California Assembly

In this era of antipathy toward political insiders, the race for the 73rd Assembly District seat in Orange County has presented its eight Republican candidates with a peculiar difficulty: There is no incumbent to pick on. The fight for the 73rd District, which sprawls along the coast from southern Orange County to northern San Diego County, became a free-for-all after longtime Assemblyman Robert C. Frazee (R-Carlsbad) opted to run in another district to the south.

Solo drivers of certain low- and zero-emission cars would have free access to carpool lanes, even if they're converted to toll lanes, under a bill that passed the California Assembly on Thursday. There are a number of projects in the state to make solo drivers pay to use the lanes, no matter what they're driving. Under the bill, those lanes will be free to solo drivers of cars with Clean Air Vehicle stickers. But in Southern California, there will be two exceptions, at least for a year.

DISTRICT 1 Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Democrat Virginia Strom-Martin*: 74,976 (100%) Republican Michael Lampson: 35,995 (100%) Libertarian Joshua Gilleo: 5,159 (100%) DISTRICT 2 Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Shasta, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Democrat Virgil D. Parks: 28,154 (100%) Republican Richard L.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Earlier this year, with the scandal-plagued city of Vernon dominating headlines, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez took the unusual step of working the floor in the Legislature's other house, buttonholing fellow Democrats to endorse his bill to dissolve the industrial enclave in his Los-Angeles based district. He placed the bill before senators one by one, handed them a pen and watched them sign. It was a signal to lawmakers that the measure was a priority for the man in what is commonly referred to as the second most powerful post in California government.

There were rubber ducks on legislators' desks and a chorus belting out a Broadway show tune as John A. Pérez was sworn in as the new speaker of the California Assembly on Monday. It was an untraditional ceremony for an unprecedented occasion: The Los Angeles Democrat and former labor leader, who was elected to the post during his first year as a lawmaker, is the first openly gay legislator to win a leadership role in the Legislature. He replaces fellow Angeleno Karen Bass, also a Democrat, who is being forced out of the Assembly this year by term limits.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's nominee to fill the vacant lieutenant governor's office cleared his last significant hurdle Thursday, apparently ending a drawn-out political ordeal that had become emblematic of Sacramento's partisan gridlock. State Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) was approved by the Assembly on Thursday and faces a second confirmation vote Monday in the state Senate, but the upper house approved him once before, in February, and is not expected to vote against him now. Maldonado, who gained notoriety by crossing party lines to vote with majority Democrats for the state budget last year, had to navigate a political minefield of fellow Republicans who called him a traitor for agreeing to tax increases and Democrats bent on denying him the advantage of incumbency in November's election.

Supporters of incoming Assembly Speaker John Pérez say his rapid climb from rank-and-file lawmaker to one of the most powerful offices in the state is due to his intellectual prowess and unwavering commitment to the working poor. But Pérez, a Democrat who was chosen as speaker in December and will be sworn in Monday, has something that left-leaning former labor leaders and freshman lawmakers usually lack: a financial pipeline to billionaire developers and white-shoe investors who rank among the most politically active power brokers in the state.

DISTRICT 1 Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Stan Statham* (R): 66,917 (57%) Arlie E. Caudle (D): 51,183 (43%) DISTRICT 2 Del Norte, Humboldt, Medocino, Sonoma 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Dan Hauser* (D): 65,843 (55%) Tim Willis (R): 37,565 (32%) Bruce Anderson (P): 15,965 (13%) DISTRICT 3 Butte, Colusa, Nevada, Sierra, Sutter, Yuba 100% Precincts Reporting: votes (%) Chris Chandler* (R): 62,485 (54%) Lon S.

The state Assembly soon could have a new top leader, or at least an heir apparent, as a testy battle to replace Speaker Karen Bass comes to a head a year before her term ends. A freshman Democrat from Los Angeles has edged ahead in the sweepstakes to succeed Bass (D-Los Angeles), who has presided over a year and a half of budgetary turmoil -- and she has thrown him her support. Assemblyman John Perez, a cousin of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who is heading into just his second season in Sacramento, could make history by becoming the first openly gay Assembly leader.

