Free Republic

SACRAMENTO — Concerned about threats that include a flu pandemic and bioterrorist attacks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his support Tuesday for a new state Department of Public Health. The governor is embracing legislation by Sen. Deborah Ortiz (D-Sacramento) to establish a California office focused on concerns such as outbreaks of disease and food poisoning, and overseeing care of 100,000 people living in nursing homes. "The governor is focused on getting ahead of the game and being visionary," Margita Thompson, a Schwarzenegger press secretary, said Tuesday. Ortiz's legislation would also restructure California's Department of Health Services, which focuses much of its...

The Legislature's years-long record of woefully underfunding the state's chief political watchdog agency is a shameful act of negligence that few people have noticed. Not anymore. State Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, has introduced legislation (SB 1120) that would give the Fair Political Practices Commission the $9 million annual budget it has long requested. A self-interested Legislature, wary of healthy scrutiny, has starved the agency of funds, forking over just $6 million annually in the past several years. Forced to cut costs, the FPPC has slashed the staff that keeps an eye on California's 15,000 elected officials from 91 in 1990...

SAN FRANCISCO – California's effort to become a world leader in human embryonic stem cell research has long been supported by a coterie of well-heeled patient advocates who found their champion in an obscure state senator from Sacramento. Now a battle for control of the $3 billion in research money voters approved last year has unraveled the alliance and threatens to cripple the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine even before it awards its first grant, agency officials say. The state Senate is expected to vote this week on a proposed constitutional amendment that would tighten perceived loopholes in how the...

Pharmacists who "just say no" when asked to fill prescriptions that violate their personal ethics are targeted by proposed state legislation that would mandate all prescriptions be filled. Some local druggists are not happy about the bill, authored by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, which would be the first in the nation to require filling emergency contraception prescriptions, even if the pharmacist feels it violates his or her personal morals. The owner of Napa's Family Drug on Old Sonoma Road, Thomas Gracia, has mixed feelings. "I think people should be able to get the prescriptions that they need," he said. "However,...

<p>SACRAMENTO - With obesity increasingly becoming a problem for California's schoolchildren, one state lawmaker is proposing a tax on soda to discourage consumption and pay for programs intended to guide kids to healthier living.</p> <p>Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, said her legislation will help highlight the growing trouble children have controlling their weight while at the same time offering schools an incentive to drop lucrative contracts to sell certain brands of soda on their campuses.</p>