Free Republic

As gasoline prices topped $3 a gallon, Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, proposed a state constitutional amendment to allow regulatory control of pump prices. "Price caps aren't a solution to a dysfunctional market," said Dunn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who plans to hold hearings later this fall on California's fuel costs. "However, they are a damage- control measure until solutions are developed." His bill, SCA18, would give the state Public Utilities Commission authority to regulate gasoline prices. Hawaii, which has the nation's highest fuel prices, began capping wholesale gasoline prices Thursday. On Friday, Attorney General Bill Lockyer, a...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Senate Democrats and Republicans joined forces to swiftly approve a constitutional amendment that would counter a November ballot initiative lawmakers said could lead to one-party general elections for some offices. Opponents called the amendment by Sens. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, and Dede Alpert, D-San Diego, a "Trojan horse" designed to confuse voters by tying the debate over how to structure California's primary elections to a plan to help pay off the $15 billion in deficit bonds approved by voters last March. "It's dishonest; it's deceitful," said Kevin Spillane, a spokesman for the initiative's supporters, Californians for an Open...