Legislation

WASHINGTON - The massive leaks about U.S. spying systems caused sharp political and legal aftershocks Tuesday as the Justice Department prepared to file criminal charges against Edward Snowden, a government contractor who has publicly admitted disclosing highly classified telephone and Internet data-gathering operations. The vast scope of the government surveillance sparked the first federal lawsuit challenging its legality, a bipartisan effort in the Senate to declassify secret court orders that authorize the operations, and requests from Google and Facebook for permission to disclose more about National Security Agency requests for users' emails and other online communications.

From what I've been reading, the Santa Monica killer was packing an illegal assault rifle and 40 high-capacity ammunition magazines. He sprayed 100 bullets and had access to 1,300. And, oh yes, he was a mental case. The guy's exact background and how he obtained his war-ready arsenal weren't clear as of this writing. But, regardless, there are at least two possible and troubling scenarios. John Zawahri may have been an "innocent law-abiding citizen" until he wasn't - until he murdered his dad and brother, then three others randomly during a 10-minute rampage.

WASHINGTON - In the first and only vote Thursday on the immigration bill, senators turned back a Republican measure that would have delayed a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally until after the border with Mexico is fully secure. Republicans still plan to offer several other measures to enhance border security, but this one, from Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, was one of the most hard-line of the proposals. The 57-43 vote to defeat the amendment offered an imprecise test of whether the Senate will find the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.

WASHINGTON - As Congress readied for a new battle over raising the debt limit, Sen. Barbara Boxer announced legislation that would prevent lawmakers from being paid if they do not increase the nation's borrowing authority. "It is an American value to pay your bills. It's also an American value to do your job," Boxer (D-Calif.) told reporters Wednesday. "If we as members of Congress refuse to pay the bills we have incurred, we should not be paid our salaries. " Boxer announced the legislation along with the lead House sponsor, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.)

I'm an 84-year-old man on Social Security with original Medicare and Mutual of Omaha gap insurance. My insurance premium was raised from $262 to $363 a month, a 39% jump. After all my monthly expenses, I have just $240 left. What can I do in the event of another increase in my premiums? If you've had your current Medicare supplement plan for years, it's not surprising that you've seen your costs steadily rise, says Steve Zaleznick, senior Medicare advisor at PlanPrescriber, a Maynard, Mass.-based online provider of Medicare education and plan comparison tools.

SACRAMENTO - The Assembly passed a proposal Thursday to hike California's minimum wage from $8 to $9.25 an hour over the next three years and require future increases to keep pace with inflation. Higher wages would "allow our families to provide for their children, pay their bills and give them dignity and respect," said Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville), the bill's author. The measure, which now goes to the Senate, was one of scores that lawmakers advanced as they raced to meet an internal deadline to keep legislation moving.

With rare bipartisan support, the Senate is poised to pass a bill this week that could lead largely to the end of the nation's long online sales tax holiday. The measure would allow states to require that large online retailers collect sales taxes on goods sold over the Internet, closing a loophole that has benefited the likes of EBay Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. The White House gave the legislation its approval Monday, and it passed a key procedural hurdle. The Senate voted 74 to 20 to begin consideration of the so-called Marketplace Fairness Act, with a final vote expected in a few days.

WASHINGTON - As Congress readied for a new battle over raising the debt limit, Sen. Barbara Boxer announced legislation that would prevent lawmakers from being paid if they do not increase the nation's borrowing authority. "It is an American value to pay your bills. It's also an American value to do your job," Boxer (D-Calif.) told reporters Wednesday. "If we as members of Congress refuse to pay the bills we have incurred, we should not be paid our salaries. " Boxer announced the legislation along with the lead House sponsor, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.)

SACRAMENTO - California lawmakers Wednesday advanced a dozen gun-control measures, including background checks for ammunition buyers, and gave early approval to a tax penalty on the Boy Scouts for barring openly gay leaders. Legislators also voted for a new $75 charge on real estate transactions to pay for affordable-housing projects. Mass shootings such as the one in Newtown, Conn., in December spurred Democratic lawmakers to look for ways to tighten California's gun laws, already some of the toughest in the nation.

