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POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:
Krekorian fits the bills in 1st term
Since his election to the Assembly two years ago, Paul Krekorian has faced a steep learning curve in trying to navigate a maze of bureaucracy while working to represent Burbank, Glendale and parts of Los Angeles.
But Krekorian, an attorney by trade and former Burbank school board member, turned his professional experience into political know-how as he completed his first term in the Legislature with the most bills signed into law of any freshman member of the Assembly.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 16 of Krekorian’s bills into law during the two-year legislative period from 2006 to 2008 — greater than all other 37 first-term members of the Assembly, he said Thursday.
“You can only have a record of success like that by working in a bipartisan way,” he said. “I’m very proud of the representation that I’ve given to the constituents of my districts. I’ve established a record of responsibility unmatched in recent record by representatives to the area.”
Krekorian’s legislative record includes a wide range of policies that included more humane treatment of animals, increased availability of HIV screenings and improved adult education programs.
Krekorian has also taken on a slew of committee posts in his first two years. He is chairman of the Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry, which is advancing a number of proposals to keep film and television production jobs in the region, and is a member of a half dozen other committees that handle the state’s budget, human services and public utilities.
Scott ends legislative career on high note
While Krekorian was the most prolific first-term legislator in the Assembly, outgoing state Sen. Jack Scott has been the most successful during his 12 years in the Legislature.
The nearly termed-out Scott, set to lead the state’s community college system in January, has had 146 laws enacted during his three years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate. That figure is the highest of any legislator in the same 12-year span, officials with his office said this week.
Fifteen of Scott’s bills were signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008, with another 21 passed by the Legislature. Scott was termed out of the Legislature this year.
Legislators’ per diem rates rise once again
Though personal spending has slumped, along with stocks that have nose-dived recently, per diem rates for state lawmakers are once again on the rise.
The state’s Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, which oversees the per diem rates, voted Thursday to raise the daily-living-expense reimbursement rate for members of the Assembly and Senate from $170 to $173, retroactive to Oct. 1.
The net effect will add about $600 to the annual income for the state’s 120 members of the Legislature and result in an annual spike of about $72,000 for taxpayers, officials said.
Per diem rates for legislators have increased $35 in the past four years.
Sherman seeks answers to electoral imbalance
With the Nov. 4 presidential election less than two weeks away, Rep. Brad Sherman said this week that the country needs to address what he views as a looming electoral problem.
Last year, Sherman introduced legislation, House Resolution 73, to amend the presidential election procedures set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
Currently, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that if no person receives a majority of electoral college votes, the House of Representatives chooses the president. In such a situation, each state casts one vote.
Under the constitutional amendment introduced by Sherman, instead of each state casting one vote, each representative would have one vote, ensuring that large states like California, New York and Florida are fairly represented, he said.
“There are many scenarios in which [Democratic Sen. Barack] Obama and [Republican Sen. John] McCain could each get 269 electoral college votes,” Sherman said. “Each Californian should have as much say in who becomes president as everyone else. The current system gives citizens of Alaska, Delaware and other states with small populations 50 or even 60 times as much representation as Californians. That is fundamentally unfair.”
A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to secure the presidential nomination.
Sherman’s legislation was introduced Dec. 18, 2007, but stalled before making it to the House floor.
The last and only election to be decided by the House was the 1824 presidential race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
Each candidate failed to secure a majority vote in the electoral college, and Adams eventually prevailed with 13 House votes to Jackson’s seven.
Still, Sherman warned that the nation should be prepared for the possibility that the House again has to decide a presidential election.
“The two most recent presidential elections came very close to ending in an electoral college tie,” he said. “We obviously cannot pass a constitutional amendment for 2008, but we should act well before 2012.”
Krekorian to speak at transnational summit
Krekorian is slated to be the keynote luncheon speaker at a transnational conference set to begin in Montreal, Canada, Monday.
In front of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership Summit, Krekorian plans to discuss his ongoing work as the leader of the Assembly’s bipartisan working group that is crafting legislation to expand the states’ renewable portfolio standard, his office said this week.
Krekorian’s working group has been tasked by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass with developing policies to strengthen California’s renewable energy standard and combat climate change.
The summit will feature leading decision-makers, researchers and developers from academia, industry, government and the investment community from California and Canada.
