California State Senator (D-Oakland)
Democratic State Senator from Oakland and chair of the Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee
PROFILE
Loni Hancock
Guest
FROM Loni Hancock
Which Way, L.A.?
Governor Brown Says, 'Thanks, but No Thanks' Governor Brown today vetoed the budget passed yesterday by the Democratic majority in Sacramento, issuing an explanation on YouTube. Last year, voters passed Proposition 25 , providing that legislators would not get paid if they failed to meet the constitutional budget deadline of midnight last night. For the first time in 25 years, they made it. But what happens now that Brown has cast his veto? State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, signs the checks.
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Would Public Funding Push Private Money Out of Politics? California voters prohibited the public financing of political campaigns in 1988. In 2000 and again in 2006, they refused to lift the ban by margins of 65 and 74 percent. But, in less that two weeks, they'll be asked to vote again, this time on a pilot program for just one statewide office. We get the details of Proposition 15 and hear a debate on the California Fair Elections Act.
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Party Time: Money and Politics in Sacramento In the latest survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, approval of the California state legislature dropped to a record low. Just 14% of registered voters thought the Assembly and Senate were doing a good job. But that hasn't prevented lobbyists from showing up at 250 fundraisers in this year alone. By one count, 19 are scheduled today in Sacramento and another 18 tomorrow. We hear more from Shane Goldmacher of the Los Angeles Times, Democratic State Senator Loni Hancock and former Republican State Senator Ross Johnson, chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission.
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To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.