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Among other things, Schwarzenegger signs into law legislation giving discounts on prescription medicines SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger trumpeted a season of legislative triumphs with a flurry of bill signings Friday, including bills that will affect everyone from low-income prescription drug consumers to hybrid drivers to television watchers to vendors who sell Vietnamese rice cakes. He signed 179 bills and vetoed 115, leaving around 175 to be signed today, the constitutional deadline to consider legislation. In total, Schwarzenegger has signed 800 bills and vetoed 189. Whether it was environmental protections, raising the minimum wage or providing discounted prescription drugs, many...

Telephone companies can dive into California's $5.3 billion-a-year cable TV industry under a law signed Friday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He said the measure, backed by millions of dollars in corporate contributions, will offer consumers better service and lower prices. Rushing to beat a midnight Saturday bill-signing deadline, the Republican governor joined with Democratic legislative leaders Friday to also back programs lowering the cost of prescription drugs for poor Californians and to test thousands of volunteers for possible toxic contamination. All three bills could serve as models for other states and the nation, supporters said. AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications...

Public health agencies and nonprofits would begin distributing condoms to California prison inmates under a bill sent this week to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a measure modeled after similar programs in other states and cities. Democrats who support the effort said making condoms available will help control the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. "Everyone knows that sex happens in prison, and short of solitary confinement for all ... inmates, the state is unable to prevent it," Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, said in a statement. Various studies put the incidence of homosexual activity inside prisons at between 30...

Children under the age of 8 must be restrained in a child seat while traveling in a vehicle, under a bill sent Thursday to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The bill's author, Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, said her measure would bring California in compliance with recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board. Vehicle-related accidents are the highest cause of deaths for 6- and 7-year-olds, she said. Existing state law requires that children younger than 6 years old or less than 60 pounds sit in a booster seat. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, described the measure as government "nannyism." The 6-foot-4 lawmaker said...