Capitol and California

Don't expect Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to celebrate by puffing a joint if he succeeds in legalizing marijuana for recreational use in California.

Near Mark Oldfield's desk at the California Department of Conservation sits a ream of copy paper that is more than a routine office commodity.

San Francisco Bay was once home port to some of the mightiest warships the world has ever known, but the U.S. Navy's presence now is largely just a memory.

With the water package behind them, legislative committees will hold hearings around the state this week on everything from the efficiency of the 911 system to the initiative process.

San Francisco's KGO-TV took a look at what the state spends on California Highway Patrol officers to protect its constitutional officers. So how much is the state shelling out to keep these public figures safe? For five of them, the total for the past fiscal year was just over $1 million: $224,193 for schools chief Jack O'Connell, $139,954 for Treasurer Bill Lockyer, $172,225 for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, $309,436 for Controller John Chiang, and $214,335 for Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Last June, the Public Policy Institute of California released a highly critical report on California's "enterprise zone" program that provides big tax breaks to businesses for supposedly hiring workers in areas of high unemployment.

Pot physicians, touting marijuana as a healthier alternative to pharmaceuticals, are writing medical cannabis recommendations for a far wider range of ills, from restless leg syndrome to psoriasis, from sleep apnea to menopause.

California lobbyists have filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court to stop the vote on a ballot measure scheduled for the June primary election that would make them the guinea pig in an experiment on campaign finance.

Mike Genest, who announced recently that he's resigning as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget director, deserves a respite after four years of dealing with the state's chronic fiscal crisis.

California State University officials may have followed federal guidelines in reporting that stimulus money saved an inordinate number of campus jobs, but someone in the university system should have objected to reporting the numbers because "they don't make sense," California's stimulus watchdog official said Friday.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday began signing bills in the just-passed five-bill water package. Early next week, he's expected to sign the centerpiece, an $11.14 billion general obligation bond assailed by critics as a "Christmas tree" of spending. Here are the details.

A public pension group has refiled proposed ballot measures that would create a mandatory second-tier pension system for new public employees hired by the state, counties, cities and other non-federal government agencies in California.

The head of the California Citizens Compensation Commission said Friday he's not bothered by the Legislature's legal challenge to his panel's spring decision to slash state lawmakers' pay and benefits by 18 percent. But Chairman Charles "Chuck" Murray said he still thinks the move is a bad idea, given the state's troubled finances. "It makes no sense whatsoever for them to be doing this," he said.

Top California officials, responding to media reports about possible outside influence on CalPERS' investment decisions, are formulating legislation to tighten controls on so-called placement agents and restrict their fees.

The Legislature's top administrators have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to decide whether pending 18 percent cuts to lawmakers' pay and benefits were legally approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission.

A CalPERS board member on Thursday produced a canceled check showing he paid $23,630 for a trip to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2006 after it was initially paid for by a Nevada businessman whose clients were seeking investments from California's giant public employee pension fund.

A batch of amendments to a massive water bond bill was submitted to the state Senate's clerical desk Monday, and one, as it turned out, had nothing to do with water.

WASHINGTON – John Garamendi is wasting no time in making his move from Sacramento to Washington.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday awarded a $9 million contract to Ogilvy Public Relations to promote the multibillion-dollar transportation project through June 2014.

Long months of negotiations - and deletion of a project dear to the state's most powerful legislator - led California lawmakers to craft what could be one of the most pivotal water deals in state history.

CalPERS board member Charles Valdes took a $15,000 trip to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2006 with pension fund placement agent Alfred Villalobos, who paid for the journey on a personal credit card, according to documents obtained by The Bee.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday that she will run for U.S. Senate in a bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer next year.

California may be gaining ground in its race to the top.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi will be sworn in today as the new congressman from the 10th Congressional District after winning Tuesday's special election to replace Rep. Ellen Tauscher.

Between unpaid furlough days and paid holidays off, most California civil servants won't work a five-day week again until Jan. 29. What's the impact?

Even after getting fired when his presence roused controversy, former CalPERS board member Alfred Villalobos earned $9.6 million for pitching a client's business proposal to the big California pension fund.

Democrats retained control of a left-leaning Northern California congressional district Tuesday, electing a career politician who said he will side faithfully with the Obama administration on health care, climate legislation and other hot-button policies.

A nonprofit tolerance center in midtown Sacramento, championed by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, could get a vital economic boost from an unlikely source: a mammoth $10 billion water bond proposal.

Two Republican state lawmakers sent a letter Tuesday calling for an investigation into reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown's top spokesman recorded phone conversations with reporters without their consent.

Here are components of the water package approved early this morning:

FINANCING
Borrows $11.14 billion to pay for dams, underground water banking, water recycling, Delta restoration and regional projects. Voters must approve the bond at the November 2010 election. It would cost the state about $800 million a year in debt service at its peak.

DELTA OVERSIGHT
Creates a seven-member council charged with adopting a long-range management plan for the environmentally troubled estuary by 2012. The plan would include strategies to boost the reliability of water exports while protecting the ecosystem.

CANAL
Does not authorize a long-envisioned canal to move water around the Delta southward. But the Delta council would incorporate the canal into its plans -- if it meets environmental standards.

CONSERVATION
Calls for a statewide per-capita urban water use reduction of 20 percent by 2020, but not every water district would have to meet that threshold. Agencies that don't meet targets would be ineligible for state grants and loans. Farm water suppliers would not face targets but would have to submit efficiency plans.

GROUNDWATER MONITORING
Requires agencies to report water levels in underground basins. Agencies that don't comply could lose grants.

WATER RIGHTS
Gives state water regulators more powers to police illegal water diversions, although specific penalties would have to be added later by the Legislature.