[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Dan Bacher

As President George Bush attempted to raid salmon disaster relief funds to pay for the U.S. census, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was defeated in his move to transfer $4 million California fishing license fees to the general fund. Schwarzenegger's move is unconscionable in the light of the collapse of the Central Valley salmon fishery and California Delta food chain that his abysmal environmental policies have created.

California Trout, a statewide fishery conservation organization, recently defeated an underhanded attempt by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to raid fishing license funds.

On May 30, California Trout issued a statement release calling for a freeze on California fishing license fees in the face of a Schwarzenegger administration proposal to transfer $4 million from the Hatchery and Inland Fisheries Fund (HIFF) to the state's General Fund. Fortunately, the State Legislature’s Budget Conference Committee rejected the transfer on June 13, in large part because the administration officially withdrew the proposal.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Leland Yee, Ph.D.
Assistant President pro Tem
California State Senate

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Under current law, prosecutors can incarcerate domestic violence victims to make them testify against the perpetrator.  Unfortunately, this has the effect of scaring many victims out of testifying. The practice was previously banned for sexual assault victims. Well, today, consider that practice an historical one for domestic violence victims as well:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Los Angeles) today signed into law a bill that victim advocates believe will result in more women coming forward to law enforcement after falling victim to domestic violence.  Senate Bill 1356, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), protects domestic violence survivors from the threat of incarceration when they refuse to testify against their abuser in court.   The law mirrors an existing statute for sexual assault victims.

Full Press release over the flip

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

After they made hundreds of people sick on the Central Coast, and nearly killed at least two children, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Secretary A. G. Kawamura of the CDFA are changing tactics and no longer aerial spraying highly populated cities with untested pesticides. For that, residents of Northern and Central California are grateful.

They were wrong about the public’s willingness to be aerial sprayed. Now, if only the Governor and Secretary would realize that they are also wrong about the threat LBAM poses.

To read Kawamura's statements in the press, you would think that the light brown apple moth is so voracious that New Zealand, where it has been established for 110 years, would be a barren landscape, with no surviving plants.

Yet New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, and parts of the United Kingdom consider the apple moth to be an insignificant pest. The United States’ trade embargo and policies related to LBAM are the only things that do significant damage, and the damage is economic. The crusade against the apple moth is a political charade.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Ann Nisenson and Vanessa Huang
Justice Now

“Ludicrous" is what Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called California’s lack of process for releasing Daniel Provencio from prison in 2005. Provencio, who was left brain dead after a prison guard shot him with a foam bullet, cost the state over $30,000 a day for his care.

All of that was supposed to change in October 2007, when Schwarzenegger had the rare opportunity to pass common sense into law by signing Assembly Bill 1539, “Medical Release and Fiscal Savings Bill,” which streamlines the existing medical release process for people who are terminally ill in prison, and enables people who are permanently medically incapacitated like Provencio to also qualify. Before AB 1539 passed, people who are permanently medically incapacitated were not eligible to apply for medical release.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Marcy Winograd
California Democratic Party Executive Board Representative
41st Assembly District

Some wore Obama t-shirts, a few mourned Hillary’s exit, but the majority just talked about taking back our country from those who took us to war.

Meeting near San Francisco last weekend, representatives to the California Democratic Party Executive Board, planned neighbor-to-neighbor voter outreach campaigns, passed resolutions calling for the elimination of water boarding and torture, and looked to the future – not just in Washington, but also in Sacramento, as gubernatorial hopefuls came calling.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Sam Gold
A California Injured Worker

I’m an injured worker and I’m writing this article not because I love attorneys, but because “You Have A Right To Know!” and no one else seems to want to tell you the truth! Workers’ Compensation around this country is not operating on a level playing field and here’s one of the reasons why! Part of the insurance industry’s 20 year plan to gain total control of the California Workers’ Compensation system (www.ciaw.org/the20yearplan.html) is to eliminate the only obstacle left in their goal of retaining 100% of every premium dollar paid; that of the injured workers’ legal advocate, the applicants’ attorney.

40% of every premium dollar paid just doesn’t seem to be enough for these greedy insurance companies!

These applicants’ attorneys are some upstanding human beings and incredibly brilliant legal minds who have forsaken other more lucrative disciplines of the law to help those who are at a distinct disadvantage, California’s occupationally injured workers, having been injured in the course of their employment, in many instances due to the negligence of their employers.