One hundred years ago, on June 4, 1919, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution in support of a 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which would give women the right to vote. The resolution was sent to the states and eventually was ratified in August 1920. The quiz below, from...
Israel Faces Repeat 2019 Election After Parliament Dissolves
JERUSALEM — Israel embarked Thursday on an unprecedented snap election campaign — the second this year — after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition and instead dissolved parliament. In what seemed an improbable scenario just days ago, Israel's newly elected Knesset dissolved itself in an early...
Raging Waters: River Conservancy Board Sued Over Access Vote
It was only a matter of time before the San Joaquin River Conservancy Board faced a lawsuit about where to build an access point to the river. That time was 30 days. In December 2017, the board voted to build at Spano Park, at the end of Palm Avenue at...
House Broadly Condemns Hate After Anti-Semitism Dispute
WASHINGTON — Divided in debate but mostly united in a final vote, the House passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and other bigotry Thursday, with Democrats trying to push past a dispute that has overwhelmed their agenda and exposed fault lines that could dog them through elections next year. The one-sided...
California Supreme Court Throws Cities, Including Fresno, Into Chaos Over Local Taxes
The California Supreme Court has some explaining to do. Late last year, the city of Oakland put a new land parcel tax on the books, after 62 percent of voters turned out to boost funding for public education. Now a local business group is suing the city, arguing that the new tax...
Proposed Ballot Measure Would Let California Parolees Vote
SACRAMENTO — Tens of thousands of parolees would be allowed to vote under a state constitutional amendment proposed Monday by California's secretary of state and Democratic lawmakers who called it the next civil rights issue. The proposal intended for the 2020 ballot would help nearly 50,000 felons who have served...
Trump Prods McConnell on Sentencing Bill: 'Go for It Mitch!'
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's reluctance to hold a vote on a popular criminal justice bill has angered top Republican senators and created an unusual rift with a longtime GOP ally, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. And on Friday, it also brought on a tweet from President Donald...
California First State to Mandate Solar Power for New Homes
LOS ANGELES — California became the first state in the nation to require homes built in 2020 and later be solar powered, following a vote by the Building Standards Commission. The unanimous action on Wednesday finalizes a previous vote by the Energy Commission and fulfills a decade-old goal to make...
How Much Did Interest Groups Pay per Vote? The Answer, as We Break Down the Midterms With Data.
Ballot propositions are an expensive business in California. In the lead-up to November’s election, advocates spent an eye-popping $409 million for or against 11 ballot measures. Among these were a mix of earnest policy initiatives of broad public interests (say, making daylight saving time permanent) and narrow proposals that sought to...
Commentary: Legislators Spared From Living in Their Districts
Equity and logic would seem to dictate that state legislators should live in the districts they represent and thereby share their constituents’ daily experiences. State law has said as much for many decades, and from time to time, individual lawmakers have been caught registering to vote in their districts but...