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California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez on Friday provided a few details about the most eye-popping charges he made with campaign money, but resisted calls to fully explain how tens of thousands of dollars' worth of purchases in Europe and at high-end U.S. retailers were related to official state or party business. "I'll explain some of the expenditures," Nunez said. "But what I will not do is provide people with the fullest explanation of every single expense because it's not required by law." Nunez held a Capitol press conference Friday following revelations first in The Los Angeles Times last week that...

LOS ANGELES - State Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez shares a luxury downtown penthouse with a prominent fundraiser who has collected nearly $600,000 in fees and expenses from Nunez's political committees and the state Democratic Party since 2005. State law places no restrictions on legislators living with friends or fundraisers, but some government watchdog groups say such arrangements can raise potential conflicts because of the proximity of political power and contributors' money. Nunez, a Los Angeles Democrat and one of the state's most powerful dealmakers, pays $1,000 of the $4,325 rent to live part-time in the loft-style penthouse in his district,...

When Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez launched their drive to change legislative term limits and thus extend their reigns in the Capitol, they made themselves and their conduct legitimate subjects for media scrutiny. So far they aren't faring very well. Perata already had a somewhat tarnished image from a years-long federal investigation into his actions as an Alameda County supervisor and state legislator, which appeared to favor certain interests and his personal financial dealings with those interests. Then last May, the East Bay Express, a local newspaper, published a very lengthy series of articles...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez would be courting defeat at the ballot box by bypassing Republicans with a measure to increase taxes to provide health care for uninsured Californians, Assembly Republican leader Mike Villines said Tuesday. The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday the Republican governor and Democratic speaker are fashioning a strategy to raise business and hospital taxes through a ballot measure and circumventing Republican lawmakers who oppose any new taxes. Under the scenario outlined by the newspaper, the Democrats who control the Legislature would pass a bill that doesn't include funding for health care and ask...

San Francisco -- A new Democrat-backed term limits initiative qualified for the February ballot Tuesday by a scant 957-signature margin, and opponents are complaining that political pressure pushed the measure over the top. The measure only received enough valid signatures to qualify after four counties - Alameda, Contra Costa, Riverside and San Bernardino - revised their counts Friday and added 5,490 signatures to the "certified and final" totals they had submitted earlier in August. "It is uncommon for us to receive revised figures in the signature count for an initiative," said Nicole Winger, a spokesman for Secretary of State Debra...

A low percentage of qualified signatures in Los Angeles County is threatening to derail a lawmaker-driven initiative that would change term limits and extend the tenure of Democratic leaders. Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Conny McCormack on Thursday said the percentage of signatures verified for the "Limits on Legislators' Terms in Office" constitutional amendment hovered at 63.85 percent in a random-sample count of the state's most populous county. Initiative backers needed at least 66 percent verification from all outstanding signatures Thursday afternoon in order to meet a Sept. 27 deadline to qualify for the February primary. And because Los Angeles accounted...

As time ticks down on any chance for legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to agree this year on a bill to expand access to health insurance, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is trying to turn up the heat on the governor. With a mix of legislative maneuvering, press conferences and interviews, Núñez is sending Schwarzenegger a message that the perpetually optimistic chief executive seems determined to ignore: Republican lawmakers are never going to vote for his plan. Schwarzenegger is proposing a mix of taxes and fees on employers, doctors and hospitals to subsidize insurance for those who cannot afford it. He...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez plans to introduce Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's health care reform plan next week to test whether it can win the two-thirds vote necessary for passage. "Our goal here is to push health care forward," Steve Maviglio, a spokesman for Nunez, said Friday. "But we need to see what level of support there is for the governor's plan, and the only way to do that is to bring it to a vote." The governor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Schwarzenegger's ideas have languished without a legislative sponsor since he...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- The impasse over the state's long-overdue budget turned heated Wednesday when the Democratic leader of the Assembly said Republicans would lose the gains they had previously negotiated if they fail to end the stalemate quickly. "Political hostage-taking is not the way to do business, and we can't reward it," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, recently returned from a European vacation. . . .

