Free Republic

An Assembly committee approved a bill Tuesday that would mandate Californians buy health insurance coverage much like drivers are required to purchase auto insurance. Although California voters and politicians repeatedly have rejected forcing individuals and employers to pay for a universal insurance program, lawmakers are seeking to capitalize on the momentum from a new Massachusetts law that will make that state the first in the country to establish mandatory health insurance. "We have a choice about whether we're going to stay stuck in the mud," said Assemblyman Joe Nation, D-San Rafael. "We have a situation where we have 20 percent...

Two bills that could shake up presidential politics by giving California one of the earliest primaries in the nation and undercutting the Electoral College were approved Tuesday by the Assembly elections committee. The bills' author, committee chairman Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, said the measures were designed to increase California's clout in determining who sits in the Oval Office. "It's an effort to make California relevant again in presidential elections," he said. One of the bills would put California in competition with New Hampshire to have the earliest presidential primary elections in the nation. It would require the secretary of state...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Dozens of bills, including proposals to build more toll roads, control plant and animal pests and require satellite monitoring of high-risk sex offenders, were shelved Wednesday as an Assembly committee pared down spending measures. At the same time, the Appropriations Committee approved bills to recognize gay marriages, allow doctor-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients and raise the state minimum wage. The committee held up more than a third of 506 bills that would have a significant impact on state spending or revenue and cut the cost of many of the measures it sent to the full Assembly....

SACRAMENTO (AP) - An Assembly committee Tuesday joined the effort to clamp limits on how much candidates and officeholders such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can raise for ballot measure committees they control. The Elections and Redistricting Committee approved a bill by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, that would allow donors to give no more than $5,600 to those committees, although the limit would be adjusted for inflation every two years. A Sacramento judge last month struck down a broader range of donation limits adopted by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, but Wolk predicted her bill could survive a court challenge...