California Laws

The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a pair of challenges to disputed California laws -- one that requires employers, including those affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, to pay for contraceptive services as part of their health insurance and a second that gives Indian tribes an exclusive right to offer casino gambling.

PG&E Corp. can't ignore some California laws in reorganizing Pacific Gas & Electric, California's largest utility, an appeals court said Wednesday in a ruling that applies to an old version of the unit's bankruptcy plan. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said PG&E could only avoid state laws related to the financial condition of the utility. PG&E had sought to sidestep dozens of California laws as part of a reorganization plan it submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2001.

Hundreds of new California laws go into effect Jan. 1, among them measures that will make it illegal for drug stores to sell the stimulant ephedra and allow courts to fine no-show jurors $250 and clear the way for people to sell fresh -- not reheated -- churros from a mobile trailer. But some of the most sweeping bills passed in the last regular legislative session and signed by since-recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis have been swept away in part or in full: * A bill by state Sen.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday signed into law a bill by an Orange County lawmaker that attempts to give California cities more power to regulate nude dance clubs. The measure by Assemblyman Scott Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) goes into effect Jan. 1. Under the new law, cities can adopt tighter rules on conduct inside the clubs. For instance, city leaders could restrict dancers from direct contact with patrons and require that a stage be better separated from the audience.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Tuesday signed legislation imposing strict standards on out-of-state camps that accept troubled California youths for military-style training and rehabilitation. Other sections of the wide-ranging juvenile care bill require new oversight and audits over foster homes and group homes for children removed by court orders from the custody of their parents.

If Michelle Oetting has her way, Valley restaurants will prominently display a "Breastfeeding Welcome Here" decal. Oetting launched a campaign to distribute the decals as part of her work as a clinic supervisor for the Northeast Valley Health Corp.'s Women, Infants and Children nutrition program. By placing the decals, Oetting seeks to alleviate tensions that arise when mothers nurse babies in public--an act that often is "just looked at sexually and not as a biological function," Oetting said.

A bill inspired by two of California's most horrific shootouts and strongly backed by the state's law enforcement agencies has been signed into law by Gov. Pete Wilson, making it a crime for violent felons to possess or sell body armor.

The post-bilingual age began in Los Angeles schools Monday with uncertainty, improvisation and a good many hand gestures--but seemingly none of the chaos predicted by apprehensive educators. And in Orange County, two of the school systems with the largest enrollments of immigrant children continued to offer primary-language instruction.

A federal appeals court overturned part of the federal three-strikes sentencing law Monday, saying it wrongly requires previously convicted robbers to prove convincingly that they were unarmed and did not injure their victims seriously. The 2-1 ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a case from Hawaii, applies only to the 1994 federal law and not to state three-strikes laws, which lack similar burden of proof provisions and are much more widely used.

The post-bilingual age began in Los Angeles schools Monday with uncertainty, improvisation and a good many hand gestures--but seemingly none of the chaos predicted by apprehensive educators.