If you need an example of just how befuddling California’s top-two primary system can be, consider the case of the $50,000 mailer sent to voters across 13 California counties in early June. The mailer’s message: In the crowded race for a state Senate district that sprawls from Modesto to Truckee to the Owens Valley, the […]
State Senate
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McGuire Named State Senate Majority Leader
North Coast state Sen. Mike McGuire has a new title today — majority leader —which moves him up the Capitol ladder to the rung of second highest ranking member of the upper house of California’s Legislature. He was named to the post by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins. “With bold leadership along with the […]
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California Redistricting: Four Key Questions
It took weeks of long, late-night meetings full of wonky debate and digital line drawing — as well as a haiku and at least two songs as public comment. But Wednesday night, California’s independent redistricting commission reached a key milestone: Its first official maps are out. (Find an interactive map viewer here.) The citizen panel […]
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Humboldt Residents Could See a Change in Representation Under Draft Redistricting Maps
Humboldt County residents’ representation on the board of supervisors, in Congress and in the state Legislature is on the line as two commissions look at redrawing boundaries of those districts. The process happens ever 10 years after the federal government publishes census data to ensure the populations of the districts are evenly distributed. The last […]
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McGuire Looks to Create Statewide TOT Tax Collection System for Short-term Rentals
North Coast state Sen. Mike McGure has introduced a bill that looks to create a statewide system for collecting taxes from short-term rentals to aid cities and counties in accessing “untapped revenue,” according to a release from his office. Senate Bill 555 would require short-term rental services like Airbnb and VRBO to collect the taxes […]
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Chris Lehman Drops out of the Senate Race
Chris Lehman — the 35-year-old Arcata man who announced his candidacy for the State Senate with vigor last August — said in a press release today that he will abandon his campaign. Lehman launched out of the gate shortly after current Senator Noreen Evans announced she wouldn’t run for the 2nd District in 2014. He […]
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Journal Interviews Chris Lehman, Your Fresh-Faced Candidate for State Senate
About an hour after announcing his run for State Senate, Chris Lehman, an Arcata family man and, at the tender age of 36, a Sacramento insider, sat down with the Journal for a croissant sandwich and coffee (in his own mug) at Ramone’s in Old Town. Bottom line? The guy’s prepped and ready to go. […]
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Former State Senator Pat Wiggins Dies
Pat Wiggins, who represented the North Coast in the state senate from 2006 to 2010, died this morning, a staffer with the Senate Democrats has confirmed. She was 73. Wiggins served on the Santa Rosa City Council before moving on to the State Assembly, where she represented the 7th District (Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties) […]