Free Republic

No matter what eco-activists say, truth does not apply to science In February, the draconian California Climate Science Truth and Accountability Act of 2016, Senate Bill 1161, was introduced by Democratic senators Ben Allen, Hannah-Beth Jackson and Mark Leno. Unbelievably, it passed both the state Senate’s environmental and judiciary committees. It was not until June 2 that the remainder of the Senate came to their senses and Sen. James Monning took the bill off the Senate floor. It can be reconsidered at a later date. Overlooked in the controversy is the fact that truth is not possible in science. Scientific...

SACRAMENTO (CBSLA.com/AP) — California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state’s minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour, a state senator said, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. “This is not a done deal,” Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco said Saturday. “Everyone’s been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature.” Leno said if an agreement is finalized, it would go before the Legislature as part of his minimum-wage bill that stalled last year. If the Legislature approves...

State Sen. Mark Leno wants California to recognize that a child can have "more than two legal parents." So he wrote a bill, SB 1476, which, he argues, wouldn't change the definition of a parent -- for example, live-in lovers would not qualify -- but would allow family court to recognize more than two parents only "when it is required to be in the best interest of the child." He stresses that if the bill becomes law, "none of our sponsors or supporters believe that this authority will be used very often." SB 1476 is for rare cases, Leno...

Beaver had June and Ward. Ricky had Ozzie and Harriet. Mom and Dad, same-sex couples or blended families, California law is clear: No more than two legal parents per child. When adults fight over parenthood, a judge must decide which two have that right and responsibility – but that could end soon. State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have multiple parents. "The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today," the San Francisco Democrat said. Surrogate births, same-sex parenthood and assisted reproduction are changing...

Beaver had June and Ward. Ricky had Ozzie and Harriet. Mom and Dad, same-sex couples or blended families, California law is clear: No more than two legal parents per child. When adults fight over parenthood, a judge must decide which two have that right and responsibility – but that could end soon. State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have multiple parents. "The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today," the San Francisco Democrat said. Surrogate births, same-sex parenthood and assisted reproduction are changing...

7-14-2011 SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. announced today that he has signed the following bill: • SB 48 by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) – Pupil instruction: prohibition of discriminatory content.

Sacramento -- Counties, school districts and community colleges would have broad authority to seek taxes on income and products like cigarettes and alcohol under a bill approved by the California Senate this afternoon. The bill gives local entities power over taxes that currently only the state Legislature can impose. The Senate passed the bill after Republicans, and a handful of Democrats, refused to support a measure sought by Gov. Jerry Brown to place taxes on a special election ballot. That measure needed a two-thirds majority vote from the Senate. The special election measure would have asked voters this fall to...

Individual counties could vote to raise vehicle fees under a bill that earned Senate approval today. "This gives counties a tool they currently don't have in a time of crisis," said bill author Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. In 2003, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped the rate of what essentially is an annual tax on a vehicle's present value. The rate change from 2 percent to 0.65 percent took away a chunk of revenues counties relied on to pay for public safety and social services. A temporary increase to 1.15 percent went into effect in May 2009 and expires at the end...

Proposed state legislation, if approved, would add gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders to the list of social and ethnic groups public schools must include in social studies. At two East Bay private schools the debate has gone beyond whether to include gay history in the curriculum. They have taken the next step, offering a high school class dedicated to gay studies. Last school year, The Athenian School in Danville and Maybeck High School in Berkeley both began classes examining the history, contributions and other cultures' views of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered. They said it has been popular among...

LOS ANGELES — In California public schools, students are required to be learn about black history and women’s history. And if a bill approved by the State Senate this week becomes law, the state will become the first in the country to mandate that schools also teach gay history. While the bill does not set specific requirements about what should be taught to students, it does say that contributions of gays and lesbians in the state and country must be included in social science instruction. So Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the state, and...

After making its way through the state Senate's Judiciary and Education Committees over the last month, a bill that would require schools to incorporate information on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Americans into their curricula passed by 23-14 on the Senate floor Thursday. The measure, which goes to the Assembly next, addresses high bullying rates of LGBT youth and the absence of LGBT Americans from official accounts of history in school curricula. It would expand on existing laws that require instructional materials to include accurate portrayals of the role and contribution of culturally and racially diverse groups. That list,...