The budget impasse in Sacramento is unwelcome news for the soon-to-be-termed-out legislators who hope to persuade voters next year to let them keep their jobs a little longer. It also is a problem for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to enact major health care reform this year. His situation is particularly delicate, since the budget is languishing because he cannot persuade the members of his own party to vote for it. Perhaps more than anything except a badly handled disaster, late budgets have the potential to drag down approval ratings. They make leaders look ineffective at the main task they...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday named California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez -- one of the state's leading Hispanic politicians -- a national co-chair of her presidential campaign. "I'm going to be relying on him very heavily," Clinton said... ...Nunez is a close friend of popular Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose endorsement is being eagerly sought by presidential candidates. It's unclear what, if any, influence Nunez's decision will have on the mayor's thinking. Nunez said he would encourage Clinton to spend as much time as possible in California, which holds its primary on Feb. 5...

SACRAMENTO – From Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, politicians at all levels are complaining about a transportation commission staff proposal to allocate the first highway funds from a record $19.9 billion transportation bond approved by voters in November. As a result, the California Transportation Commission may make major changes in the staff recommendation before making a decision next Wednesday to allocate $4.5 billion in bond funds designated for highways to improve “corridor mobility.” The harshest criticism came from Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, who said the staff plan would give Los Angeles County only 12...

Two campaign consultants with close ties to the Legislature and governor proposed a ballot initiative Thursday that would modify California's term limits and give some current lawmakers a shot at an additional four to six years in office. The measure, which supporters hope to put on the ballot in February, would let lawmakers serve up to 12 years, spending all their time in one house or splitting it between the two chambers. State law now limits lawmakers to six years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate. They can serve a total of 14 years with stints in both...

Once an amateur boxer, Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is no stranger to a slugfest or a political controversy. Now Núñez is preparing for another bout -- one to extend his legacy, and tenure, as speaker. Núñez is banned by state law from serving another term as head of the Legislature's lower house. But he is pushing to change that. "I'd like to stick around this job another four to six years," he said. "I think it would be great, if the voters give us an opportunity and if my members continue to support my leadership." The Los Angeles Democrat is...

SACRAMENTO – With little action planned this month in the Capitol, Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is heading to Switzerland for a four-day trip to promote California's efforts to combat climate change. Nunez, D-Los Angeles, was scheduled to depart Tuesday to speak about global warming at the annual World Economic Forum in the eastern ski resort town of Davos. “This subject has become a hot topic throughout the country and the world, and I'd like to think we had something to do with it.” said Nunez, who co-authored California's landmark bill seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. California's law, which took...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chuckled at a comment from Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez last month in Sacramento as he signed Núñez's measure to create a discount prescription drug program. SACRAMENTO – Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez is a key figure in a major gubernatorial campaign. But it might be hard to tell which one. Núñez, co-chairman of Democrat Phil Angelides' struggling campaign, has been spending far more time at public events heaping praise on Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger than with the candidate he has endorsed. In a variety of joint appearances, Núñez has lauded Schwarzenegger's “courage” and “leadership” in signing bills to...

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic state Senate Majority Leader Don Perata were friends and allies again Wednesday, a day after a political dispute threatened to torpedo a bipartisan effort to pass $37 billion in state infrastructure bonds. Perata and Schwarzenegger each spoke at a $50,000-a-head breakfast fundraiser at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club, then strolled out to the patio by the golf course to ask reporters what all the fuss was about. "There's been some noise recently, last day or so, that Republicans and Democrats, specifically the governor and the legislative leadership, are not going to be campaigning...

SACRAMENTO - The Legislature's Democratic leaders on Tuesday abandoned plans to campaign with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the massive package of public works bonds on the November ballot, a development that signals an abrupt end to the bipartisan dealmaking that has buoyed the governor's re-election bid. It also could jeopardize the record $37.3 billion borrowing plan. Polls released last week show voters supporting the four infrastructure bonds, but just barely. Tuesday's change of direction came after Schwarzenegger and the two top legislative leaders - Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland - had...

09/29/2006 GAAS:698:06 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Governor Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Make Prescription Drugs More Affordable for Uninsured Californians Following through on his long-standing commitment to bring down the cost of prescription drugs for low-income Californians, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed AB 2911 by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland). “Lowering prescription drug costs is a significant part of making health care more affordable for all Californians,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This legislation will provide meaningful discounts to uninsured Californians who may risk their own health by not taking life-saving medication simply because it’s...

As expected, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a minimum wage bill Tuesday that will boost the hourly rate by 75 cents in January, followed by another 50 cents a year later. The result will be $8 an hour, which will be the highest state minimum wage in the nation, if other states' rates remain the same. The increase is a compromise between the Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers who had been at odds over the issue for the past two years. At a bill-signing ceremony in Los Angeles, Schwarzenegger reiterated that California's economy simply wasn't ready until this year. "When I...