HOOPLA OVER HOOPS IN GOV’S OFFICE

BUCKEYES VS. BRUINS
Ohio State, Georgetown, Florida and UCLA are the Final Four teams left standing in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament – and there are divided loyalties in the Governor’s Press Office. Press Secretary Aaron McLear served as the official Ohio State “Brutus Buckeye” mascot during his final two years of school there from 1997 – 1999. Check out the costume:

But McLear tells me his boss, Adam Mendelsohn, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications, is a UCLA grad and passionate about the Bruins of Westwood.

THE COOKIE CONNECTION
How hardcore a fan is McLear of Ohio State? His mom sent him a batch of chocolate and peanut butter “buckeye” cookies, which he is sharing with the press office. Apparently the cookies are going fast. What in the world is a “buckeye”? According to McLear, “The buckeye is the official tree of Ohio and the buckeye is the nut it produces – a nut that looks like a chestnut.”

Could there be an Ohio State/UCLA showdown? Well first, Ohio State must get past a tough Goergetown team and UCLA must defeat the defending champion Florida Gators.

HOORAY FOR HEMP

POT LUCK
Californians want the state’s current ban on growing hemp to go up in smoke….
a new telephone poll of 800 likely California voters, finds 71% support for a bill allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp – one of nature’s strongest fibers.

Hemp is used worldwide for clothing, food and building materials. It is also a variety of cannabis and hence the controversy, but unlike marijuana, hemp has no mind-altering effects. The poll was conducted by Zogby, a national polling company that takes surveys on political issues and candidates.

ODD COUPLE
Liberal Assemblyman Mark Leno, (D) San Francisco and conservative Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, (R) Irvine are usually polar opposites at the State Capitol when it comes to legislation. But now they’re actually working together and co-sponsoring a bill (AB 684) permitting California farmers to grow industrial hemp for the sale of seed, oil and fiber to manufacturers.

In an interview with Capitol Insider, Mark Leno said with a smile, “Chuck Devore may be my “joint” author”, then added, “but hemp has as much THC as the poppy seed on your bagel.” THC is the active ingredient in marijuana.

Leno touts hemp as an important cash crop for California farmers in a $270 million industry. And best of all, Leno said, “hemp is grown without herbicides, without pesticides and uses less water than most plants – and it leaves nutrients in the soil.”

TRY AND TRY AGAIN
This is not the first time Leno and Devore have tried to pass a hemp bill. They co-authored a similar measure last year that passed both houses of the legislature before Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed it.

This year, they have added more bi-partisan supporters, including Assemblymembers Patty Berg, a Democrat from Eureka and Anthony Adams, a Republican from Claremont. Also joining the party is conservative Senator Tom McClintock, a Republican from Thousand Oaks.

Assembly Bill 684 faces its first hurdle this year before the Assembly Public Safety Committee. The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 27th. You can check out the bill for yourself in the link below.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_0651-0700/ab_684_bill_20070221_introduced.html

THE DEMS ARE COMING

PARTY STARS TO ATTEND STATE CONVENTION
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and Senate President Don Perata of Oakland are some of the big names from the Bay Area attending the California Democratic Party convention next month in San Diego. Attorney General Jerry Brown of Oakland will also be there, along with State Treasurer Bill Lockyer of Hayward.

PRESIDENTIAL PUSH
The headliners for the convention include at least four of the Democratic candidates running for president, including U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, (D) New York and John Edwards, the former Democratic VP candidate, who ran with John Kerry in 2004.

Both Clinton and Edwards are considered to be in the top tier, along with U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D) Illinois, who is not attending the convention. Democratic delegates can rub elbows though with two other candidates, U.S. Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Political insiders around the Capitol love handicapping the presidential race. Some Democratic bloggers list Hillary Clinton as the favorite with 5-2 odds of winning the nomination, while Barack Obama is close behind at 3-1. Edwards ranks third amongst political prognosticators with 6-1 odds of capturing the Democratic crown. Bill Richardson is a dark horse at 17-1 and Chris Dodd is even further back at 70-1.

WHY CALIFORNIA IS GOLDEN
California’s early presidential primary, now slated for Feb. 5, 2008 upon Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s expected signature, means candidates will be spending more time in the Golden State for campaigning and fundraising. Silicon Valley and Hollywood are the hot spots for both activities, as evidenced by recent California visits from Clinton, Obama and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side. Expect to see more of them – and the other candidates in the months ahead.

HIV HELP

FAMILY MATTERS
San Francisco Senator Carole Migden says California should make it easier and safer for women to get pregnant when the father is HIV positive. So she’s introduced a bill that would provide couples with assistance in reproduction.

“This is to help people with HIV become parents,” Migden told me in a telephone interview.

Current California law prohibits HIV-positive donors from transferring sperm. But a process known as sperm washing reduces the risk of HIV transmission, according to UC San Francisco.

Migden’s bill, SB 443, would allow potential parents to take advantage of these medical advances. Check out the bill for yourself in the link below:

http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_0401-0450/sb_443_bill_20070221_introduced.html

POT PRICES PLUMMET

MEDICAL MARIJUANA FEES REDUCED
The cost of a California Medical Marijuana card is coming down from a high of $142 to $66.
Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco announced the reduced fee on Thursday, March 1st for patients with official ID cards.

Bay Area medical marijuana users originally paid a $13 state application fee to cover the cost of the program since it began in August 2005. The California Department of Health Services has issued more than 10,000 medical marijuana ID cards statewide.

While San Francisco County is actively involved in the program, more than half of California’s 58 counties, including Sacramento and San Diego, do not participate. With rising costs, the state decided to charge more for the cards.

As NBC11 reported last month, Mark Leno sent a letter to the California Department of Health Services (DHS) urging reconsideration of the fee hike. His efforts have paid off, with DHS announcing the $142 fee scheduled to begin March 1st, has now been cut by more than half to a $66 fee, starting April 1 – and fees will be even lower – $33 for Medi-Cal patients.

“I think we were able to make the case, ” Leno told me, “that raising the fees to $142 would actually be the demise of the program.” Leno added Los Angeles County will begin issuing medical marijuana cards in June with a chance that prices could fall even further as more counties enter the program.

KIDS BEHIND BARS

JUVENILE JUSTICE
As the #2 Democrat in the Assembly, Speaker pro Tempore Sally Lieber of San Jose is planning big changes for the state’s troubled youth prisons. Lieber wants to completely eliminate the Division of Juvenile Justice by placing the offenders in county youth facilities.

“We have a historic opportunity to take a very dysfunctional system and end it,” Lieber tells Capitol Insider . Her bill, AB 1655, would shut down what used to be known as the California Youth Authority and according to Lieber would provide, “cost saving measures and better service” on the local level. The Assembly Public Safety Committee will begin hearings in late March on the likely to be controversial proposal.

IS POPCORN DANGEROUS?
Sally Lieber thinks so – at least when it comes to artificial butter flavoring. She says a chemical in the flavoring can cause a respiratory disease known as “popcorn lung” when inhaled. So she’s also introducing a bill banning the use of diacetyl in the workplace by 2010.

“We’ve seen tragic cases of mostly Latino workers in low-paying jobs with few options other than to have a lung transplant,” Lieber says. Her bill, AB 514, goes to the Assembly’s Environmental Safety and Toxic Committee. Check out the bill for yourself in the link below:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_0501-0550/ab_514_bill_20070220_introduced.html