Capitol Alert

A California lawmaker has dropped his bid to regulate and allow taxation of California's medical marijuana industry.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano today canceled a scheduled Senate committee vote on Assembly Bill 2312, saying he has decided to allow the Businesses, Professions and Economic Development Committee to hold more committee hearings and issue a report on the issue after the legislative session adjourns.

Ammiano said in a statement that while the bill "represents my best effort to regulate this industry that has existed in a patchwork of regulations and laws for the past 15 years," additional study could create an even better product.

"There is no doubt that my colleagues understand the need for this legislation, and I have a lot of faith in this committee that we can hammer out a well-balanced regulatory policy during the fall to answer calls from local governments, law enforcement including our Attorney General, patients, and the public to enact a highly regulated system for medical marijuana and provide a clear set of rules for everybody," Ammiano said.

The bill, which squeaked out of the state Assembly earlier this month on a vote of 41-28, would create a state Bureau of Medical Marijuana Enforcement to provide oversight of many aspects of the medical marijuana industry. It would also allow local governments to tax marijuana products.

Supporters said such steps would help protect California's medical cannabis growers, sellers and users in the wake of a medical marijuana crackdown by federal authorities. Law enforcement associations opposed to the bill complained that the measure was "really a giant permission slip for medical marijuana stores to operate in a virtual unfettered manner."

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California Assembly passes pot regulation bill

California counties could bolster fees for real estate fraud prevention and enforcement under legislation passed Monday by the Assembly.

The measure, Senate Bill 1342, would allow counties to increase from $3 to $10 the maximum fee that could be charged on various property-related documents recorded in county offices.

The Assembly vote was 56-14, with nearly every Democrat but only five Republicans supporting the bill.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Troy L. Nunley was nominated by the White House on Monday to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of California.

A graduate of St. Mary's College and the University of California Hastings College of Law, Nunley was nominated to replace Judge Garland Burrell, who is retiring. He was appointed to the Sacramento County Superior Court in 2002.

Nunley was born in San Francisco and raised by a single mom. Prior to being appointed to the bench by then-Gov. Gray Davis, he worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, had his own practice in San Leandro, then served with the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein recommended that Nunley be appointed, under an arrangment by which she and Sen. Barbara Boxer trade off making recommendations to the White House.

"The Eastern District of California manages a caseload more than twice the national average and is by far the busiest federal district court in the nation. It is especially important the Senate move quickly to consider Judge Nunley's nomination," Feinstein said in a statement.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said today that he hopes the budget agreement approved later this week lessens the need for any additional "blue pencil" cuts by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The Sacramento Democrat said he expects legislators to consider 21 remaining budget trailer bills on Wednesday, which is Gov. Jerry Brown's final day to act on the main budget bill lawmakers passed earlier this month.

Steinberg said leaders have been "working very closely with the administration" as the final details of the bill language are hammered out. Democratic leaders and Brown announced last week that they had reached an accord on differences that remained after the first budget bill cleared both houses.

"I don't know what to expect," Steinberg said. "The governor does have constitutional authority in that regard, but given the fact that the budget that we've now come to will have a very healthy reserve, even above the $544 million that we passed a week ago Friday, I hope that the blue pencils are minimal."

The Senate is expected to convene at 9 a.m. on Wednesday for floor action on the trailer bills. Steinberg said all he expects most of the language that will be voted on Wednesday to be in print by tonight.

Legislation passed by the Assembly on Monday would prohibit cities that currently pay for sidewalk repair to shift that burden onto homeowners without a majority vote of the public.

The Assembly vote was 48-9, with support split evenly among Democrats and Republicans.

Democratic Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes proposed the bill in response to proposals in Los Angeles to shift sidewalk repair responsibility from the city to homeowners, or to require repairs as a condition of a house sale.

Most local governments do not accept responsibility for sidewalk repair. AB 2231 would apply only to cities that passed an ordinance years ago to accept that fiscal burden. The bill would not allow repeal without a majority vote of the public.

Los Angeles adopted an ordinance in 1974 making the city responsible for sidewalks, but it now faces the prospect of massive costs to do the work. Almost half its sidewalks are in some state of disrepair, according to a legislative analysis of AB 2231.

Fuentes, of Los Angeles, contends that local governments often plant the trees that cause significant cracks or breaks in sidewalks. If a city council promised to maintain walkways, it should do so unless the voters decide otherwise, Fuentes says.

Opponents include the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties. They argue that local governments are strapped for cash and that walkways will remain in disrepair unless alternative funding sources can be found.

Besides Los Angeles, cities that could be affected by AB 2231 include Oakland, Berkeley, Half Moon Bay, Placentia, Burlingame and Redlands, according to Fuentes.

AB 2231 now goes to the Senate.

Legislative Democrats are pushing a late-hour amendment to give Gov. Jerry Brown a leg up with his November ballot initiative to raise taxes, tweaking the Elections Code to afford Brown's measure a prominent position on the ballot.

In an amendment to a budget trailer bill, Senate Democrats propose language pushing constitutional amendments proposed by voter initiative, such as Brown's, to second on the ballot, right below bond measures. If lawmakers move the water bond scheduled for Nov. 6 to a later ballot -- as many believe they will -- Brown's tax increase measure would be guaranteed top billing

Further down come statutory changes put on by the Legislature, and ballot initiatives that do not propose constitutional amendments, such as a competing tax measure backed by Molly Munger. A higher ballot position is traditionally considered advantageous on ballots with lots of measures, and 11 have qualified for Nov. 6.

The amendment offers this justification:

"The Legislature finds and declares that bond measures and constitutional amendments should have priority on the ballot because of the profound and lasting impact these measures can have on our state."

