billboard is catching people's attention as they drive on 101. California Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is the target of a billboard advertisement attracting attention alongside Highway 101 in Palo Alto. Grant Paulson of Pleasanton spent $10,000 to post a verbose message to Simitian, criticizing him for his efforts to pass a cell phone ban for California drivers. "Your Cell Phone Law Sucks," the message reads. "Amazing how one man's bad idea can screw over and inconvenience millions of people in California." Some drivers have complained that the sign has caused them to nearly get into accidents because of...

Many California planning and environmental groups are heralding the passage of legislation designed to address global warming by curbing suburban sprawl as a watershed moment, perhaps the state's most important land-use law in more than 30 years. "It's a sea change in the way we're planning and funding growth and development," said Stephanie Reyes, senior policy advocate with San Francisco's Greenbelt Alliance. "The winds are shifting, and this is the time to get on board." But she and other advocates acknowledge that the importance of SB375, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in late September, lies as much in...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-A Wall Street Journal opinion article that claimed California Attorney General Jerry Brown had waged "war on the suburbs" continues to reverberate around rural and suburban towns in California. Critics of Brown's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and slow urban sprawl have another target, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who rekindled the debate when he signed pro-environmental bills earlier this month. Editors at the Sun-Herald in rural Colusa, Calif., which lies 90 minutes north of Sacramento, became the latest to rebuke the Republican governor for acting too much like the Democratic attorney general. "In his zeal to battle...

SACRAMENTO – Eight years ago, 61 percent of California voters passed a novel initiative requiring treatment instead of jail or prison for tens of thousands of drug offenders. Supporters of that initiative are back with a follow-up measure that would require even greater leniency. Billionaire investor and liberal activist George Soros is helping fund Proposition 5 on the Nov. 4 ballot. The measure would prohibit sending paroled drug offenders back to prison for parole violations unless they commit a new felony, have a violent or serious record or are considered high risk by prison officials. The initiative would shorten parole...

 Contact: Agency Contact, 877-405-4005, Campaign for Children and Families   SACRAMENTO, California, October 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed three bills squashing moral values and religious freedom. By elevating the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda above the rights of everyone else, Schwarzenegger has confirmed his legacy is being the most anti-family Republican governor in California history.   "There is no gay gene, but religious freedom is a God-given right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. So it's wrong and unfair to create new laws which make homosexual-bisexual-transsexual 'rights' superior to everyone else's rights," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill that opponents say could open the door to the eventuality of physician-assisted suicide in the nation’s most populous state. AB 2747 mandates that physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants provide patients diagnosed with a terminal illness – or who have been given a diagnosis of one year or less to live – with “comprehensive information and counseling regarding legal end-of-life options, as specified.” Specifically the law obligates doctors to inform the patient about the option of “withholding or withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments” – including food and water. Health care providers...

Schwarzenegger signs euthanasia measure into law California moved a step closer to legalized mercy killing on Sept. 30, when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law the “California Right to Know End-of-Life Act of 2008.” The governor’s signature came in a flurry of bill signing on Tuesday evening, just hours before the statutory deadline for him to either sign or veto legislation. The governor’s press office announced he had signed the euthanasia bill at 7 p.m. The bill, AB 2747, by longtime assisted suicide advocate Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, could force Catholic physicians and other doctors in California who oppose mercy...

After a tumultuous year, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally get a break from one another – and, boy, do they need it. Democrats grew angry this week after Schwarzenegger finished vetoing 35 percent of the bills on his desk, a modern record. They're particularly incensed that the Republican governor issued a standard message for 136 of his 415 vetoes in which he blamed the state's 85-day budget delay. Schwarzenegger's unusual veto approach capped a divisive two months in which he turned combative with lawmakers as budget talks broke down. The governor drew their ire in late July after signing...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed first-in-the-nation legislation Tuesday that takes the campaign to curb global warming to the streets. The complex measure includes a series of incentives and penalties aimed at encouraging cities and counties to be more aggressive in enacting land use policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming. Sen. Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat who carried SB 375, said the measure "will be used as the national framework for fighting sprawl and transforming inevitable growth to smart growth. This is a historic day for California." The legislation would use up to $12 billion in...

For the second time in three years, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have established a government-run universal health care system. Senate Bill 840 by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, would have set up a single-payer system in which the state would assume the role that private insurance companies now play. In his veto message, the governor said he could not support "a bill that places an annual shortfall of over $40 billion to our state's economy."

[Veto message follows] To Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 37 without my signature. As I stated in vetoing similar legislation in 2006, I believe strongly in democracy and in honoring the will of the people. This bill represents a significant departure away from letting each individual state choose how to award its presidential electoral votes and towards a national vote for president. Because California’s endorsement of a national popular vote would significantly change the debate on the matter, enactment of this bill would represent a major shift in the way not only Californians but...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a proposed Harvey Milk Day. The measure would have set aside the birthday of the slain gay activist/politician in his memory and encourage public schools to commemorate and educate about the history of California's first openly gay politician. Schwarzenegger's veto came on the last day possible to kill the legislation introduced by openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and passed by lawmakers. In his veto message issued Tuesday, the governor explained his reasons for vetoing the measure. “I respect the author's intent to designate May 22nd as 'Harvey Milk Day' and a day...

