thompson of california. the chair: the gentleman from california, mr. thompson, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: the thompson-eshoo amendment states that nothing in this bill can go into effect if the secretary of interior determines that any agricultural, fishery or related jobs will be lost in northern california counties as a result of this bill. i represent a community with varied economic interests. agriculture, fisheries and tourism. our amendment would protect these jobs from this potentially -- from this politically driven legislation that would divert water to south of delta private agricultural interests. proponents of this bill claim that the bill protects jobs. the bill does the exact opposite of what it claims to do. it's a job killer bill. it creates economic winners and losers based on south of delta interests. the livelihoods and c

and the people of california disagreed with that, and the people of california reversed it. >> how is that different from what happened in colorado? a few local communities decided that they wanted to extend preferred status to individuals, homosexual, gays, lesbians, et cetera. the voters of colorado passed a proposition saying you cannot do that. you have no right to do that. stop doing that. >> your honor, amendment 2 rendered homosexuals strangers to the law. it essentially eliminated any and all protections for homosexuals with respect to the ordinary pursuits of civic life as the court put it. it was a sweeping, undifferentiating -- essentially rendered them an isolated class and strangers to the law altogether. the court stressed that it was an unprecedented in our jurisprudence kind of statute. the precedence of marriage is anything but unprecedented. it has existed throughout the history of this country. it has been the governing understanding and definition of marriage in this state since its founding, and basically throughout the country and throughout the world for all tim

[captioning made possible by california farm bureau federation] >> welcome to "california country". i'm your host tracy sellers, and today we're getting to the heart of why one vegetable is a california favorite. if you've ever driven along the central coast and wondered what the heck these plants are, you're not alone. to the naked eye, they may just appear to be overgrown plants. but look a little closer and you'll discover one of the hidden beauties of california agriculte--artichokes! >> and there's no better place to learn about them than here at ocean mist farms. the folks here have been devoted to growing the thorny thistles since 1924. and today, they are the largest artichoke grower in north america. and this is where they call home-- the tiny town of castroville, which happens to have a huge distinction--artichoke capital of the world. yeah, i said world. and the honor isn't just by accident. >> castro really has a mediterranean-like climate. artichokes don't like it the same way they don't like a lot of rain or not enough rain. they also don't like a lot of cold or a lot

california's energy supply. california historically has been a fairly major producer of energy, primarily oil and gas. back in 1970, it produced about 62% of its total energy requirements. in 2009, california imported 67% of its energy needs. even today, california remains a very significant oil and gas producer and as we point out in the study has considerable reserves that could increase future production. also, as many of you know, california is perhaps the leader in the world in renewable energy production. of this amount, about half is hydroelectric power, 26% is biomass, and smaller proportions for wind and solar. the next slide gives a -- gives you a picture of energy consumption trends by fuel in california from 1970 to the present. and the red bars on the bottom represent natural gas consumption, the green is petroleum. so you can see that even though california is a large producer of renewable energy, it still consumes very significant amounts of petroleum and natural gas. the blue bars on the very top

california? >>well there's an aggressive effort there's been for years at the borders. and a lot if these organizations in mexico are finding it where they can bring up farmers. put a high-powered weapon in their hands. get out there just like you're growing back in mexico. and they already have it here now in the united states, so it makes it very easy for them to ship it eastward across the country instead of bringing it across the border. >>almost exclusively, the marijuana grows in our sierra mountains are done by mexican drug trafficking organizations. this is not somebody who smokes pot and grows their own stash. it's not like that. (adam)margaret mims is the sheriff of fresno county california-one of the largest if not the largest marijuana producing regions in the state. >>california has been identified as ground zero growing more marijuana than any other state and possibly even more than the whole country of mexico. (adam)when california began marijuana eradication efforts in 1983, autho

the california constitution holds the water of the state of california in trust, in trust. the state of california, the government is responsible for the care of that water. so that it can be appropriately distributed. not only for the benefits -- beneficial use of consumptive users, cities and farmers, but also for the environment. this bill takes away the laws of the state of california that would provide for the protection of the environment. the california ceqa, environmental quality act, the air quality act the endangered species act of the state of california, are overridden by this bill an by the way, the federal law is also. it takes us back to 1994 at a period of time when we didn't know the since, we didn't understand what the full impact of water diversions and other con tam napts and other species would be in the delta. since 1994, we have seen the collapse of the delta fisheries, we have seen thousands upon thousands of fishermen both commercial and recreational unable to fish. the loss of much. much talk about a man-made drought. that's baloney, it was a real

