SACRAMENTO (AP) – They began the year with a legislative advantage no party had seen in 80 years in California – a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of the Legislature.
Yet since then, the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and Assembly have sparred over important legislation dealing with water, environmental protection, the Public Records Act, municipal corruption and more.
They couldn’t even agree on when to recess the Legislature for the summer, choosing different breaks that caused momentary disarray and confusion.
Now they are at odds and in a sniping mood on how to respond to a federal court order to reduce California’s prison population by the end of the year. Time is running out to find a compromise, and the stakes couldn’t be higher, with federal judges poised to override state law and order early releases of convicts.
The gulf between Assembly Speaker John Perez of Los Angeles…
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