Legislature

California taxpayers dodged a bullet yesterday with the passage of a high-stakes bill to help fund Medi-Cal.

Legislative Democrats and nearly a dozen Republicans approved a plan to trade existing taxes for a new tax on insurers to raise more than $1 billion in needed health care funding and preserve federal Medi-Cal matching funds.

 Today So Cal Gas, and other proponents of the aging natural gas storage infrastructure, face off against Senator Pavley’s proposed moratorium on natural gas drilling at a very- late-in-the-day hearing in the Assembly Utilities Committee ( 3 PM start  for SB 380 and other bills).  It’s hardly a made-for-media moment, scheduled post-newspaper print deadline.  And Pavley’s enemies have not shown their true faces, but their powerful grip has been felt.

The rush of state officials to take on Southern California Gas at Porter Ranch, including the filing of criminal charges by Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey, brings the scandal over the largest methane leak in California history right to the doorstep of Gov. Brown.