the people of california are ready to end the death penalty. a couple of weeks ago we were able to do a poll on the question of the governor converting all of these 713 death sentences to life without possibility of parole, and a change would save the city california $1 billion in five years. 63% of the voters support this idea across the entire state. every region of the state had a majority of support. a majority of republicans and democratic voters support this idea. 63%, ready for the governor to take everyone off of death row. this is an important change from where we used to be on this issue, because for a very long time, politicians have been afraid to talk about reasons for ending the death penalty and this has been seen -- been seen as an issue that would run political careers, as the former district attorney has shown, the death penalty is no longer of liability and the voters are ready for candidates who will say that we need smart criminal- justice policy, to keep the community safe and that will hold the offenders accountable, and

households inle california today. there are also 18,000 same-sex marriages which are not at issue in this case. it's easy to say that children would be better off in that relationship, but if you have heterosexual relationships permitted in california, and marriages between persons of the same sex, it doesn't change where the children will be raised. if a child is a product of a biological relationship between a man and a woman, that's up to that man and that woman to keep them together. i think judge reinhardt suggested that a better remedy for that would be to prohibit divorce, but that's not something that californians are interested in doing. >> are we free to do, use anything other than the rational basis test in the ninth circuit? >> oh, yes, i believe very strongly that you are. the hernandez case talks about immutability. to the extent that you're referring to any other aspect that the doctrine of heightened standard, i think that has been ventilated and the issues that would support an enhanced, heightened sc

that's how we going to win california. >> california primary is on june 5th. california delegates make up 15% of those needed to be the republican nominee. new this morning, a fire breaks out at an apartment building. it started on lincoln avenue. you can see a lot of smoke there. the top floor was fully engulfed in flames. firefighter has to help one person get out. luckily no injuries to the people live drug. they were able to get it under control. there is now significant damage from the fire also from the smoke and water. >>> in other bay area news, new revelations in the saga of alameda supervisor nadya locklear. according to law enforcement sources a sex tape of the supervisor and the unnamed man was given to locklear's husband. it'sal been revealed that the man in question here hadn't been stalking the supervisor as the treasure had earlier said. but rather that the relationship was possibly consensual. in other news, one person is dead and another injured in two separate shooting. one phoned saying he was shot in the 100 block of 10th street. the secon

para empezar nos vamos con una yenda local de la patineta en california. >>> comenzamos. el skate nos gusta a todos, no todos los dÍas estamos con una leyenda del deporte. en el mundo del skate es tan conocido como el mismo tony hawk. no hay superficie que no haya patinado. >>> a sus 38 aÑos estÁ mas activo que nunca, el skate es algo que lleva en la sangre desde niÑo. >>> habla en inglÉs. >>> el que nace en california estÁ bendecido de entrada, hay muchas opciones que los californianos siguen como omar que no nada mÁs patina, hace surf y sn. >>> tÚ todos los terrenos los puedes patinar. >>> habla en inglÉs. los parques, la parte favorito donde le gusta patinar a omar. >>> un atleta de tu trayectoria, ¿cuales son los beneficios que puede uno tener?. >>> habla en inglÉs.

there are seven members now from california who are not seeking re-election, and so in california in part because of the redistrictsing, this is likely to be a generational transition period. and not necessarily a partisan transition period. >> and let me ask you about a number of member contests in the pennsylvania's 12th district, and congressman mark crist and jason altmire facing here other, and this is again a result of redistricting in pennsylvania, a state that is losing congressional representation, and just next week in ohio the ninth congressional district a race between dennis kucinich who currently represents the cleveland area, and marci captor who represents the toledo, ohio, area. >> well, there are 13 districts in which unlucky members have been thrown together. these are some of the highest profile in ohio next tuesday where we will see who wins the face-off between kucinich and kaptor and we are giving a edge to marci captor, but it has gotten fierce in the final week. and obviously, the race in pennsylvania has heetd up quite -- has heated up quite a bit, and mark