Reporting from Sacramento -- As the battle over same-sex marriage makes its way through California's courts, another gay rights fight is smoldering in the Legislature. Democratic lawmakers have revived a plan to require state schools to teach about the contributions of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans. They are reigniting a movement that halted five years ago when legislators approved such a requirement only to run into opposition from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Now, with a Democrat in the governor's office, the lawmakers and gay rights activists are more hopeful that school curricula will be revised.

CA State Senator Mark Leno has issued a proclamation to coincide with the launch of "My Uncle's Wedding", a new book which introduces children as early as 4 to same-sex marriage (Amazon.com has the book listed under "Marriage & Divorce" and "Gay & Lesbian Parenting & Families"). Here is Leno's proclamation: “Congratulations as we celebrate the launching of ‘My Uncle’s Wedding!’ As one of the few children’s books that address LGBT issues, it serves as a conduit by which to bolster understanding in our community. The book plays a vital role in creating a brighter future for our lesbian, gay,...

Lawmakers in the state of California are proposing a law that would require schools to portray lesbians, homosexuals, transsexuals and those who have chosen other alternative sexual lifestyles as positive role models to children in all public schools there. "SB 48: The worst school sexual indoctrination ever" is how officials with the Campaign for Children and Families describe the proposal, SB 48, sponsored by state Sen. Leno. Openly homosexual, Leno boasts on his website of founding a business with his "life partner, Douglas Jackson," who later died of AIDS complications. That description as "worst" is considerable, considering the Campaign for...

Lawmakers in the state of California are proposing a law that would require schools to portray lesbians, homosexuals, transsexuals and those who have chosen other alternative sexual lifestyles as positive role models to children in all public schools there. "SB 48: The worst school sexual indoctrination ever" is how officials with the Campaign for Children and Families describe the proposal, SB 48, sponsored by state Sen. Mark Leno. Openly homosexual, Leno boasts on his website of founding a business with his "life partner, Douglas Jackson," who later died of AIDS complications. That description as "worst" is considerable, considering the Campaign...

From Bob Dylan’s lyrics to a real California workplace policy, progress is being made. Despite an economy on life support with only weeks, if not hours, remaining to survive fiscally before the State Treasurer of California begins issuing IOU’s for payments, legislators have come up with a plan. Their plan is now to force employers to accept employees who come to work stoned. This should really help light-up the ailing economy. It may sound like a joke, but it’s serious. A state lawmaker in California, during the nation’s worst recession, wants to outlaw employers from firing workers who come to...

While the courts continue to debate the legality of same-sex marriage, the battle over gay civil rights is moving into another arena: the classroom. State Sen. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, introduced legislation this week that would amend the state education code, mandating that LGBT history be included in the curriculum of public schools. The bill — dubbed the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful Education Act — calls for accurate and fair portrayal of LGBT historical figures who have contributed to shaping social and political issues across the nation. Leno said a shift in education policy would have a...

Openly gay state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill today that would require public school materials to include the historical contributions of gay people as a way to fight bullying. Leno's Senate Bill 48 is similar to a proposal that was approved by the Legislature in 2006 but vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Most textbooks don't include any historical information about the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) movement, which has great significance to both California and U.S. history," Leno said in a press release. Leno was recently named to prominent leadership as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee....

Thursday October 7, 2010 Schwarzenegger Vetoes Gay-Sponsored “Trojan Horse” Measure on Marriage By Peter J. SmithSACRAMENTO, California, October 7, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earned muted praise from pro-family advocates last week after he vetoed a measure that one pro-family group described as a “Trojan horse” that could have helped homosexuals overturn Prop. 8 in 2012. SB 906, authored by the openly homosexual Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and supported by many homosexual groups, would have changed the Family Code to refer to “civil marriage” instead of just “marriage.” The bill also stated that no authorized religious official...

Democrats in California revived a bill on Thursday that would create a single-payer, universal health care system in the state. While the move came as questions arose over the prospects of Congress adopting national health care legislation, the author of the California bill, State Senator Mark Leno, said that the timing was coincidental. Mr. Leno said it was basically a long-planned reintroduction of a 2009 proposal that was effectively tabled because of its potential cost. But he did concede that Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts, in which Democrats lost their filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, was not completely lost on him....