In my 20 years as a Democratic Party leader, I have never experienced such the type of behavior as I did at the Sacramento Convention hall on Saturday evening.
The California Democratic Party African American Caucus is asking the state party for a formal apology to U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters and its members for what it called disrespect by a private subcontractor at its weekend state convention.
Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat known for her comments on President Trump, had been speaking at a caucus meeting during the event Saturday night when the sound to her microphone was cut off.
State regulators announced strong results from California's cap-and-trade program on Wednesday, spurring analysts and supporters to say the system remains solid despite questions about its political future.
The program requires oil refineries, food processors, power plants and other facilities to buy permits to release greenhouse gas emissions. Nearly all of the permits offered by the state in its latest auction were purchased, generating an estimated $500 million in revenue.
That's a shift from other recent auctions, where most of the permits went unsold, reducing revenue that state leaders have counted on for environmental and infrastructure projects.
Leonardo Jimenez, 21, of Los Angeles said after a lifetime in foster care, he never expected to have his congresswoman speak his name on the House floor, or to become a part of the historical record of the United States.
On Wednesday, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) spoke about Jimenez and the more than 100 other young people participating in the Congressional Foster Youth Shadow Program in a speech on the House floor.
“We have someone that is advocating for us that hasn’t been in our shoes, but is willing to take off her shoes and put herself in our shoes to know our needs, our wants and she’s very involved in our future,” Jimenez said. “She’s given me a voice.”
The Los Angeles Daily News has endorsed Robert Lee Ahn in the race to replace Xavier Becerra in Congress. With two Democrats vying for the seat, the newspaper's editorial board said the race "won't change much nationally."
But Ahn, the Daily News says, is "not an assembly-line product of party politics."
The editorial board wrote that while Ahn and Gomez have similar policy positions, Ahn's experience in business and as a former L.A. city planning commissioner will "bring something different" to L.A.'s delegation.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle raised concerns Tuesday that Gov. Jerry Brown’s state budget plan relies on a faulty calculation of a spending limit imposed by voters in 1979.
“This is really a big deal,” state Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) said during a meeting of the Senate’s budget committee.
At issue is how to interpret a 38-year-old state appropriations limit that, if breached, would require excess revenues to go to schools or be paid to taxpayers as rebates.
Supporters of Kimberly Ellis, who lost her bid to lead the California Democratic Party by a razor-thin margin last weekend, started sifting through boxes of ballots at the state party headquarters in Sacramento on Tuesday to see if there were any voting irregularities.
Los Angeles County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman was elected Saturday by party delegates to be the new state party chairman, beating Ellis by just more than 60 votes.
After the election, Ellis called for an audit of the ballots. Some of her supporters questioned whether all the votes came from credentialed party delegates.
This budget proposal is based on utterly bogus economic assumptions. It gives a massive tax break to the wealthiest, while imposing painful and debilitating burdens on tens of millions of decent and hard-working people. It's unconscionable and un-American.
A conservative advocacy group will run television ads thanking six California Republicans for voting for the GOP bill to roll back the Affordable Care Act.
All 14 Republicans in California's congressional delegation voted for the bill, called the Affordable Health Care Act, when it passed the House without Democratic support last month. Democrats have pledged to make it a campaign issue.
Starting today, and running for two weeks, the ads produced by the nonprofit American Action Network target constituents of Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock, David Valadao of Hanford, Steve Knight of Palmdale, Ed Royce of Fullerton, Darrell Issa of Vista and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield.
Riding a wave of activism in state politics, nearly two dozen Assembly Democrats have formed a progressive caucus to prop up the party's left flank in the Legislature.
The formation of the group, which held a private audience with hip-hop star Common during last weekend's California Democratic Party convention, speaks to the ideological fissures that exist within the Democratic supermajority in the Capitol.
Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), who chairs the group, said several members have contemplated a formal caucus for years.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao signed off on the funding agreement for the Caltrain electrification project Monday, and will release $100 million for the San Francisco-area project.
In a recent spending bill, Congress directed the administration to fully fund the Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project, but it dragged its feet on releasing the funds, saying the president might not ask for funding to complete the project in future years. Chao's move Monday also commits the Department of Transportation to prioritizing an additional $408 million in appropriations for the project in the future.
In February, President Trump delayed making a final decision on the project after the 14 Republicans in the California congressional delegation asked him to, a move that frustrated the governor's office and local leaders.