a benefit corporation is a corporation under the california corporate code. next, here are, as of january 3, i will have the associate who is a community development person going over the people here in california that have become benefit corporations and give examples of businesses. >> i am head of community development out of san francisco here for b-labs. the slide here is showing the overall depiction of the companies in california that became benefit corporations. the law took effect on january 3 of this year. on the official day of opening, 12 companies became benefit corporations. to give something back, green retirement plans, and there was a lot of press around this thanks to being part of this. they have been a leader in this sort of business for a long time. and moving forward with retirement, they wanted to set up a structure where he knew his company would last another 50 years. there is the least for the benefit corporations from san francisco on the first day, a number of others from the bay area as well that makes a lot of sense, given the com

they aplpiplied it only to california. we are very gratified by how thoughtful and well-reasoned to the ninth circuit's opinion was , and we continue to a look forward to making the arguments. >> [inaudible] >> i can say we are disappointed of zero. the most important thing is to make sure that we have the ability to marriage same-sex couples in california. that is what san francisco has been focused on from when we started this fire eight years ago. it is another brick in the wall, another step in the process. if you look at how far we have come in eight years, six states, the district of columbia issuing marriage licenses, i am not disappointed with the ruling at all. in fact, i am very gratified with where we are at today and we continue to make progress and move forward. >> [inaudible] >> i don't pretend to be in the minds of justices, but as we know, and the high court oftentimes like to take cases when they are ready for them and take an incremental approach. as we see things develop, we have seen progress, and i hav

they're deployed when fire season begins. >> in southern california, first week of may, northern california, first week of june. >> reporter: this year is anything but normal. >> the amount of precipitation we've seen this winter is the lowest in the last hundred years. we're looking to move aircraft to southern air bases in the next couple weeks. >> reporter: although most won't be deployed till a couple of months, the fact is, in a serious emergency, most are ready to go. >> we have the ability to actually bring our pilots back on and staff these aircraft even today. >> reporter: cal fire owns 23 air tankers, 14 spotter planes. the largest government-owned firefighting air force in the nation. it can also call contractor aircraft if needed. during the entire year, most of the helicopters are on duty. >> the helicopters were able to swap them out throughout the year which allows us to have the helicopters available for fires like we're seeing over the last couple weeks. >> reporter: this is firefighting infrastructure and many firefighters say blaze prone california is extremely fortunate

besides that california laws that do govern parenting and child rearing provide in every way that california law continues to recognize that same-sex couples and opposite sex couples are the same for purposes of family and child rearing in every way that matters. as the california court, supreme court held in strauss, the proposition 8 didn't change any of that. it didn't talk about children. it had nothing to do with the rights of gay people took form and raise families. >> are we talking about a label here? >> we are talking about a label, your honor, but it's a very important label. it's, it does have great meaning and i think both sides of the table would stipulate to that, and i think the amount spent on this measure is testament to it. so that leads to my second point which is the proposition -- >> the reason i ask that question is, and it follows on a question that my colleague, judge smith, asked the other side, and that's this. is a state which allows, as california apparently does, everything short of the label in a better position to enact the proposition 8 than a state which allo

state controller chung's office has asked the university of california and the california state university systems to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars and turn it over to the state which is poised to run out of cash by march. the university systems had better credit than california so their interest rates would be lower. the plan would have the state borrowing through uc in march and paying back in april. >>> a drive is underway to gather signatures for a ballot niche that would impose a tax on millionaires to -- pay for police fire protection and services for the disabled. the referendum would create a 3% tax for people making over a million dollars a year and 5% for those making over two million dollars. the legislative analyst office says it@ "pu would generate five billion dollars a year. governor brown opposes the initiative. he's protesting -- proposing raising taxes on high income earners)Ñju÷ keep a temporary increase on the state's sales tax with >> the republican presidential race continues today with cuses in minnesota and colorado. -- romney once support add rights but

