Republican State Senator Dave Cox of Fair Oaks Dead at 72

 

By DON THOMPSON Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Republican state Sen. Dave Cox died Tuesday after what his family described as a 13-year battle with prostate cancer. He was 72.

Cox’s spokeswoman Nghia Demovic said the lawmaker died peacefully at his home in the Sacramento suburb of Fair Oaks.

Cox represented the sprawling 1st Senate District, a heavily Republican district that encompasses parts of 12 Sierra and foothill counties from the northeastern tip of California at the Oregon border to Mammoth Lakes in Mono County.    Read more »

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Many Reasons Why Businesses Close Down or Leave California

Near the top of the website of California’s Senate Republican caucus are five boxes labeled “Pension Reform,” “AB32 Global Warming Tax,” “California Jobs First, “The Red Line” and “Budget 2010.”

The brief description of “The Red Line” says:

“Weekly report of companies already escaping California’s anti-business climate and the jobs being lost.”    Read more »

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A Profile of South Carolina’s Democratic Senate Candidate…

(Editor’s Note: Don’t miss Paragraph 21.)    Read more »

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Examining the Tentative Agreements With Six State Unions

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger touts several recent, tentative agreements with six of the state’s 12 employee bargaining units as “significant first steps toward pension reform and reining in the state’s growing pension costs.”

The tentative agreements affect roughly 37,000 employees, including the 6,660 employees of the California Highway Patrol, according to Schwarzenegger’s Department of Personnel Administration.    Read more »

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Despite Court Ruling, Controller Won’t Cut State Worker Pay

Despite a July 2 ruling by a Sacramento appellate court and a written request from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Controller John Chiang said he would not reduce the pay of more than 314,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

In its 43-page ruling, the Third District Court of Appeal said that the law requires Chiang to reduce employee pay if a budget authorizing payment isn’t in place.    Read more »

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July 2: Is a Two-Thirds Vote Required to Pass Talking Points?

(Editor’s Note: It’s the second day of a new fiscal year. The state constitution says the Legislature must deliver a budget to the governor by June 15.)

To which California Republican Party Communications Director Mark Standriff says this:

“Two weeks after missing their constitutionally mandated deadline, the Democrat(ic) leadership has now produced a worthless document void of any details on how to close the growing, multi-billion dollar state budget deficit.    Read more »

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BIll to Ban Bisphenol A in Baby Products Passes the Assembly

On the first day of the new fiscal year, the state Assembly spent 45 minutes debating a bill that would ban the use of bisphenol A in sippy cups, baby bottles, and formula containers used by infants up to the age of three.

More than 15 lawmakers spoke on both sides of the bill, SB 797, which was defeated last September by the lower house.    Read more »

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Could Be Marijuana That Determines the November Election

The wild card in November’s election is marijuana.

How much more money Meg Whitman spends on her gubernatorial campaign is significant but the kind of voters drawn to the polls by Proposition 19, which legalizes marijuana and allows localities to tax and regulate it, may be the determining factor.

Asked at the state Democratic Party convention in April how Democrats can re-energize President Obama voters from 2008, Party Chair John Burton replied: “Pot.”    Read more »

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June Taxes $200 Million Above Estimates, No Budget Near

June tax collections appear to be roughly $200 million over estimates as California reaches the end of the month with no budget in sight for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

The higher than expected revenue eases slightly the state’s cash shortfall of $17.9 billion.  But agreement on how the rest of the cash hole is filled remains elusive.    Read more »

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Asbestos Risks Drive Bid To Dump California’s State Rock

Normally, lawmakers carry legislation to add something to California’s list of “official state” symbols.

But in an unusual twist, a Los Angeles state senator wants to remove an item.

Not the dogface butterfly, California’s official state insect. Not the Golden State’s official song, “I Love You California,” words by Los Angeles merchant F.B.    Read more »

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