The principal goal of the summit is to stimulate new research, development and delivery of projects that offer economic and social benefits, officials said.
— Jeremy Oberstein
But Krekorian, an attorney by trade and former Burbank school board member, turned his professional experience into political know-how as he completed his first term in the Legislature with the most bills signed into law of any freshman member of the Assembly.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed 16 of Krekorian’s bills into law during the two-year legislative period from 2006 to 2008 — greater than all other 37 first-term members of the Assembly, he said Thursday.
“You can only have a record of success like that by working in a bipartisan way,” he said. “I’m very proud of the representation that I’ve given to the constituents of my districts. I’ve established a record of responsibility unmatched in recent record by representatives to the area.”
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Krekorian has also taken on a slew of committee posts in his first two years. He is chairman of the Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry, which is advancing a number of proposals to keep film and television production jobs in the region, and is a member of a half dozen other committees that handle the state’s budget, human services and public utilities.
Scott ends legislative career on high note
While Krekorian was the most prolific first-term legislator in the Assembly, outgoing state Sen. Jack Scott has been the most successful during his 12 years in the Legislature.
The nearly termed-out Scott, set to lead the state’s community college system in January, has had 146 laws enacted during his three years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate. That figure is the highest of any legislator in the same 12-year span, officials with his office said this week.
Fifteen of Scott’s bills were signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2008, with another 21 passed by the Legislature. Scott was termed out of the Legislature this year.
Legislators’ per diem rates rise once again
Though personal spending has slumped, along with stocks that have nose-dived recently, per diem rates for state lawmakers are once again on the rise.
The state’s Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board, which oversees the per diem rates, voted Thursday to raise the daily-living-expense reimbursement rate for members of the Assembly and Senate from $170 to $173, retroactive to Oct. 1.
The net effect will add about $600 to the annual income for the state’s 120 members of the Legislature and result in an annual spike of about $72,000 for taxpayers, officials said.
Per diem rates for legislators have increased $35 in the past four years.
Sherman seeks answers to electoral imbalance
With the Nov. 4 presidential election less than two weeks away, Rep. Brad Sherman said this week that the country needs to address what he views as a looming electoral problem.
Last year, Sherman introduced legislation, House Resolution 73, to amend the presidential election procedures set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
Currently, the 12th Amendment to the Constitution states that if no person receives a majority of electoral college votes, the House of Representatives chooses the president. In such a situation, each state casts one vote.
Under the constitutional amendment introduced by Sherman, instead of each state casting one vote, each representative would have one vote, ensuring that large states like California, New York and Florida are fairly represented, he said.
“There are many scenarios in which [Democratic Sen. Barack] Obama and [Republican Sen. John] McCain could each get 269 electoral college votes,” Sherman said. “Each Californian should have as much say in who becomes president as everyone else. The current system gives citizens of Alaska, Delaware and other states with small populations 50 or even 60 times as much representation as Californians. That is fundamentally unfair.”
A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to secure the presidential nomination.
Sherman’s legislation was introduced Dec. 18, 2007, but stalled before making it to the House floor.
The last and only election to be decided by the House was the 1824 presidential race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson.
Each candidate failed to secure a majority vote in the electoral college, and Adams eventually prevailed with 13 House votes to Jackson’s seven.
Still, Sherman warned that the nation should be prepared for the possibility that the House again has to decide a presidential election.
“The two most recent presidential elections came very close to ending in an electoral college tie,” he said. “We obviously cannot pass a constitutional amendment for 2008, but we should act well before 2012.”
Krekorian to speak at transnational summit
Krekorian is slated to be the keynote luncheon speaker at a transnational conference set to begin in Montreal, Canada, Monday.
In front of the Canada-California Strategic Innovation Partnership Summit, Krekorian plans to discuss his ongoing work as the leader of the Assembly’s bipartisan working group that is crafting legislation to expand the states’ renewable portfolio standard, his office said this week.
Krekorian’s working group has been tasked by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass with developing policies to strengthen California’s renewable energy standard and combat climate change.
The summit will feature leading decision-makers, researchers and developers from academia, industry, government and the investment community from California and Canada.
The principal goal of the summit is to stimulate new research, development and delivery of projects that offer economic and social benefits, officials said.
— Jeremy Oberstein
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