in california? >> your honor, the california supreme court affirmed that they did, yes, and the people of california disagreed with that and the people of california reversed it. >> how is that different from what happened in colorado? a few local communities decided they wanted to extend preferred status to individuals, homosexuals, gays, lesbians, et cetera, and the voters of colorado passed a proposition saying you cannot do that. your have no right to do that. stop doing that. >> your honor, amendment 2 rendered homosexuals strangers to the law. it eliminate any and all protections for homosexuals with respect to the ordinary pursuits of civic life. it was a weaponing, undifferentiating, essentially rendered them an isolated class and strangers to the law altogether. the the it was an unprecedented in our juris prudence statute. the traditional definition of marriage has existed throughout the history of this country, it has been the governing understanding and definition of marriage in this sta

welcome to "this week in northern california." joining me for our news panel are tom day vaur, ttvu. scott shafer, kqed public radio. and aaron glantz, reporter with "the bay citizen." aaron, you're going to be talking about the foreclosure settlement that's been months and months in the making. can you talk about the parameters of the settlement that finally came about? >> you've been hearing in the news about this $25 billion national settlement, the tape that we played of barack obama. but the good news for people in california, we had our own side settlement. california consumers are going to be able to get up to $18 billion, that's what kamala harris, our attorney general, negotiated for us. but only certain kinds of people are going to be able to get this. you have to have a loan with wells fargo, bank of america, citibank, jpmorgan chase, a allied financial, they have on own your loan and not have sold it to somebody else. if you've already lost your home all you're going to get is about $6,000. 60% of the loans are fannie

senators from california. this is what the elected officials in california would like to do for the next generation. they would like to have passenger rail in california. because california is one big traffic jam. >> so your asking -- >> you want to get people out of cars and into passenger trains? >> you're asking the rest of the country to put up billions of dollars for something that has been described as an immense financial risk based on the officials of one state. well we have to look at the entire whole and i don't think we should provide taxpayer dollars to something we are going to continually have to provide federal subsidies for, second that we're taking on immense financial risk. to's really the issue of high-paid rail. and if you look at the bills that are up right now, one in the house, one in the senate. neither body included money for this purpose. so congress is concerned about, i think this issue as well, in terms of what is the financial measurement, what are the outcomes that we're going to

[applause] member of the california state assembly, fiona ma. [applause] and a majority of your board of supervisors are here, which is a good thing. [laughter] the president of the board, david chiu. [applause] the rev. of the board, sean elsbernd. [applause] and the three women that are always undying loyalty you in support almost everything you'd do, and i will introduce the three of them together -- jane kim, leah komen and carmen chu. [applause] mark farrell. [applause] scott wiener, member of the board of supervisors. [applause] eric mar, a member of the board of supervisors. david campos, a member of the board of supervisors. [applause] you have some other city officials who are here. you have, of course, the man who takes all of our money, the treasurer, jose camos. [applause] campos would like to be there one of these days. i am so focused on campos, he owes me one. [laughter] the public defender, the man who he looked to -- you look to it you got arrested and are broke. -- if you got arrested and are broke. [applause] and the city atto

the big thing is california is on the mend. when i took over last year there was a $26 billion deficit. we have cut that in half. and i have a plan to totally balance it and pay down debts built up over the last decade. and we want to create the investment in the future, high-tech, biotech, enough buildings. >> okay. let's break it down. you have done an unbelievable job in trying to balance the budget. and you got your legislature to go along. very tough cuts, i know. and you have a plan that's slated to be on the november. >> i would have liked to have the republicans help me put it on onthe ballot. >> describe what it is. >> we have cuts to -- half of the cuts in the current budget, and the next will be a half cent sales tax, temporary for just a few years, and then a 1% on people -- families who make over $500,000, and 2% on the money they make over $1 million in one year. and that also will be temporary. and protect funding for public safety, and we do that, because we're shifting some responsibility from the state down to

