Top Stories
Lawsuit Aimed at “Clever End-Run” High-Capacity Ammo “Repair Kits”
Calegalmags.com, which is not listed by name as a defendant in the suit, explains to its California enthusiasts the proper way to handle their “rebuild”—not repair—kit.
“You can assemble your rebuild kit into a magazine when you are outside of CA or at a location at which you are legally allowed to possess a high capacity magazine. For example: You can take your rebuild kit from California to Arizona, assemble it, use it, and take it apart before you return to California.” read more
Fight over Oyster Farm Foodie Fave Turns into Right-Wing Cause Célèbre
The food fight took a right turn when it was revealed that the owner was receiving legal assistance from Cause of Action, a group with close ties to the ultra-conservative billionaire Koch brothers. Suddenly, the primary issue pushed to the fore was the demand by private interests for the right to operate commercial enterprises on public lands. read more
State Health Exchange—the Nation’s Most Secretive—May Get a Small Dose of Sunshine
SB 332 would still keep contracts confidential for a year, but some stuff would be made available to the public immediately. Minutes of board meetings, information on employee training, research, staff and board strategy sessions, and research—currently state secrets—would be public.
Information in contracts that relates to rates would remain secret for four years. read more
U.S. Study Says Climate Change Could Kill What’s Left of S.F. Bay Marshes by 2100
Climate change is likely to turn much of the largest expanse of tidal salt marsh on the Pacific Coast of the United States into mudflats as higher global temperatures raise coastal waters precipitously, the report said. The USGS surveyed 12 marshes near Petaluma River, San Pablo Bay, Napa River and South San Francisco Bay and found that 95% will lose their vegetation under an all-too-likely scenario for a 4-foot sea-level rise. read more
State Toxics Control Agency Admits Not Collecting $184.5 Million in Cleanup Fees
This week, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) said it has identified $102.7 million that it failed to bill responsible parties, $45 billion it billed but didn’t collect and $37.3 million that is tied up in litigation. Altogether, the department noted 1,700 sites that fell through the cracks.
The reason for the missing money? The department hasn’t had a system in place to track billing since its creation 26 years ago. read more
Walmart Fined for Misdemeanor Dumping of Hazardous Waste All over the State
Walmart pleaded guilty and agreed to pay a fine of $81.6 million. The crime, which involves multiple violations of the Clean Water Act and an environmental pesticide law, is a misdemeanor. Six misdemeanors, to be precise. read more
Upon Review, They Won’t Put Mega-Landfill Next to Joshua Tree National Park
A consortium of Southern California garbage collection agencies dropped its plans to open the 4,000-acre dump two miles from the park after decades of legal battles that worked their way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Critics said traffic to and from the dump, hauling in up to 20,000 tons of garbage a day by train from Los Angeles 200 miles away, would ruin the delicate desert ecosystem while attracting scavengers to the site. read more
One in Eight California Bridges Are Rated “Structurally Deficient”
One in eight bridges in California are rated “structurally deficient,” a fact of growing importance in light of last week’s bridge collapse in Washington state.
Most bridges are designed to last 50 years; California’s average bridge is 44.4 years old. More than 8,300 state bridges are at least 50 years old, and by 2030 that number will double without a major effort to replace them. read more
L.A. Voters Restrict Pot Dispensaries, but the Medical Marijuana Fight Isn’t Over
Voters, by a 63%-37% margin, approved Measure D, capping the city’s wild and wooly medical marijuana marketplace at 135 dispensaries. The new law is expected to receive legal challenges. David Welch, an attorney with Angelenos for Safe Access (creators of Measure F), indicated his group would probably sue the city, on the theory that the 2007 cutoff is arbitrary and unfair. He said that many shops that opened after 2007 would stay open in defiance of the law. read more
NorCal Tea Party Leads Charge against IRS that May Put Focus on Dubious Nonprofit Claims
The NorCal Tea Party Patriots filed its lawsuit—and asked for class-action status—in Cincinnati, where staffers at an IRS office singled out for scrutiny groups applying for tax-exempt status whose names indicated a political affiliation. Like the Tea Party. read more
Why Did Caltrans Use Previously Banned Bay Bridge Bolts that Are Breaking?
The bolts, which are actually special galvanized rods up to 24-feet long, were prohibited by Caltrans on bridges in 2000, according to the Chronicle, because of their vulnerability to hardening and cracking. The federal government has warned about using them for decades. But in 2002, Caltrans decided to use them anyway with “eyes wide open,” according to Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. read more
Tesoro Wins OK to Make Tight California Oil Market Even Tighter
Tesoro, the second largest oil refiner in California, received permission to buy the state’s BP refinery and Arco assets, despite anti-trust concerns that further market consolidation will hurt consumers.
Tesoro and Chevron will own nearly half of California’s oil refining capacity, including its three largest refineries. California consistently has the highest gasoline prices in the country, generally attributed to erratic refinery production and low supplies of gasoline. read more
Gov. Brown’s Budget Shifts Cap-and-Trade Funds from Climate Control Fight
The law that set up the cap-and-trade program, AB 32, did not earmark exactly how money in the GHGR Fund would be spent. But the legislation’s formal name, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, and an accompanying directive that its proceeds support its goals, seemed to indicate that the money wasn’t meant to be dumped in the General Fund. read more
It’s Open Season on Pot Dispensaries after State Supreme Court Signs off on Local Bans
The high court ruled in a case out of Riverside that although state law gives medical marijuana cooperatives and collectives a limited exemption from state criminal liability, “state law does not ‘authorize’ activities, to the exclusion of local plans.” The court said if the Legislature wants to prevent local jurisdictions from banning medical marijuana, it should pass a law that clearly does so. read more
D.C. Lawmakers Fended off Sequester Threat to Their Air Travel, but Courts Are on Their Own
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the largest in the nation, also plans to close on a series of Fridays through the end of August and “drastically” reduce staff. Its four courthouses serve 18 million people in Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties. The courthouses will be open on closure days but the clerk’s office will not be being doing business except for emergency civil filings and criminal intake. read more
State Law Enforcement Is Coming for Your Illegal Guns This Summer
Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that funds an effort to collect 40,000 weapons from people barred from owning them. The state already maintains a database with 20,000 names of people suspected of possessing weapons they shouldn’t have because they are felons, have restraining orders out against them or have serious mental illness.
Special agents are expected to fan out this summer in big cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and Riverside. read more