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The latest executive order comes one week after the governor ordered state agencies and departments to recover millions of dollars in uncollected salary and travel advances.
“Our fiscal challenges demand that we take a much closer look at how taxpayer dollars are being spent within state government,” Brown said in a statement released by his office. “Now is not the time to attend conferences, travel to meetings or take out-of-state field trips and this executive order puts an end to it.”
Under the governor’s executive order, no travel is permitted – either in-state or out-of-state – unless it is mission-critical or there is no cost to the state.
All in-state mission-critical travel must be approved by agency secretaries or department directors who do not report to an agency secretary and all out-of-state travel must be approved by the governor’s office.
Permitted travel must be directly related to enforcement responsibilities, audits, revenue collection or other duties required by statute, contract or executive directive, according to the order.
Travel to attend conferences, networking opportunities, professional development courses, continuing education classes, meetings that can be conducted by video or teleconference or other non-essential events will not be permitted or paid for by the state, Brown's office reported.
All agencies and departments must submit out-of-state travel requests for the next fiscal year directly to the governor’s office by May 6.
In the past, agencies and departments have been allowed to switch previously approved trips with new trips during the fiscal year. The governor’s executive order ends this practice.
Out-of-state travel requests must also document the purpose of the trip and why it is mission-critical, the destination and length of the trip, the projected cost and source of funding, the number of travelers and the role of each individual, the benefit to the state, the impact if the trip is denied, whether the goal of the trip can be met in a less costly manner and whether a traveler’s absence will interfere with regularly assigned duties, the governor's office reported.
Brown's office said the latest executive order is part of his efforts to save money this fiscal year and to cut millions in operational costs next fiscal year.
Since taking office, Brown has cut spending in his own office by 25 percent and ordered state agencies and departments to recover millions of dollars in uncollected salary and travel advances; wtop spending taxpayer dollars on free giveaway and gift items; cut state cell phones and the passenger vehicle fleet in half; and freeze hiring across state government.
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STATE: Attorney general testifies in support of bills to strengthen crackdown on transnational gangs
One of the bills, SB 819 by Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco, would dedicate funding to a unique California program that confiscates firearms from people legally barred from possessing them, including convicted felons and persons determined to be mentally unstable.
The state Department of Justice, Bureau of Firearms estimates there are 18,615 armed prohibited persons possessing 34,708 handguns and 1,579 assault weapons in the state.
The second bill, SB 315 by Sen. Roderick Wright of Inglewood, would make products containing pseudoephedrine – a key ingredient in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine – available only by prescription.
“Transnational gangs are the top emerging public safety threat to the people of California,” Harris said. “These bills will help law enforcement take guns and drugs out of the hands of gang members. This is a key step in moving toward a smart on gang crime policy.”
Sen. Leno's legislation would revise the penal code to expand the use of existing regulatory fees collected by gun dealers throughout the state to allow the state Department of Justice to confiscate unlawful firearms. The bill would not increase these fees.
Already, agents from the Justice Department's Bureau of Firearms work extensively with local police and sheriffs to repossess thousands of weapons from people who shouldn't possess them, Harris' office said.
Since California in 2007 began its unique program – called “APPS” for Armed Prohibited Persons System – to identify these people and collect their weapons, more than 7,500 guns have been confiscated, an amount that officials said would fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, according to the state.
In a sweep begun last month, officials said agents with the Bureau of Firearms, along with local police and sheriffs, seized more than 1,100 guns, 150,000 rounds of ammunition and two grenades.
Last year, state agents and Fresno police took away 73 guns, including 17 unregistered assault weapons and a silencer fashioned out of a soda bottle, from a Fresno man recently released from a mental health facility who said he was preparing for Armageddon, Harris' office reported.
Coordinated law enforcement sweeps such as the current one could quickly reduce the backlog of APPS cases, but the sweeps cost money, and there is no likelihood of new tax money, officials said.
The additional funding made available under Leno's bill will allow the state to tackle the APPS backlog, provide continuing funding for the program, and make Californians safer, according to the Attorney General's Office.
California is at the center of the methamphetamine epidemic. It ranks first in the amount of illegal meth produced. It has more “super labs” capable of making more than 10 pounds of meth in a single day than all the other 49 states combined, the Attorney General's Office reported.
Labs in California and Mexico operated by international drug cartels supply about 80 percent of the meth consumed in the United States, the state said.
Harris' office said Wright's bill would make a significant impact on the meth epidemic ravaging California – and the meth labs based in this state feeding the nation's addiction.
After Oregon passed legislation in 2006 requiring a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine, the number of meth labs there dropped from 400 to 12, the state said.
For legitimate consumers, making pseudoephedrine available only by prescription is no great loss, according to Harris' office. The drug is an active ingredient in only 14 products, and there are at least 136 other over-the-counter products that treat cold and allergy symptoms.
Harris' office called both bills are “common-sense solutions in an age of severe budget crisis,” and maintained that neither bill costs taxpayers anything additional and each would save money by eliminating the commission of future crimes.
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The 29-year-old male inmate, whose name was not released, attempted suicide on April 21 at the Mendocino County Jail, according to Capt. Timothy Pearce of the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office.
Pearce said the man was found not breathing and without a pulse by a corrections deputy who starting life saving measures and summoned the fire department, who were able to detect a pulse upon arrival.
