Politics

Reaction in California has been swift—and negative.

A resolution declaring the California Legislature’s opposition to the Trump administration’s proposal to expand offshore oil drilling, shouldn’t, on the face of it, be very controversial. But never underestimate the potential for politics to rear its head.

For more than a decade the extravagant Back to Session Bash was a place to let loose. But with the Capitol reeling from accusations of sexual harassment and assault, the mood at the party this month was more subdued.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s landmark school funding formula would not only win more money under the state budget blueprint he released Wednesday but also be subjected to the sort of transparency and accountability lawmakers and advocates for needy kids have been seeking since its adoption almost five years ago.

Between Sacramento and Washington D.C. sits the rest of the country, and a chasm. On immigration and taxes, guns and healthcare, cannabis and climate change, California is the federal government’s equal and opposite reaction. One year into President Trump’s first term, the push and pull continues—playing out under the Capitol dome, in the courts and on Twitter.

California's focus: what to do with an expected surplus of at least $6.1 billion. Republicans say return it to California’s 40 million residents as a nice tax refund. The governor's priority is to fill up the state's rainy day fund. Democratic legislators mostly want to spend it.

The judge's injunction allows those whose legal status has expired to apply for renewal.

Patty Lopez “is the unusual candidate who can go back out there and say… ‘I am one of you. I got elected to office, the big machine came and took me out, then look what happened to the big machine,’” said Eric Bauman, chair of the California Democratic Party.

Both leaders of California’s Legislature have agreed to release records about certain investigations of sexual harassment in the state Capitol.                                                       

State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León is proposing an end run for Californians to deduct the full value of their state and local taxes from their federal tax bills.