Top Stories
Federal Judge Tells DOJ to Back off Medical Marijuana Busts
On Tuesday, the federal courts weighed in for the first time. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, for the Northern District of California, using rather unambiguous language, told the feds to back off. Breyer removed the permanent injunction he had placed on the state’s first licensed medical marijuana dispensary, Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM), in 2011. read more
Port of Los Angeles Never Finished Landmark Pollution Controls
NRDC attorney David Pettit expressed surprise and a marked cynicism upon learning that 11 of the 52 measures agreed upon in 2003 were not completed, saying he “never thought for a second that they wouldn't happen. My belief is the port has known for years that the mitigation wasn't happening and didn't tell anybody.” read more
California Has Used Violent Felons to Fight Fires for Years, Despite Denials
Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) told the Los Angeles Times, “As of Sept. 30, it was 1,441 inmates out of a total of 3,732 in the fire camps. It’s actually a mixture of serious and violent crimes, but principally violent crimes.” Cal Fire spokesperson Janet Upton told the Associated Press that her department did not know violent felons were working side by side with unarmed firefighters. read more
Anti-Abortion Centers Sue to Block Law Aimed at Deceptive Practices
The lawsuits claim religious beliefs and moral convictions as the basis for their position and argue that AB 775 compels them to violate foundational principles. The so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPC), accused of misleading clients seeking abortion information, don’t want to put a notice on the wall, hand out flyers to clients or send them an electronic warning about any options other than the ones they are presenting. read more
Who Knew L.A. Had the Power to Police at Least Some of the City's 1,000 Oil Wells?
It was generally thought that Los Angeles lacked the legal authority to investigate complaints from neighbors of sickening fumes, respiratory ailments, dizziness, nosebleeds and other afflictions. But the Los Angeles Times found that agreements signed years ago by many of the oil drillers gives the city enormous power and responsibility to protect the public. L.A. just wasn't exercising it. read more
California Decides Accurate Health Provider Directories Might Be a Good Idea
“Doc shock” has been an issue with Covered California from day one. The new law will require the Department of Managed Health Care and the Department of Insurance to develop uniform standards for directories and weekly updates by next July. That will be too late for open enrollment beginning November 1. read more
Brown Vetoes Six Bills to Reform Disgraced Public Utilities Commission
SB 660 was considered the flagship of the bunch. It would have made it harder for regulators and utility officials to have secret meetings during rate-setting cases. One bill would have established an inspector general in the State Auditor’s Office to monitor the commission. Another made it easier to sue the commission for not providing information in public records. Another would have given lawmakers an opportunity to oversee any legal defense spending by the commission. read more
Digital Privacy Bill Drags California Out of the “Dark Ages”
The law requires the authorities to obtain a search warrant before rummaging through someone’s private emails, text messages and GPS data whether it’s stored on a smartphone, a computer or a remote server. The authorities must also alert the subject of such a warrant within 90 days that it has been issued. “Tell me how a letter in your mailbox should have more protection than an e-mail in the cloud. It doesn't make sense,” the bill's author, Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), said. read more
30,000 Fewer in California Prisons, but Crime Did Not Spike
Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) took a snapshot of the “Impacts so Far.” Violent crime did not increase and there was no “dramatic change” in recidivism rates. The county jail population did not rise by as much as anticipated, so the total number of people incarcerated in California declined. Auto thefts, however, did rise. read more
Coastal Commission OKs Seaside Storage of Spent San Onofre Nuclear Fuel
The commission voted to approve construction of what one critic called “America’s largest beach-front nuclear waste dump.” Edison wants to move 2,700 spent fuel assemblies from above-ground pools to steel canisters, wrapped in concrete, topped with steel and more concrete, and buried beneath the bluffs between Los Angeles and San Diego. The waste will lay 125 feet from a seawall and be dangerously radioactive for thousands of years. read more
California Becomes the Fifth State with a Right to Die
Governor Brown remained noncommittal about the issue until two days before the deadline to approve or veto the legislation. But after listening to “varied, contradictory and nuanced positions,” the 77-year-old governor said in a signing statement, “In the end, I was left to reflect on what I would want in the face of my own death.” read more
Gov. Brown Decries Too Much Crime Legislation, Vetoes Drone Bills
The drone legislation was among nine bills that Brown rejected in one fell swoop with the veto message, “Over the last several decades, California’s criminal code has grown to more than 5,000 separate provisions, covering almost every conceivable form of human misbehavior. During the same period, our jail and prison populations have exploded.” read more
Shell Pays $55 Million for Decades-Old Pollution at Del Amo Superfund Site
The lengthy, detailed settlement between Shell and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comes after years of negotiation and decades of health complaints. Around 17,600 people live within a mile of the site. It won’t cover all the costs or end the problem anytime soon. “The cleanup horizon for groundwater is well over 50 years,” John Lyons, acting director of the Region Nine Superfund Division, told KPCC. read more
Report Says Housing Boom Won’t Make It More Affordable in California
Economist Jerry Nickelsburg poses the question, “California Housing—Will It Ever Be Affordable?” and doesn’t seem to have a positive answer. “The economics are clear,” he wrote. “When affordable housing is provided, say by requiring developers to have a fixed percentage of their new units ‘affordable,’ then the demand for that housing will be in excess of the supply.” Nickelsburg suggests there is a better way: Target the housing. read more
Orange County’s Appeal to EPA Could End in Superfund Status for Groundwater
So far, the contamination is considered limited and under control. But the plume is spreading into the principal aquifer. Around 2.4 million people in 22 cities rely on that aquifer for drinking water. That's nearly one city for every site of contamination noted by the water district in its presentation to politicians in April. The district tried, and failed, to sue a bunch of them read more
State Board's Carbon Fuel Limits Pick Up Where Failed Legislation Left Off
The regulation, originally approved in 2009, aims for a 10% reduction in carbon generated by transportation fuels by 2020. Emission-reduction targets escalate every year. The regulation was contested in court by the oil and gas industry and wound up being kicked back to the board, with a freeze on the escalator, for mostly procedural reasons. It now has a few new features to satisfy unhappy stakeholders and producers. read more