tefrn me decisiÓn en medio de tanto dolor un padre de california tiene que tomar la peor decisiÓn de su vida. >>> no culpable asÍ se declarÓ ante el juez un maestro de california acusado de actos re repugnan tes contra estudiantes. >>> hola quÉ tal, buenas tardes imÁgenes de la plaza mÉxico en california rodeado de un sin nÚmero de gente maravillosa que estÁ aquÍ, hoy dia y toda esta semana para compartir noticias, entrevistas y temas que impactan a la comunidad knol triunfo que obtuvieron jornaleros pero comenzamos en mÉxico donde se reportÓ un incendio en el penal en nuevo leÓn esto mientras se realizan funerales de los 44 presos que murieron asesinados en esa cÁrcel y la investigaciÓn continÚa, vamos directamente, raÚl torres estÁ en el lugar de los hechos. en este momento en directo raÚl adelante. >>> hola quÉ tal, te saludo desde monterrey, nuevo leÓn y como has dicho hoy estallÓ la violencia en el penal donde apenas el domingo 44 internos fueron asesinados y 30 fugados, hace una hora estallÓ un incendio no se sabe si fue por acuden o provocado, hay un rumor

that's how we will win california. >> reporter: california's primary is on june 5. california's delegates make up 15% of those needed to be the republican nominees. we could be a key player. >> new this morning a fire breaks out at an apartment building in san rafael. the fire started at around 5:15 this morning at a three story building on lincoln avenue west of highway 101. the top floor was fully engulfed in flaisms flames were shooting out of the roof. firefighters had to help one person get out of that apartment. there were no injuries luckily to the two people that live there had or to the firefighters. they were able to get this fire under control by 6:00 this morning. but as you can see from this video significant damage from that fire also from the smoke and water. >>> in other bay area news, new revelations in the saga of alameda county supervisor nadia lackier and the male acquaintance who she got into a fight with at a newark motel room. according to law enforcement sources there is a sex tape of the supervisor and unnamed man and was given to her husban

together, we can end the death penalty in california. [applause] >> thank you for having me here today. i would like to close by saying i have had the opportunity to view this issue from every point of view, having been the warden at san quentin state prison. i am absolutely impassioned about the fact that it is time to

. >> california's green rush... >> california is the leading producer of marijuana in the united states. >> 14 states have approved medical marihuana. >> but is the party over? >> i was told by the justice department this is clearly not legal. >> frontline, the center for investigative reporting and kqed go inside "the pot republic." in our second story tonight, from the pages of the new yorker to frontline... >> better care for sick people is a game changer. >> so what's your ultimate goal here? >> writer atul gawande profiles one doctor's innovative way of reducing health care costs. >> there were hotspots by disease, hotspots by patient, by zip code and by neighborhood. >> and finally, in japan... >> i rented a geiger counter before leaving on this trip. >> marco werman of pri's the world discovers a group of artists and their provocative response to the recent nuclear disaster. >> ( shouting in japanese ) >> these three stories on this special edition of frontline. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corpora

hola que tal y gracias por dejarmesero parte de su domingo 26 de febrero, hoy desde la plaza mÉxico en california. donde tanto levÁntate, el rojo vivo y el noticiero han transmitido desde esta semana, hablando de los temas mÁs importantes para la comunidad. >>> hablamos con el alcalde de los Ángeles antonio villaraigosa, el presidente obama dijo que lo habÍa nombrado como co presidente del comitÉ para su reelecciÓn, hablamos de eso y mucho mÁs en esta entrevista. >>> gracias por estar con nosotros en enfoque. >>> gracias por la invitaciÓn. >>> quiero empezar por un anuncio que se hizo el miÉrcoles pasado de que usted ahora va a ser uno de los co presidentes de la comparan de reelecciÓn para el presidente obama. el hispano mÁs reconocido dentro de ese organismo ¿cual es el mensaje que se manda?. >>> anunciaron que voy a ser presidente de la convenciÓn demÓcrata, va a ser una oportunidad asegurar que esta convenciÓn es mÁs accebbin acce donde hay mÁs participaciÓn de una amplitud de participaciÓn, por eso estoy muy orgulloso de esta nominaciÓn, creo que es importante que no no m

