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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A suspect arrested in connection with last weekend’s mass shooting outside bars in Sacramento served less than half his 10-year sentence because of voter-approved changes to state law that lessened the punishment for his felony convictions and provided a chance for earlier release. Smiley Allen Martin was freed in February after serving time for punching a girlfriend, dragging her from her home by her hair and whipping her with a belt, according to court and prison records. Those count as nonviolent offenses under California law

.@Mayor_Steinberg was having dinner next to protest. Social justice protestors marched to the restaurant where they had an impassioned encounter. @ABC10 Video: https://mobile.twitter.com/Van_Tieu/status/1299162669820198913

After three nights of violence, Sacramento city leaders imposed a curfew and called in the California National Guard on Monday. It was an unfortunate but necessary step to prevent further violence and destruction. Mayor Darrell Steinberg hesitated to take such drastic measures. He said law enforcement officials feared that a curfew might only escalate things. But the vandals and thieves who tore up Sacramento this weekend forced their hands. Over the weekend, people smashed windows, set fires and stole merchandise. They assaulted and robbed two Sacramento Bee journalists. They did everything in their power to overshadow the real reason for...

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg lost control of the Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday when Black Lives Matter activists turned the meeting into a riot. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg lost control of the Sacramento City Council meeting Tuesday when Black Lives Matter activists turned the meeting into a riot. The council meeting was supposed to be an opportunity to address the recent police shooting of Stephon Clark, a 22-year old black male with a lengthy criminal record. The brother of Stephon Clark interrupted the Sacramento council meeting, took ahold of the microphone to attack the Sacramento cops who shot his brother,...

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- A dispute over who leaked an affidavit detailing a corruption probe involving a state senator is heading to federal court in Los Angeles after a judge's action on Friday. Ron Calderon, then a Democratic state senator from Montebello, filed a complaint in November 2013 contending that federal authorities tried to ruin his reputation by raiding his offices and leaking an FBI affidavit alleging he took money in return for promoting bills. He was later indicted and faces trial in federal court in Los Angeles beginning Aug. 11 on charges that he accepted $100,000 in bribes, lavish trips...

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That adage has more application than usual in California, where Democrats hold all of the statewide offices and supermajorities in the legislature. They can enact any policies they want, with only the judicial branch offering belated checks on their power. And when I say belated, that’s literally the case with state Senator Rod Wright, whom a jury found guilty in January of committing eight felonies regarding his residency and eligibility for the office he held.Normally, politicians who get that kind of a verdict have the decency to resign. If not, the body in...

Legislators never received ethics training about "gun running or other such sordid activities," California state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg noted during house debate Friday over whether to suspend three senators who have been accused of crimes including corruption, perjury and conspiracy to traffic weapons.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today released the following statement on the indictment of California State Senator Leland Yee on public corruption and other charges: “I agree with State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg that Leland Yee should immediately step down. If these allegations are true, they are beyond outrageous.  “I support the Justice Department’s crackdown on corruption, which sends an unequivocal message that there is absolutely no place in public life for criminals who violate the public trust and demean public service.”  ###

SACRAMENTO -- A day after furious Coloradans recalled two state senators who voted for new gun laws, California lawmakers pressed ahead with their own agenda Wednesday aimed at giving the Golden State the strictest gun control in the country. Colorado's recall elections and California's rush to pass gun bills in the final week of its legislative session quickly reignited the national debate over balancing public safety with constitutional rights. The Colorado votes sent a Rocky Mountain chill down the spines of lawmakers in other battleground states, but those in bright blue California seemed unfazed. "I don't see anybody switching teams...

As the state Senate finished voting Saturday on a bill to extend a tax on managed care plans, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told reporters at the back of the room, "That is what's called a supermajority." Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign the spending plan before the next fiscal year begins July 1.

In an abrupt announcement that caught state and local business officials off guard, cable giant Comcast announced Tuesday that it's closing all of its California call centers, including one in Natomas that employs about 300 workers. Why? That's the tricky question. Earlier in the day, citing the state's "high cost of doing business," a regional Comcast official said the company's Natomas, Livermore and Morgan Hill call centers will be shuttered on Nov. 30. Overall, about 1,000 jobs will be relocated to existing centers in Portland, Seattle and Denver. But hours later, after state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento,...

