California Laws

As an unexpected consequence of a gun control law that took effect Jan. 1, the names of people admitted for mental health treatment at California hospitals are being recorded in state law enforcement computers. Although meant to keep firearms away from those who are considered dangerous to themselves or to society, the practice also applies to psychiatric patients who voluntarily check themselves in for treatment and have no history of violent behavior.

SACRAMENTO - As Gov. Jerry Brown toured China over the last week, he repeatedly contrasted that nation's speedy construction of modern transportation systems and other key public works with what he characterized as a lack of vision back home. A pillar of his plan to let the "bulldozers roll" on big projects in California has been an overhaul of the state's landmark environmental law, which can tangle development in litigation for years. Yet before he even boarded his return flight, the governor said he was giving up on any substantial revision this year of the 40-year-old law, which he says stands in the way of progress.

An obscure legal doctrine leaves whistle-blowers at the San Onofre nuclear plant with less legal protection than other California workers, including employees at the state's only other nuclear plant. San Onofre is majority owned and operated by Southern California Edison, a private company, but it sits on land leased from the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base. That puts the plant in a so-called federal enclave, where courts have held that many California laws, including labor laws intended to protect whistle-blowers, do not apply.

Who knew that being a smoggy place might be good for business? Gov. Jerry Brown is in China, and one of the things he's pitching is California's expertise in dealing with smog. Because if there's one thing we have in common with the Chinese, it's air pollution. Now, some of what Brown is doing is, well, kind of squishy. As my colleague Anthony York reported : On Wednesday, he held a private meeting with Environmental Protection Minister Zhou Shengxian. They signed a nonbinding agreement "to enhance cooperation on reducing air pollution," the first such accord between China's government and a U.S. state and one of several Brown is scheduled to secure while here.

In his eighth and final year in office, Gov. Pete Wilson signed 1,081 bills into law. That's 122 more than in 1997, but short of his personal record of 1,386 bill-signings back in 1992. Some of the measures are arcane, affecting small numbers of people or government agencies. But many affect us all. Vehicle owners will see the cost of registering their cars drop. Schoolchildren will have a longer school year, to their dismay and their parents' glee.

"Fashion Police" is once again under the spotlight of the Writers Guild of America, West. The guild alleged Wednesday that Joan Rivers' production company, Rugby Productions, has violated California labor law by refusing to pay wages to writers on "Fashion Police. " Writers on the E! Network cable show, in which Rivers and other hosts comment on the fashion of celebrities, on Wednesday filed complaints with the state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, alleging they are owed more than $400,000 in back wages.

SACRAMENTO - State Sen. Michael J. Rubio, who was leading the Legislature's effort to make California's environmental laws more business-friendly, abruptly resigned from office Friday to accept a government-affairs job with Chevron Corp. Rubio, a Democrat from Shafter, in the Central Valley, was chairman of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and introduced bills during his two years in office that related to the oil industry in his district. The state Fair Political Practices Commission will conduct a routine review of Rubio's move to make sure it involves no violation of the conflict-of-interest rules in California's Political Reform Act. "We will look to see if there is something to indicate that the act was violated and, if so, we will take a look at it," said the commission's chief of enforcement, Gary Winuk.

The first day for California lawmakers to introduce bills in the new two-year session was Dec. 3, the day they took their oaths. The Legislature then immediately recessed for the holidays and did not reconvene until this week, but through December the desk remained open for bills to be submitted, and there are now hundreds that will be scheduled for hearing, examined by the Legislative Analyst's Office, or quietly killed by Assembly or Senate leadership....

You can have your "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and "A Christmas Carol. " My favorite holiday reading is always the list of new state laws. Nearly 750 new ones for 2013 were passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor last year. With the Legislature in session about seven months, that's something like 100 a month. But it can hardly be said that every one was accompanied by stirring, democracy-defining debates. My favorite so far is the slam-dunk law ending the discounts for past and current state legislators and California members of Congress who order vanity plates for their cars.

He waged an insurgent campaign against his boss to become Los Angeles County district attorney, promising to act as a prosecutor not a politician. Twelve years later, Steve Cooley retired last week as one of the county's most entrenched political fixtures, having served a historic tenure as top prosecutor, reshaped the most powerful office in the local criminal justice system and left his mark on California law enforcement. Cooley is widely credited with expanding the way law enforcement uses DNA and with making the fight against local public corruption a priority.

After watching a potentially $90-billion transportation sales tax fail by less than a percentage point, backers of Measure J this week called for a change in the state law that requires no less than a two-thirds majority vote for passage of tax increases. After Los Angeles County election officials finished the final Nov. 6 count in recent days, the measure won 66.11% of the ballots but fell short of passing the two-thirds majority by 0.56 of a percentage point. Nearly 3 million total votes were cast on the measure.

A California man is challenging the notion that 7-Up is naturally good for you. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Sherman Oaks resident for touting the healthful aspects of an added antioxidant in some 7-Up varieties. The lawsuit, to be filed in U.S. District Court in California, says the claim is misleading because it gives the impression the antioxidants come from fruit rather than added Vitamin E. 7-Up Cherry Antioxidant, Mixed Berry Antioxidant, and Pomegranate Antioxidant were launched in 2009.

SACRAMENTO - A new law that seeks to establish a first-of-its-kind state-run retirement plan for low-income workers still faces numerous hurdles in the year ahead, but its author says the idea is already generating nationwide attention. SB 1234 by state Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), signed into law last week by Gov. Jerry Brown, creates a California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Trust, authorizes a major feasibility study of the idea and seeks approval for the idea from federal regulators.