[captioning made possible by california farm bureat federation] >> welcame to "california country." i'm your host, tracy sellers. our first stary today involves a family that has taken the lessons of the past to ensure success today and in the future as well. take a walk through your average produce aisle these days and there are more choices than ever, but one farm has a very eye-catching marketing strategy to entice you. and it all has to do with the bright picture of a lile boy named andy. but have you ever stopped to woer, who is this andy boy guy anyway? >> andy boy's my father, andy d'arrigo, he's the face on the label and a lot of people ask, is there an andy boy and i say, yes, there is. >> who is this? >> yep. it's me. >> oh. ha ha. you see, when folks around here say andy d'arrigo is the face of ay boy produce, they mean it, literally. now 86 years young, he, along with his daughter margaret and son john, run one of the most successful farms in the salinas valley. it all started back in the early 1900s, when andy's dad and uncle emigrated from sicily and went through ellis

i'm belva davis and welcome to "this week in northern california." joining me tonight are carla marinucci, senior political writer for the "san francisco chronicle." and rachel gordon, city hall reporter also with the "criterion ankle." rachel, what kind of impact has this domestic violence case against the sheriff had on advocates for the victims? >> it's really galvanized this community really from the get-go. the thing that made them most angry was on his swearing-in day on january 8th, ross meirkarimi said this case involving allegations he was abusive to his wife, grabbed her arm, caused bruising, he addressed reporters and said, it's a private matter, it's a family matter. that right there got people furious. what we saw this week was mentioned in the intro, was that they raised more than $5,000 to put up a billboard in the south of market, four blocks from the hall of justice where mirkarimi will be facing trial, that says domestic violence is never a private matter. they hope to raise a few more thousand dollars to also put a spanish language

it was a who's who of the gop in california. that's part of thep problem, there are not many well known republican leaders in california and fewer registered republicans in the state than ever before. kimberly tere is in san francisco with more. >> reporter: diane, that's exactly right. the number of registered republicans in the state has dwinded from 35 to 30% so the focus is really on increasing those numbers and also getting more funding. and they are doing that by targeting minorities and youth an getting them involved. this is really important to increase numbers because this republican primary could play a much larger role in the nomination. the race is neck and neck between mitt romney and rick santorum and you still can't count out newt gingrich who was a keynote speaker at the california gop convention held this weekend. even ron paul who was coming in or is coming in fourth in most polls would not be overshadowed. look at this video from youtube, supporters stormed the lobby of the hyatt in burlingame where the conven

richards asked, do you think a california commissioner is actually obligated to follow california laws across the united states? really? and while i respect our fish and game rules and regulations, my 100% legal activity outside of california or anyone else's for that matter is none of your business. the lieutenant governor insists it's the voter's business. the commission will soon decide two big conservation issues. >> whether or not we start calling out of walls in california and then a big ocean protection initiative, which going to put him in the firing line of a lot of controversy. >> assemblyman is considering a resolution to remove richards. no cause is needed, just a majority vote. >> and in the next few days, he will draft a resolution, give it to the legislative council for review and send to the assembly floor. 41 votes are needed to force his removal. that could happen by next week. hunting groups are rallying behind richards demanding he be allowed to serve out his time, which ends in january. you can read the full letter from commissioner richards on cbssf.com. >>> inter

in california, we have detailed state standards and lots of tests. unfortunately, the resulting data is not provided until after the school is over. even today, as i speak to you, the ranking of schools based on tests taken in april and may of 2011 is not available. i believe it's time to reduce the number of tests and get the results that teachers, principals and superintendents in weeks, not months. [ applause ] >> with timely data, principals and superintendents can better mentor and guide teachers as well as make sound evaluations of their performance. i believe we also need a qualitative system of assessments such as a site visitation program where each classroom is visited, observed and evaluated. i will work with the state board of education to develop this proposal. the house of education is divided by powerful forces and strong emotions. my role as governor is not to choose sides but to listen, to engage, and to lead. i'll do that. i embrace both reform and tradition but not complacency. my hunch is that principals and teachers know the most

together, we can end the death penalty in california. [applause] >> thank you for having me here today. i would like to close by saying i have had the opportunity to view this issue from every point of view, having been the warden at san quentin state prison. i am absolutely impassioned about the fact that it is time to end the death penalty in this state. life without possibility of parole is the real sentence. hold people accountable and gives them the opportunity to change within the prison system, and they can give back by working within the prison system, giving restitution to family members and working on behalf of the state of california on a variety of projects that go on inside prisons. i also want to echo what the process said -- please join, please help -- i also want to echo what natasha