Legislature

The Medical Board of California should soon have to answer for its failure to properly investigate accusations that a doctor's negligence harmed or killed a patient.

It would be unthinkable to decide the merits of a rape case without collecting evidence and interviewing both the victim and the accused. It is equally inconceivable that the Medical Board would close a complaint involving potentially life-threatening negligence after a medical expert gets only the doctor’s side of the story. Yet that appears to be the outcome of too many patient complaints to the Board. 

AB 700, to improve disclosure in political ads and ferret out the true source of campaign funding, was killed in the legislature this week by a surprising foe: the Fair Political Practices Commission.

Consumer Watchdog submited a Public Records Act request to the FPPC today to try to get to the bottom of this mystery, asking for all communications into and out of the Commission on AB 700, and other key reform bills that were killed or watered down beyond efficacy this year.

The end of a two-year legislative session is a showcase of the most anti-democratic tendencies of our political system, and this year will be no different. Last-chance votes on legislative proposals loom at the same time as lawmakers do their most prolific fundraising of the year. But this end of session might also bring votes on three reforms that could shake up democracy in California.