PLEASE CALL GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD. The Number to call is : 1 916-445-2841 Legislature Passes Bill for 'Gay Day' Celebrations in California Public Schools By Peter J. Smith August 8, 2008, SACRAMENTO (LifeSiteNews. com) - California public schools soon will be planning 'gay day' celebrations every May 22 unless Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoes the legislation. Thursday the California Assembly approved AB 2567, which designates May 22 as 'Harvey Milk Day.' The 43 to 26 vote occurred on party lines with Democrats for, Republicans against. Earlier this week, AB 2567 passed the California State Senate on another...

California 'Central Planning'   If you live in California,  you already know  that the Inmates have taken over the Asylum.    ...If you don't want to end up 'living in a condo by the Railroad Tracks', do yourself a favor and either phone, or fax a letter to, Governor Schwartzenegger TODAY, urging him to oppose, and NOT sign SB 375.   See: http://reason.org/commentaries/staley_20080826.shtml for details... (...and see below for Arnold's fax number/address.) http://www.seadogbytes.com/sbimages/SB375_Steinberg.jpg   Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 Phone: (916) 445-2841, ext. 0 (and tell them you oppose SB 375) Fax: (916) 558-3160  

Earlier this month, a California activist began gathering signatures to put a state wealth tax on the ballot. The measure would impose a new 35% income surtax (in addition to federal taxes and the existing 10.3% top state rate), and penalize people who leave the state by seizing 55% of assets exceeding $20 million. The money raised would be used to eliminate the state's budget deficit and for purchasing controlling shares in large corporations. The 17.5% surtax is unusual because it would be on a taxpayer's total (not marginal) income whenever it exceeds $250,000, with another additional 17.5 percent tax...

SACRAMENTO -- -- Insurance companies could no longer cancel with impunity the health coverage of sick people under a measure passed Sunday in the last hour of the Legislature's session. Lawmakers also moved to require that chain restaurants tell patrons the calorie content of their food; restrict unscrupulous practices by mortgage lenders; launch state review of chemicals; ban the sale of recalled products; and give college financial assistance to illegal immigrants. The Legislature finished its work on bills Sunday, but because lawmakers have yet to agree to a budget -- it is 63 days overdue -- they will return next...

A California bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get drivers licenses is one step closer to becoming a state law. State senate bill 60 passed through the assembly Friday. If the bill becomes law, legislators say the estimated 2.2 million undocumented immigrants in California will apply for one, an idea that's creating a lot of controversy. "I think they should be able to get licenses just like everybody else," said Nicole Holland, a Fresnan who supports the bill. "They are already committing a crime coming over here," said Albert Ratliff, a Fresnan who opposes the bill. "I don't think...

SACRAMENTO – California is on the verge of initiating a historic rewrite of local planning laws, fusing for the first time the issues of urban growth and global warming. Unprecedented nationally, the complex legislation would steer communities toward land-use policies to contain sprawl, using as much as $12 billion a year in state-controlled transportation funds as an incentive. “This bill will change the way California grows,” said state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, its author. Under the measure, the state Air Resources Board would establish targets for 17 regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of a broader campaign to...

Former Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown is waging war on California suburbs because of global warming, says Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. Brown is concerned about the alleged environmental damage caused by the suburbs. He wants to compel residents to move to city centers or to high-density developments clustered near mass transit lines: • Brown has threatened to file suit against municipalities that shun high-density housing in favor of building new suburban single-family homes, on the grounds that they will pollute the environment. • He is also backing controversial legislation -- Senate bill 375 --...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — For decades, California cities and counties knew one way to grow — by sprawling outward. That approach, which has led to ever longer commutes, jammed freeways and worsening air quality, is being challenged under a bill that was approved Saturday in the state Legislature. If signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has not yet indicated whether he would do so, the bill would require local governments to plan their growth so that homes, businesses and public transit systems are clustered together. The goal is to help California meet the emission mandates spelled out in a wide-ranging...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - California lawmakers have approved a bill that would allow drivers to be charged a fee to use car pool lanes on two Los Angeles freeways. The Senate bill passed Saturday would let the Metropolitan Transportation Authority use a $210.6 million federal grant to convert car pool lanes on congested stretches of the 10 and 110 freeways to toll lanes. The fees would vary depending on how bad the traffic is.

Catholic physicians and other doctors in California who oppose mercy killing would be forced to provide terminally ill patients with information on morally questionable “end-of-life care options” under a bill now pending in the state legislature. The bill, AB 2747, is a repeatedly amended and watered down version of an original euthanasia measure sponsored by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka. Berg’s original bill, termed a “stealth assisted-suicide bill” by opponents, would have allowed doctors to administer “palliative sedation” to deliberately induce a coma, and to starve patients to death under a provision called “voluntary stopping of eating and drinking.” Also excised...

Just as Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama was in Denver preaching to a crowd of thousands of fans about the "change" he wants to see in the United States, his party compatriots in the California Legislature were making a "change," by approving a controversial plan that would allow nurses to assist terminally ill patients with suicide. "AB 2747 allows a physician assistant or a nurse to opine that a patient is 'terminal,' and then push for unnatural death by 'palliative sedation,'" said Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families shortly after the vote. "Depressed patients who...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who promised not to sign any bills until lawmakers reach a budget deal, reversed his position today and signed a bill for a statewide bullet train system that he strongly supports. The governor also wants to make exceptions for three other proposals that he has been promoting: budget reform; changing the state lottery to allow California to borrow against future ticket sales; and a bond proposal for water infrastructure. The high-speed rail legislation will replace a $10 billion bond measure on the November ballot with a revised version of the proposal that makes the bullet...