Sen. Anthony Portantino Archives

Proposed Education Funding Scheme Doesn’t Address California’s Needed Public School Reforms

January 19, 2022 7:42 am

Between the 2020 and 2021 school years, tens of thousands of students left California’s public schools – the latest total shows more than 160,000 students have left California schools. COVID-19 student absences have also wreaked havoc among California public schools,...

Sen. Scott Wiener: Open Bay Area Safe Drug Use Sites, and High-Density Housing

December 9, 2020 3:35 pmDecember 10, 2020 5:57 pm

From the “you can’t make this stuff up” file, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) wants to allow San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles to open “safe-drug-use” sites – at a time when the entire state state is in lockdown –...

Reed Hastings Gave Over $4 million to Calif Politics in First Quarter

April 1, 2020 12:00 pmMarch 17, 2022 7:31 am

Press play to hear a narrated version of this story, presented by AudioHopper. With the world’s population locked in its homes and can’t-look-away productions like Tiger King (and my personal favorite The Valhalla Murders), Netflix is on something of a...

Senate Bill 914 Targets Hunting Licenses

February 5, 2020 2:42 pmFebruary 5, 2020 2:49 pm

None of the gun laws will have any effect on violent criminals, who disregard the law and often use stolen weapons and ammunition. As the Associated Press reports, California Sen. Anthony Portantino, La Cañada Flintridge Democrat, has authored a...

Sen. Wiener’s SB 50 is Back; Will Strip Zoning and Land-Use Requirements From Any Type of Housing

June 22, 2019 9:29 amJune 24, 2019 12:43 pm

Unable to accept the killing of his controversial housing/zoning bill SB 50, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) has found the backdoor answer to reviving it: Wiener has replaced the language in two other bills with most of his SB 50...

Conflict Over Sen. Appropriations Chairman’s Decision to Kill Housing Bill Until 2020

May 17, 2019 1:55 pmMay 18, 2019 5:16 am

Thursday the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee announced that SB 50 by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) will become a “two-year bill,” effectively shelving the bill would mandate building significantly more dense housing throughout the state, near public mass...

New Assembly Rule Could Kill Democrats’ and Bipartisan Bills Before Committee Votes

May 13, 2019 2:14 pmMay 14, 2019 4:48 pm

Two California lawmakers are proposing bipartisan legislation to help small businesses succeed, and to encourage investment growth in California by lowering the minimum franchise tax. However, a new rule in the Assembly, which allows committee chairmen and women to refuse...