California Gov. Jerry Brown's prison policy is forcing a split personality with federal courts. Brown on Tuesday repeated his insistence he will take no move to further reduce prison crowding unless ordered (again) to do so, and he included no money for prison leases and other proposals in his 2013-14 state budget. At the same time, Brown's administration officials told a panel of federal judges Wednesday the governor is working behind the scenes on that very legislation. "Defendants are drafting legislative language for these measures, which will delineate potential changes to state law to: (1)

SACRAMENTO - The Capitol's three most powerful politicians danced a victory jig Tuesday to celebrate the pending passage of an on-time, balanced state budget. And they did deserve to enjoy the moment. Spiffed up in dark suits, buttoned jackets and ties, Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) proudly performed for nine TV cameras in a news conference room packed with reporters. "Ho-hum," Steinberg joked.

Even though the state's budget situation has improved, it will be years before California's community colleges will be able to offer adequate numbers of courses. Hundreds of thousands of students will continue to be shut out of classes they need. Though normally we would deplore creating a two-tiered educational system within the community colleges, now isn't the time to stick to lofty principles about equal pricing for all. The loftiest thing that state legislators could do now is to help students of all financial backgrounds get through college.

As an economist, an immigrant and a scholar of the effects of immigration on the U.S. economy, I find that few pieces of legislation have engaged me more than the proposal for comprehensive immigration reform that the full Senate will take up this week. The most heated debates have been about the path to legal status for those undocumented immigrants who are already in the United States. But this bill does much more than that. It changes the rules regulating the future flow of immigrants and of non-immigrant, temporary foreign workers.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles E. Schumer, awakened from a nap in his office, bounded to the Senate floor, staff in tow. It was approaching 2 a.m. The New Yorker joined fellow Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, who was presiding wearily over an almost empty chamber. The two senators and six others, Republicans and Democrats, had finished writing the most comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws in a generation. Now the bill was ready to be introduced. "I would like to thank everybody ... who worked so hard on this great legislation whose voyage begins now," Schumer said.

SACRAMENTO - A Los Angeles state senator said Friday that the U.S. attorney's office had subpoenaed him to testify before a federal grand jury, just days after the FBI raided the Capitol office of Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello). Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement that the testimony will take place in Los Angeles in July. "I've communicated to the U.S. attorney's office my willingness to cooperate fully," the statement said. "The U.S. attorney's office has asked that the details of their inquiry remain confidential.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the House calls for a review of state laws that criminalize behavior by people with HIV, including many laws that seem anachronistic or inappropriate given what has been learned during the last three decades about the transmission and treatment of the virus that causes AIDS. The bill should be passed. The Repeal HIV Discrimination Act of 2013, introduced by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), would not by itself repeal any state laws.

Government bureaucrats want your water softener. The Culligan Man is fighting back. The company behind the renowned "Hey Culligan Man!" advertising campaign of the 1950s has launched a political and public relations offensive to kill a bill targeting its signature product. That proposal would allow regulators to ban conventional water softeners that discharge salt into municipal sewer lines.

In 1920, the city of Sacramento amended its charter to declare that "no water meters shall ever be attached to residential water service pipes," and ever since, water meters have been fighting words here in River City. But the days of Sacramento's wide-open spigots may be twisting shut. The city finds itself practically alone in its fight to perpetuate the flat rates that charge people the same no matter how much water they use.

SACRAMENTO - Ronald S. Calderon's knack for raising campaign cash and collecting gifts has attracted attention, often unwanted, since he arrived in Sacramento more than a decade ago. Now the Democratic state senator finds himself in the sights of federal investigators. Authorities are looking into the Montebello lawmaker's "income stream," a law enforcement source familiar with the case told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. Calderon's ties to the Central Basin Municipal Water District in southeast Los Angeles County appear to be part of the inquiry.

SACRAMENTO - Lawmakers on Monday voted to allow the public to be excluded from certain gatherings that include the governor and county officials. The state Senate sent to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk a measure created in reaction to a legal opinion by a county prosecutor. The official said a private 2011 meeting between Brown and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors violated the public's right to see government business being conducted. At that closed-door meeting, Brown and the supervisors discussed his controversial plan, dubbed "realignment," to begin holding nonviolent felons and certain other low-level offenders in county jails rather than send them to state lockups.