Free Republic

Los Angeles lawmakers have wrestled for years with how to legalize and regulate the vendors who sell food and goods on the city's sidewalks. Now a state legislator is championing a bill that could take some of those decisions out of the city's hands. Under a proposal from Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), California cities would not be able to regulate or ban vendors unless they have a licensing system that meets several requirements. Cities could not bar vending in parks. They could not limit where vendors can do business or cap their numbers unless the rules were tied to...

Legislative leaders in the California Legislature have agreed to modify Bill SB 1146, which has been called the most oppressive LGBT anti-religious bill in the country. The move was praised by leaders of major Christian colleges in California, who say they will now support it. But state pro-family activists warn that the compromise still keeps in some terrible parts of it. They are perplexed that church leaders would agree to it. They vow to keep fighting to kill the bill completely. The re-draft was announced yesterday in a Los Angeles Times article yesterday by the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Ricardo Lara,...

California Democratic State Senator Ricardo Lara of Long Beach, CA hailed the passage of SB-1159, lifting citizenship requirements to the state's Business and Professions code. The bill first proposed by the California Democrat in February of this year, will allow illegal aliens to obtain all professional licenses, including the practice of medicine. Senator Lara, long tied to Latino activist groups long-cited for racist attitudes and rhetoric against white, black and Asian Americans, celebrated the passage with an announcement on Twitter. The bill is largely a "red pen" measure in which Lara and his allies in Sacramento simply amending current California...

Lawmakers in the state of California are proposing a law that would require schools to portray lesbians, homosexuals, transsexuals and those who have chosen other alternative sexual lifestyles as positive role models to children in all public schools there. "SB 48: The worst school sexual indoctrination ever" is how officials with the Campaign for Children and Families describe the proposal, SB 48, sponsored by state Sen. Leno. Openly homosexual, Leno boasts on his website of founding a business with his "life partner, Douglas Jackson," who later died of AIDS complications. That description as "worst" is considerable, considering the Campaign for...