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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A sweeping bill intended to rein in the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is making its way through the halls of Sacramento. KNX 1070′s Margaret Carrero reports the California State Senate has voted overwhelmingly to approve Senate Resolution 16, which calls on lawmakers in Washington to take action against the NSA. Passed in a bipartisan 31-1 vote on Monday, Senate Resolution 16 (PDF) bans state agencies, officials, and corporations from giving any material support, participation or assistance to any federal agency to collect electronic or metadata — including emails and text messages — of any person...

As the Legislature adjourned for three months last Friday, the Capitol turned its attention to the Nov. 6 election, and particularly three – or perhaps four – state Senate contests whose outcomes could affect the balance of legislative power. Democrats now hold 25 of the Senate's 40 seats. If they were to gain two more this year, they would have a two-thirds supermajority and could pass certain kinds of legislation, such as tax increases, without Republican votes. That power would increase pressure on Republicans in the Assembly, who, it's assumed, will continue to hold more than a third of its...

GOP Sen. Sam Blakeslee has started publicly signaling that he might not run for re-election this year. The San Luis Obispo Republican told Bee sister paper The San Luis Obispo Tribune that his decision is tied to the fate of the new district maps drawn by the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission. Democrats now hold a 16-point registration edge over Republicans in the central coast swing seat Blakeslee won in a 2010 special election. But critics of the new Senate maps have collected hundreds of thousands of voter signatures in an attempt to ask voters to reject the districts next fall....

Birther champion Orly Taitz says she's considering challenging Sen. Dianne Feinstein next year. At the California Republican Party convention in Los Angeles this weekend, Taitz told the Sacramento Bee she's mulling a Senate run to use as a platform "to talk about the issues that corrupt establishment ... are refusing to talk about." "I think I do have a chance specifically because I do speak Spanish and I speak Hebrew," she told the paper.

Republican Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee was holding the lead Tuesday in a special election for a state Senate seat that Democrats have long wanted to claim along California's Central Coast. With more than 70 percent of returns counted from the district's five counties, Blakeslee had nearly 50 percent of the vote to 43 percent for former Assemblyman John Laird. The special election has drawn interest from around the state, both in endorsements and campaign donations. Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman stumped for Blakeslee over the weekend, while President Obama endorsed Laird.

So, in 2000, a Prop 26 was on the ballot. What did it do? It was an attempt by Prop 13 opponents to undermine that 2/3 majority protection-- in the name of the children, of course! Well, voters solidly rejected this end-run on Prop 13, but one GOP Senate candidate supported it whole-heartedly: Carly Fiorina. Forget what I wrote on Friday. The silver lining about Tom Campbell's apparent collapse in the polls is this: conservatives may not have to make a "who do I think can win?' judgement between Fiorina and DeVore

Today – it was about Robo-calls. You know. Those pre-recorded calls you get a ton of around election time? Chuck DeVore came unscrewed today – I think because two Major Pro-Life Groups Endorsed Carly – but he used the occasion of the Robo-Calls to level his latest accusation. Oh Gheez. Chuck DeVore took to twitter to accuse Carly Fiorina of making “illegal” Robo-Calls. (By the way, according to sources, the Robo-Calls were messages from 90+% CRA Rated Conservative Diane Harkey announcing her endorsement of Carly. Harkey’s Assembly District neighbors DeVore’s – what does she know that we don’t?) Illegal. Carly’s...

Just hours before budget negotiations begin at the Capitol, Republican state senators declined to specify today what big-ticket costs they favor chopping to solve a massive $21.3 billion deficit. Instead, gathered at a press conference outside the Capitol, the senators said the collapse of all but one ballot proposition Tuesday was a green light for long-range plans to cut public spending in the future. They unveiled a series of reform ideas to change school spending and hold state bureaucracies accountable for performance by imposing "term limits" on them or requiring them to "prove their worth" to be funded. "Solving the...

Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine, Sen. Barbara Boxer's only announced opponent for re-election, raised $131,396 in the first quarter of the year. DeVore has $48,279 in his campaign account. Boxer reported a total of $4.6 million...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers Saturday attempted to pick up the pieces of a historic bond package for new schools, roads and levees and restart negotiations after a bitter defeat of the plan at the hands of Senate Republicans early Saturday morning. While time may again be running out -- the official deadline was Friday for placing bonds before voters June 6 -- lawmakers agreed that Schwarzenegger's plan isn't dead yet, even for June. After meeting with him Saturday, Assembly Republicans and Democrats agreed to keep negotiating today. The Senate voted 24-12 along party lines -- three votes short...

Dear Friends, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your dedicated support of my campaign for U.S. Senate. Certainly I wish last night's election results were different. But we should be proud of the strong grassroots campaign we waged to champion our views, values and beliefs that underscore our commitment to conservative Republican principles. Last night I congratulated Bill Jones and offered him my full support in his efforts to defeat our liberal extremist U.S. Senator, Barbara Boxer. You should go to his website, www.JonesForCalifornia.com, and sign up to help defeat Barbara Boxer. Boxer is...

(Sunnyvale, CA) - January 5, 2003 - Republican Senate candidate Toni Casey declared victory today in the 2003 "money primary," ending the 4th quarter with over $815,000 raised. Casey's total raised funds to date beats all other candidates seeking the Republican nomination for US Senate in the March 2, 2004 primary. "I'm extremely proud of the faith that so many Californians have in our campaign," said Casey. "With these resources, we are better positioned than our opponents heading into the final sixty days of the primary campaign." "From day one, my campaign has been about defeating Barbara Boxer," Casey continued....

Senate leaders say GOP plan is DOA By Tom Chorneau Associated PressPublished on Tuesday, July 15, 2003SACRAMENTO -- Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, said Monday that a much-anticipated Republican budget proposal weighs too heavily on the poor and elderly and will be rejected tomorrow, leaving lawmakers with no new ideas for solving the California budget crisis. Burton said the list of more than 100 spending cuts aimed at trimming about $2.7 billion in state spending would get no support from Democrats on the Senate floor when it comes up for debate Tuesday. "Most of their budget cuts...