Let's not mince words about what the state Senate's Democratic leader did Wednesday. It was self-serving censorship, the sort of thing that one expects from tinpot dictators, not from those who fancy themselves to be progressive civil libertarians. Someone acting for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg suddenly cut off cable television access to a legislative hearing to air facts and arguments about pending ballot measures. The Senate Governance and Finance Committee called the hearing – as required by law – into three tax increases (Propositions 30, 38 and 39) and altering the state's budgetary procedures (Proposition 31). As it...

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg pledged today to put forward for the 2014 election a package of major changes to California's initiative process, including a provision to make it easier for legislators to place tax measures on the ballot. The Sacramento Democrat, speaking at a Sacramento Press Club luncheon, outlined a trio of initiative reforms he said "will both strengthen California's tradition of direct democracy and empower the people elected by their communities...to make clear choices." He said he plans to put the proposals on the 2014 ballot either through a vote of the Legislature, a task he said...

Gov. Jerry Brown urged the Legislature on Friday to "man up" and make spending cuts, acknowledging the state budget deficit is likely larger than he previously thought. The Democratic governor, in an interview on Bay Area talk radio station KGO (810 AM), said the deficit is "probably bigger now" than the $9.2 billion he estimated earlier this year. "We're trying to be as prudent as we can," Brown said. "That's why the Legislature has to man up, make the cuts and get some taxes and we'll make it." Democrats this year have resisted Brown's proposed cuts to social services and...

That explosion you heard in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday was the big blowup of Gov. Jerry Brown's plans to ask voters in June to extend billions of dollars in taxes to balance the deficit-riddled state budget. Brown terminated negotiations with Republican legislators, citing a lengthy list of GOP demands last week. The governor said he was willing to consider pension and regulatory reform and a spending cap as part of a deal but "while we made significant progress on these reform issues, the Republicans continued to insist on including demands that would materially undermine any semblance of a balanced budget....

Gov. Jerry Brown announced this afternoon he halted negotiations with legislative Republicans over a deal to place taxes on the ballot to help resolve California's remaining $15.4 billion deficit. A June election appears to be off the table entirely. Brown is no longer pursuing a two-thirds vote for a June tax election, while Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, told reporters he will not pursue a majority-vote option, either. "Yesterday, I stopped the discussions that I had been conducting with various members of the Republican party regarding our state's massive deficit," Brown said in a statement this afternoon. "The...

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg expressed frustration at the pace and status of budget negotiations today, saying he feels "prepared to pull the plug" and move forward with floor votes on a June tax election if a deal does not emerge in the coming days. "We are going to get to our floor, we are going to put up the vote and if the vote isn't there then we are going to consider the other pathways," said Steinberg, adding he will support the direction the governor chooses. "It is high time that this come to a close here." Steinberg's...

GOP lawmaker stripped of committee chairmanship after he says budget mess is not Republican's problem That was fast. Just one day after the Sacramento Bee quoted Republican Sen. Tom Berryhill saying that the budget shortfall is "really not our problem," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, moved to strip the Central Valley lawmaker of his committee chairmanship. In a letter to the Senate Rules Committee, Steinberg said he will ask the committee to replace Berryhill as chair of the Senate agricultural committee . . .

.... California Senate leader Darrell Steinberg on Tuesday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to "deliver an unequivocal message" of disgust by tearing up the state's contracts with Arizona businesses and government agencies....

Lawmaker returns joke gift from Schwarzenegger Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press A bull testicle sculpture for Sen. Darrell Steinberg was meant as a prod to help with tough budget choices. By Patrick McGreevy and Eric Bailey June 18, 2009 Reporting from Sacramento -- As lawmakers wrangled last week over how to plug California's giant deficit, the governor who once called them "girlie men" sent the state Senate leader a package that has some Capitol insiders tsk-tsking over what they see as an ill-timed display of machismo. The gag gift from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a metal sculpture of bull testicles, came...