Riggs Report: Stillborn reform at the Capitol
Lawmakers bury transparency measured
Published 4:13 PM PDT May 01, 2013
Modesto Assemblymember Kristin Olsen is not naïve about the political process. But even she was taken aback by how quickly her Capitol colleagues squashed her efforts this week to promote transparency and stop unsavory dead-of-night deal-making.
Students support the joint efforts of three California State Assembly members to freeze tuition throughout the UC and CSU systems.
Assembly Bill 67, authored by Assembly members Kristin Olsen (R-Modesto), Rocky Chávez (R-Oceanside) and Jeff Gorell (R-Camarillo) would freeze tuition at the rate of the 2011-2012 academic year if there is an increase in funding to UC and CSU schools by 5 percent in the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 academic years.
Members of the Assembly Higher Education Committee have approved a bill by a local legislator that he says would give more flexibility to community colleges to spend money on academic support staff such as counselors and librarians.
Committee members voted Tuesday to approve Assembly Bill 806, which was introduced by Assemblyman Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita.
Assembly Bill 67 (AB 67), which was authored by Republican legislators of the California State Assembly, was passed with bi-partisan support in the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee. It is now been re-referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations.
Olsen talks new bills, hydrofracking and regulations with Turlockers
Brooke Borba
bborba@turlockjournal.com
April 12, 2013
Assemblymember Kristin Olsen (R-Modesto) and residents of Turlock came together Thursday to informally discuss pressing issues affecting citizens at a Town Hall meeting hosted by the Chamber of Commerce. Items discussed included Olsen’s 2013 legislative measures to protect students and veterans, as well as the need for job stability and Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to hydrofrack in California.
State government is often funny, but rarely on purpose.
So you can imagine my delight when last Thursday’s Assembly session took a delightful turn during the hazing of new lawmakers. Each freshman member who stood to introduce his or her first bill was peppered with goofy and seemingly good-natured questions followed by an overwhelming “no” vote that was changed to a “yes” vote by members after giving each plebe a few minutes to sweat.
Several articles have been printed in The Bee opinion section dealing with the topic of fracking.
Neither of the articles by Kristin Olsen or Dave Quast said a word about some of the dangerous, cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene, toluene or xylene that are used in the fracking process and are being injected into the ground. They only painted a naive, quick- fix solution for jobs, and they argued that the great commentary on fracking by Anita Young of the Sierra Club was misleading.
I was shocked to read how Obama is letting our levees deteriorate. I searched the Internet for facts to support my outrage. Surprisingly, while the federal government was involved in building the levees, upon completion of construction "the general upkeep of project levees was turned over to local entities." This confused me. If the maintenance of the levees is the responsibility of local entities, how is their deterioration the responsibility of the president?
School safety bill amended
Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen, D-Modesto, this week amended her school panic button bill to make the measure voluntary.
A bill pushed by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly to train and shield armed "school marshals" failed to make it out of the Assembly Education Committee today after a 5-1 vote.
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