While this seems like a simple, cost-free change, the amendment appropriates $1,000 from the general fund to the secretary of state to implement the changes. That, of course, makes the measure a budget "trailer" bill able to be approved by a majority vote of the Legislature under Proposition 25. Otherwise, such a move would be considered an urgency measure and need Republican votes to achieve a two-thirds margin.

The Democratic governor is proposing to raise the state sales tax and income taxes on California's highest earners.

Two years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have given California farm workers the same overtime benefits most other wage earners receive, the United Farm Workers union is preparing to try again with Schwarzenegger's successor, Gov. Jerry Brown.

"Farm workers and domestic workers are not second-class citizens," Arturo Rodriguez, the union president, told more than 200 supporters in a basement dining room at the Capitol today. "They do not belong to a lower class of workers in California or in the United States. They are men and women who take some of the hardest jobs in America, often for pay and under conditions other American workers would not tolerate."

Assembly Bill 1313, by Assemblyman Michael Allen, D-Santa Rosa, would remove an exemption for agricultural workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act, requiring overtime be paid after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week. Farm workers were joined at the Capitol by supporters of a separate bill that would give housekeepers and other domestic workers the right to overtime pay, vacation and other benefits.

Brown signed the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act when he was governor before, from 1975 to 1983, and farm worker advocates had high hopes for the Democratic governor when he took office last year.

Their relationship has at times been tense, however: Brown vetoed legislation last year that would have let farm workers unionize more easily, only later reaching a compromise with the union.

Asked if he thought the overtime legislation would get a better reception from Brown than from Schwarzenegger, a Republican, Rodriguez said, "We're always hopeful. We always come here and know we're fighting a battle."

Rodriguez said the Brown administration "hasn't given us any commitment one way or another."

Two years ago, when Schwarzenegger vetoed the overtime bill, the agricultural industry warned approval may have provoked farmers to reduce their workers' hours, resulting in reduced paychecks.

PHOTO CREDIT: Arturo Rodriguez, President of the United Farm Workers, speaks on Monday to honor farm workers, from left, Carolina Holguin from McFarland and Josefina Flores from Delano for their 30 years of support and commitment to the UFW. Hector Navejas/Vida en el Valle

A new education budget bill allows schools to cut 15 days in each of the next two school years if voters reject additional taxes on sales and income in November, double what Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in his May budget plan.

The governor last month proposed allowing districts to cut 15 days across the next two school years if the tax initiative fails. But the latest education budget bill says districts could actually go down to 160 days in both 2012-13 and 2013-14. That is 20 days below the once standard 180 days, which fell to 175 days in post-recession budget cuts.

According to identical budget language in Assembly Bill 1476 and Senate Bill 1016, the school-day reduction would still be subject to collective bargaining between school districts and labor unions.

A memorial service for Martin Smith, former political editor for McClatchy Newspapers, will be held Sunday in Sacramento.

The event honoring the life of Mr. Smith, who died April 26, is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Park Terrace Swim and Tennis Club, 5500, Parkfield Court, Sacramento.

Mr. Smith died of complications from Parkinson's disease in the state of Washington, where he had lived for many years after retiring in late 1992 from McClatchy Newspapers, owner of The Sacramento Bee.

Mr. Smith's journalism career began as a copy boy for the San Francisco Call-Bulletin as a teenager. His professional career included stints at the Yakima Morning Herald and Modesto Bee before he joined The Sacramento Bee as a reporter in 1965.

In Sacramento, he rose through the ranks to become Capitol bureau chief, then managing editor, before accepting the position of McClatchy Newspapers' political editor in 1977.

Mr. Smith was survived by his wife, Joan, of Bothell, Wash.; two daughters, Catherine Smith of Bellevue, Wash., and Karen Smith of Cincinnati, Ohio; and by three grandchildren.

Dan Walters says that the failure of cigarette tax proponents to pass Proposition 29 does not bode well for tax initiatives on the November ballot, including Gov. Jerry Brown's measure.

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See other Dan Walters Daily clips here.

VIDEO: Dan Walters says in his latest report that Gov. Jerry Brown's tax ballot measure could be in trouble, if the demise of Proposition 29's cigarette tax is any indication of what's to come in November.

Finishing up the state budget, with votes expected Tuesday, isn't the only issue on the Legislature's to-do list.

A legislative conference committee is expected to act this week on a negotiated package of bills, sponsored by Attorney General Kamala Harris, that are aimed at protecting California homeowners facing foreclosure.

Today, a coalition of homeowners, unions, clergy members, and Occupy groups are rallying on the Capitol's west steps at 10 a.m. to urge a moratorium on foreclosures altogether.

Inside the building, United Farm Workers and the California Domestic Workers Coalition are marking the 74th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set a federal minimum wage, by calling for protections to be extended to farmworkers and domestic workers to end a "shameful legacy of racism," a news release says.

They're backing two measures: UFW-sponsored Assembly Bill 1313, by Assemblyman Michael Allen, to provide overtime pay for farm workers after eight hours a day or 40 hours a week, and CDWC-sponsored Assembly Bill 889, by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, to end the exclusion of domestic workers from labor protections such as overtime pay and rest breaks.

Listed participants include California NAACP Executive Director Robert Rooks and UFW President Arturo Rodriguez, as well as Sen. Curren Price and Assemblyman Ricardo Lara, the chairs of the Black and Latino legislative caucuses. The event starts at 10:30 a.m. in the Capitol basement dining room.

Meanwhile, today could be the day that the U.S. Supreme Court issues its ruling on President Barack Obama's health care law. As David Siders reported last week, California became the first state in the nation to establish an insurance exchange, and the Brown administration says it will remain intact -- but what that will look like is unclear.

CAKE AND CANDLES: Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, celebrates his 57th birthday today.