Reporting from Sacramento -- Democratic lawmakers passed a rare on-time state budget Wednesday over Republican objections, but the plan — balanced with a blend of taxes, cuts and clever accounting — faces an uncertain fate at the hands of Gov. Jerry Brown. After warning for months that devastating cutbacks to schools and public safety would occur without the renewed taxes that Brown has sought but has been unable to sell to Republicans, Democrats averted the most severe reductions.

A mandate that California utilities increase their use of renewable energy sailed through the state Assembly on Tuesday and is headed for the governor's desk. Environmental groups say the legislation is the most ambitious of its kind in the country. It would require the state's electricity companies to provide 33% of power from renewable resources by the year 2020. State law now sets a 20% goal. Supporters made their case by invoking the nuclear plant problems in Japan and conflict in the oil-rich Middle East, as well as the struggling California economy: Environmentalists have said the mandate could create 100,000 jobs.

For a rip-roaring four decades, first under the big gorgeous dome of the Capitol in Sacramento and then under the not-so-big- but-still-gorgeous dome of San Francisco's City Hall, California has had a first-name relationship with Willie Brown. The once-upon-a-time shoeshine boy from a segregated Texas town who became one of the state's most adroit politicians has been known by other handles too: the Ayatollah of the Assembly, where he spent some 30 years, half of them as speaker, and The Mayor, for his eight years as San Francisco's chief exec.

The state Assembly passed a bill Thursday to ban the chemical Bisphenol-A from baby bottles and other items that come in contact with small children. The Toxin-Free Toddlers and Babies Act, or SB 797, would ban the use of BPA in feeding products, including formula, for children 3 years old and younger. BPA has been linked with health problems such as infertility, autism, asthma, hyperactivity and breast cancer. In January, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reversed its long-held position that BPA posed no concern, calling for more studies of the artificial hormone that often is used in shatter-proof plastic baby bottles, sippy cups and linings of cans, including those containing baby formula.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's nominee to fill the vacant lieutenant governor's office cleared his last significant hurdle Thursday, apparently ending a drawn-out political ordeal that had become emblematic of Sacramento's partisan gridlock. State Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) was approved by the Assembly on Thursday and faces a second confirmation vote Monday in the state Senate, but the upper house approved him once before, in February, and is not expected to vote against him now. Maldonado, who gained notoriety by crossing party lines to vote with majority Democrats for the state budget last year, had to navigate a political minefield of fellow Republicans who called him a traitor for agreeing to tax increases and Democrats bent on denying him the advantage of incumbency in November's election.

In one of her last acts as speaker of the state Assembly, Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) quietly doled out 10% pay raises and promotions to 20 of her staff members. The raises, which Bass approved last week on her final day as speaker, come as California continues to grapple with an estimated $20-billion deficit. More than 200,000 rank-and-file state workers have been forced to take three unpaid furlough days each month, the equivalent of a 14% pay cut, to help balance the state's books.

The fields of candidates have been set to replace two Southern California men who recently left the Legislature. Three Democrats and one Republican will be on the April 13 special election ballot to replace Democrat Paul Krekorian in the 43rd Assembly District, which includes Burbank, most of Glendale and part of Los Angeles. Krekorian previously won election to the Los Angeles City Council. Democrats hoping to succeed him in the Assembly are educator/attorney Mike Gatto, small-business owner Chahe Keuroghelian and Glendale school board member Nayiri Nahabedian.

There were rubber ducks on legislators' desks and a chorus belting out a Broadway show tune as John A. Pérez was sworn in as the new speaker of the California Assembly on Monday. It was an untraditional ceremony for an unprecedented occasion: The Los Angeles Democrat and former labor leader, who was elected to the post during his first year as a lawmaker, is the first openly gay legislator to win a leadership role in the Legislature. He replaces fellow Angeleno Karen Bass, also a Democrat, who is being forced out of the Assembly this year by term limits.