Political Stories – Top stories Dan Walters: Donald Trump forces a California water deal without lifting a finger — A compromise bill that, in effect, reallocates federally controlled water in California – much to the delight of farmers and the dismay of environmentalists – won final congressional approval Friday. Hammered out by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Bakersfield’s Kevin […]
Political Stories – Top stories A problem ‘too big to ignore’ – how years of congressional wrangling led to a water compromise — It took years of negotiations, and the right political timing, to bring the first major water policy affecting California in decades through the House and Senate. Over frayed feelings and filibuster threats, both chambers overwhelmingly […]
Political Stories – Top stories After years of drama, farmers score a big win in California water battle — The California water bill now ready for the president’s signature dramatically shifts 25 years of federal policy and culminates a long and fractious campaign born in the drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. A rough five years in the making, […]
Political Stories – Top stories House approves California water plan that splits state’s Democratic senators — The House on Thursday overwhelmingly approved the biggest federal reset of California water use in a generation, setting the stage for easier dam-building, more recycling and potentially happier Central Valley farmers. McClatchy Newspapers article; Visalia Times-Delta article; Sacramento Bee editorial: ‘Feinstein, McCarthy strike water […]
Political Stories – Top stories If feds try to ID deportable immigrants using Cal data, state will block access — California is preparing for the possibility that the administration of President-elect Donald Trump—who campaigned on a promise to deport at least 2 million people—might demand access to various state databases that would reveal the names and locations of undocumented […]
Political Stories – Top stories White House won’t support California water bill that’s already divided its senators — The White House on Tuesday voiced doubts about controversial California water legislation that has already caused an unusually public split between the state’s two Democratic senators. Meeting with reporters, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the California provisions that […]
Political Stories – Top stories California Democrats got their supermajority. Now what? — Broadening the path to long-sought deals on affordable housing, transportation infrastructure and climate change, California Democrats have again captured a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Legislature. Sacramento Bee article; LA Times article Joel Fox: Kevin McCarthy: California’s connection to new Washington power — Election results […]
Political Stories – Top stories George Skelton: Post-election, California Democrats still dominate and GOP has nowhere to go but up — The California Democratic and Republican parties both can be thankful this holiday. Democrats rule the roost in Sacramento. And Republicans can’t fall much lower. Democrats are in a prime position to soon start slipping off their perch. And the state GOP, […]
Political Stories – Top stories John Myers: Election day has become election month in California — There’s a good chance that millions of Californians who receive a ballot in the mail this month will leave it sitting on a table for days or weeks, deciding for whatever reason to delay casting their vote in the Nov. 8 election. That may […]
Political Stories – Top stories Why Silicon Valley is pouring money into efforts to repeal California’s death penalty – As voters weigh two dueling death penalty measures on the Nov. 8 ballot, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the effort to end executions in California, saying they want to see the practice abolished both in […]
