Capitol Alert

Former Assemblyman Alberto Torrico registered as a California lobbyist last week after two years of working as a lawyer and consultant in the state Capitol - but not registering as a lobbyist.

Torrico registered his law firm, the Law Offices of Alberto Torrico, as a lobbying firm and signed the State Coalition of Probation Organizations as a client. He said he will remain an "of counsel" attorney for the lobbying firm Capitol Advocacy, which is owned by lobbyist John Latimer.

Torrico said he registered as a lobbyist because the probation officers group intends to sponsor a few bills this year.

"So it is going to require me to be in the building and trying to impact the continuation of realignment," Torrico said. "They need me to be a lobbyist. They need me to work their bills."

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg vowed this week to craft legislation that would provide a money-making incentive for businesses to invest in high school or community college career education.

"I'm going to introduce that bill this year," he told the Community College League of California, representing the state's 72 community college districts, at its annual conference Monday in downtown Sacramento.

"Make it worthwhile," Steinberg said. "Make it part of the business model that says you can make more money if you invest in a community college career pathway or a high school career pathway than you can on Wall Street."'

Steinberg said his legislation would be a complement to Senate Bill 1458, signed into law last year, that de-emphasizes standardized test scores when measuring the performance of California schools.

Gov. Jerry Brown's political adviser, Steve Glazer, will run for a state Assembly seat in 2014, Glazer announced this morning.

The Orinda councilman will seek election in the Democratic-leaning Assembly District 16, the East Bay district from which Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, will be termed out.

Glazer cast himself as a moderate in a prepared statement, criticizing a legislative process he said is captive to "the extremes of both political parties."

Glazer has been an unpaid adviser to Brown since managing Brown's 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The 55-year-old Democrat raised money for Proposition 30, Brown's November ballot measure to raise taxes, and was an adviser to the California Chamber of Commerce's political action committee on legislative races in the 2012 election cycle. He was appointed by Brown to the California State University Board of Trustees.

As California begins erecting its health insurance exchange, Dan wonders about the immensely expensive and complex process of expanding MediCal.

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VIDEO: Dan Walters says California's Affordable Care Act-mandated health exchange is going to impose huge new costs for MediCal.

Guns are on the agenda today. Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who lead the public safety committees in their respective chambers, are leading a special informational hearing on gun violence and California firearms laws.

The hearing accompanies a surge in new gun control legislation introduced since the Newtown, Connecticut shooting. Ammiano's office sent out a press release yesterday touting the fact that Democratic members were introducing nine new measures.