Today's Fresh Meat

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Democrats in both houses of the Legislature have passed separate bills extending health insuranceto millions of Californians, the Sacramento Bee reports.  The two bills-- AB 8 and SB 48 -- require employers to either contribute 7.5 percentof their payroll to health care or pay into a state fund, though theydiffer on who qualifies for exemptions.  "We're going to say, to allCalifornians, from this point forward, that health care is a rightafforded to everyone in this state," Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez said.

The Senate and Assembly also passed similar bills reforming our state's prison sentencing,the San Jose Mercury News reports.  Both bills would create anindependent panel with the authority to rewrite the guidelines thatjudges follow when sentencing.  The sentencing reform could helpCalifornia's growing problem with overcrowded prisons.  Democrats saythat the measures will bring fairness and common sense to ourpunishments for laws, while Republicans were quick to call them "softon crime."

Congress may eliminate California's new greenhouse gas emissions lawand replace it with a national standard, the Sacramento Bee reports. The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a draft bill last weekthat would pre-empt California's emissions law.  Governors fromCalifornia, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, New Mexico, Oregon,Pennsylvania and Arizona wrote a letter to energy subcommittee chairRichard Boucher (D-Virginia) protesting the draft legislation. "Congress must not deny states the right to pursue solutions in theabsence of federal policy," governors of eight states argued.

There's more...