State Legislature

A Thousand Oaks woman who helped design a support program for military families and a Ventura woman who helps the elderly have won 1991 Woman of the Year awards from the California Legislature. At a ceremony Monday in Sacramento, the Women's Caucus of the Legislature recognized Jo Ann Bellen of Thousand Oaks, Sister Patricia Callahan of Ventura, and about 100 other women nominated for Woman of the Year awards by their state legislators.

Amid allegations of overbilling, environmental hazards and spiraling costs at the Belmont Learning Center in downtown L.A. in the late 1990s, the state Legislature created a separate investigative office within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The new inspector general was authorized to issue subpoenas, and charged with examining operations in the district with a piercing and unimpeded eye. But the position was authorized for only 15 years, until the end of 2014. The first inspector general reported on serious shortfalls in accountability and oversight at Belmont.

Will it be back to the future for the state Legislature? When lawmakers convene in Sacramento this week, they may feel as if they are entering a political time warp--the state Capitol in the 1950s, before Jesse M. Unruh created California's imperial speakership and the sky wasn't the limit in raising campaign funds. Today's Capitol isn't dominated by white male lawyers, insurance agents and a few farmers, as was the old part-time Legislature.

Does spending less money on state government stimulate the economy? That's a question raised in a Los Angeles Times story Friday about states that have not restored budget cuts made during the belt-tightening of the recession. The story focuses on Kansas, where general fund revenues have increased but spending is still down since 2008. Gov. Sam Brownback argues that income tax cuts, rather than spending, will stimulate the economy; local government leaders say that services have eroded so much that the state is becoming a less attractive place to live.

Ventura County's community colleges face a nearly $1-million shortfall this fiscal year that could cripple education programs unless the state Legislature comes through with extra money, administrators said. Even as district trustees considered a preliminary 1995-96 spending plan at their meeting late Tuesday, administrators presented worst-case scenarios for dealing with the current deficit.

At the prosecution table in a wood-paneled federal courtroom in Sacramento sits FBI agent James J. Wedick Jr. His suit and tie are as drab as any plainclothes cop's, but there is something that sets him apart: the long brown hair, flecked with gray; the salt-and-pepper beard; the half-glasses that give him an almost scholarly air.

The state Legislature overwhelmingly approved a measure in Albany to move the state's presidential primary up to Feb. 5, a move designed to help its favorite political son and daughter -- former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- in the 2008 race. Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer was expected to sign the measure.

The state Legislature approved a bill that would allow for the early release of thousands of inmates to reduce costs in the prison system and help solve the state's budget problems. The legislation passed the Senate, 21 to 11, after clearing the House, 47 to 42, on Monday.

Gov. George Deukmejian's "State of the State Address" before a joint session of the state Legislature will be carried live from Sacramento at 5 p.m. today on KCET Channel 28, and on KNX (1070) and KGIL (1260) radio.

By design, the pulse of spring training beats slowly. That's why, in the world's current era of discontent and vitriol, it has become even more appealing. It would be nice to think that everything going on is right before us, plain as the nose on our face. It would be nice to think the only things that mattered Wednesday were Angels picture day, Josh Hamilton's sore leg and Mike Trout's new contract. Same with the Dodgers -- that their spring opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks and getting the kinks out for their early regular-season start in Australia were their only thoughts.

SACRAMENTO -- Former state Sen. Charles Calderon, a Democrat from Whittier, has filed papers to become a candidate for Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. Calderon submitted a declaration of intent to run for Office Number 48, the seat of Superior Court Judge Ronald M. Sohigian, who is not seeking to be re-elected. “He's got a ton of experience, including chairman of [Senate] Judiciary Committee,” said Hal Dash, a campaign consultant for Calderon. “He authored a lot of judicial-oriented legislation.” Calderon has also worked as a deputy city attorney and for two private law firms.

SACRAMENTO - Three Republican state senators called Tuesday for an immediate vote on expelling state Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood) a week after he was found guilty of eight felony charges including perjury and voter fraud. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Joel Anderson of San Diego and Andy Vidak of Hanford said in a letter to the state Senate Democratic leader that action is required to show “respect to the public and reverence for the laws.” Prosecutors said Wright lied about living in his Senate district when he ran for office and a jury agreed, but Senate Democrats have delayed an expulsion vote to allow the judge in the case to rule on a Wright motion that the jury verdict is improper.

A Los Angeles jury Tuesday found state Sen. Roderick D. Wright, a fixture in area Democratic politics, guilty on eight felony counts of perjury and voter fraud. Prosecutors said Wright, the first member of the Legislature to be convicted of a felony since the Shrimpscam sting of the 1990s, could face more than eight years behind bars and be banned for life from holding other elective office. It is unclear whether he must forfeit his Senate seat. The lawmaker, who sat with his head bowed as a criminal courts clerk read the verdicts, had no comment.

YREKA, Calif. - Farmers, ranchers and onetime loggers were among those who packed a church community room here in August to listen to a former state lawmaker convey his vision of a cleaved - and more governable - California. The theme was familiar, the resonance deep for those convinced that relentless regulation is strangling the economy of this northern border county. But this time, a tall man sporting a baseball cap stood up with a challenge. "Are we just going to go have an ice cream and complain?"

SACRAMENTO -- Got $1 million? That is how much, on average, it costs to win a seat in the California State Senate, according to MapLight, the nonpartisan research group that studies money's influence on politics. The group looked at how much money was raised by members of the state Legislature who won election in 2012. The average, to be precise, was $1,041,537 for those who won a seat in the Senate and $708,371 for candidates elected to the Assembly. That works out to $970 raised every day during the election period by Assembly candidates and $1,427 daily by Senate contenders, the group found.

New York's state legislature passed a bill that would make it a felony to take salacious pictures of unsuspecting victims. Under the bill, people who disseminate, publish or sell secret images of the intimate parts of another person's body would face criminal penalties. Their names and addresses would also be entered in the state's sex offender registry.

Olga Mendez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to a state legislature in the mainland United States, died of cancer Wednesday in New York City. The former New York state senator, who served from 1978 to 2004, was 84. -- news.obits@latimes.com

WASHINGTON -- For congressional Democrats worried about the toll Obamacare might take on their reelection chances next fall, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear delivered a surprising message. "You know what Democrats ought to run on next November? The idea that we want every American to have affordable healthcare," the two-term Democrat said Thursday. Beshear spoke to House Democrats in a closed-door meeting about his state's experience with implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The commonwealth has become "the gold standard" for implementation thus far, Beshear said, with heavy interest from residents and 69,000 enrollments so far. "We showed that the system can work and will work," Beshear said.

Marty Morgenstern, a longtime confidant of Gov. Jerry Brown who returned to state government to head the state's Labor and Workforce Development Agency in 2011, has stepped down, according to a statement released by the governor's office Wednesday. Brown named David Lanier one of his top legislative aides, as Morgenstern's replacement. Morgenstern, who turns 79 later this month, will remain on as an unpaid senior advisor to the governor. Morgenstern's resignation comes as the state's unemployment benefits system, which is run by a department within the labor agency, has come under fire for software glitches that have led to delays in tens of thousands of benefit checks.  Brown spokesman Jim Evans said on Wednesday that there was “absolutely no connection” between Morgenstern's departure and the unemployment benefits problems, adding that “it was always Marty's intention to retire at this time.” Brown first appointed Morgenstern as director of the Office of Employee Relations in 1975, Brown's first year in office in his first term.