The inmate was transported to Ukiah Valley Medical Center and later to St. Helena Hospital, Pearce said.
On Monday sheriff's officials received information that the man had died, according to Pearce.
He said an autopsy has been scheduled by the Napa County Coroner Division for Wednesday.
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Barton Farris West, 57, received the sentence from Judge Andrew Blum in the Lakeport division of Lake County Superior Court.
West's attorney, Komnith Moth, did not return messages seeking comment.
West was charged with second-degree murder and a previous strike for the crash, which occurred on Sept. 15, 2009, and later claimed the life of 84-year-old Nice resident Jack Bernard Green, according to Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
Langan said West, who was on probation for a previous DUI charge at the time of the collision, had been drinking a half-gallon of vodka since the night before the crash, and had a blood alcohol level of more than two and a half times the legal limit of 0.08 when the incident occurred.
People tried to stop him from driving to his DUI class but, Langan said, “He ignored their warnings.”
By ignoring those who tried to stop him from driving, West's case demonstrated the “implied malice” needed to charge second-degree murder, Langan said.
The original report from the California Highway Patrol stated that the crash occurred shortly before 1 p.m. on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff near the Rodman Slough.
It was triggered when West's 1985 Toyota Tercel, which was heading westbound, crossed the double-yellow lines and hit two vehicles traveling the opposite direction.
West's Tercel hit the left side of a 2000 Dodge Caravan driven by Salvador Velazquez of Nice before hitting the left front of Green's 2003 Ford Focus.
All three men were transported to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment, with West arrested afterward, the CHP report said.
Langan said Green would never be released from the hospital. His family would have him transported to Reno for treatment, where he eventually succumbed to his injuries later in 2009.
When the District Attorney's Office received the report on the cause of Green's death, which was attributed to the injuries he sustained in the crash, Langan said they amended the charges filed against West to allege murder because of his “severe prior criminal history.”
Langan said that included two prior DUI convictions, one of which West was on probation for at the time of the crash; an out-of-state bank robbery conviction for which West did time in the Fort Leavenworth federal penitentiary; a criminal threats case in Oklahoma; and a felony escape charge, also in another state.
He said the District Attorney's Office was able to present enough evidence on the bank robbery charge to present it as a previous strike in the case.
Langan said he reached a plea agreement with West and his attorney.
In exchange for West pleading guilty to murder and sparing Green's family from a trial, Langan agreed to allege the bank robbery strike under a lesser penal code section that would only add another five years to West's sentence.
Altogether the agreement shaved 10 years off the prison time West could have faced and allowed him to be eligible for parole 10 years earlier, Langan said.
Still, by the time West will be eligible for parole, he'll be very elderly, Langan pointed out. He added that he doesn't believe West ever will be paroled due to his record.
During Monday's sentencing, Green's three adult children shared victim impact statements, Langan said. They also showed pictures of Green to the court and West.
West didn't speak during the sentencing hearing, Langan said. However, West had offered a written statement to the court.
Langan, paraphrasing the one-sentence statement, said West claimed not to remember anything that happened at the time of the crash because he blacked out.
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David Costa, 56, suffered major injuries in the collision, which occurred at around 8:45 p.m., according to California Highway Patrol Office Joe Wind.
Wind said Costa was riding his 2006 Yamaha V Star motorcycle eastbound on Highway 20 near Howard Avenue when he was rear-ended by a 1994 Ford Ranger driven by 22-year-old Bruce Scott of Lucerne.
The circumstances that led to Scott rear-ending Costa still aren't clear, said Wind.
Costa was flown via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of major injuries, including a broken left leg, Wind said.
He said Scott was not cited for the crash.
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The California Highway Patrol (CHP) joins with the Legislature and Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. in publicly expressing great appreciation to the state’s school bus drivers for safely transporting our most cherished cargo to and from school and school activities; escorting them safely across busy streets and highways, helping them board school buses via wheelchair lifts and ramps; buckling seat belts, and finally delivering them safely to parents and guardians at the end of the school day.
“These are some of the most professional drivers in the state, and they’re passionate about what they do,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “I applaud them for their extraordinary safety record, and the pride they take every day in the safe transportation of California’s children.”
School bus drivers will tell you their primary goal is pupil safety. They are extensively trained and rigorously tested to ensure this goal remains first and foremost in their thinking and actions when transporting children. While crashes may occur, school bus drivers have traveled millions of collision-free miles over the years.
Despite the number of school buses being operated throughout the state, school buses remain one of the safest modes of school transportation.
In fact, California has not experienced a pupil-passenger fatality in 15 years. Officials said this is can be attributed to the school bus drivers’ commitment to safety, their excellent driving skills and attention to detail.
Locally, the Clear Lake office of the California Highway Patrol oversees approximately 70 bus drivers through the county's various school districts, according to CHP Officer Joe Wind.
School bus drivers get classroom training through their districts, then they go to the CHP to do a written driver's test, first aid and behind-the-wheel testing, Wind said.
The CHP then issues special certificates to drivers who successfully complete the coursework. Wind said that certificate is on top of the requirements imposed on bus drivers by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Though school bus drivers do their part to safely transport school children to and from their destinations, the motoring public has an obligation to do their part as well.
Most school bus-related injuries and fatalities occur around or near the school bus during the loading and unloading process. Therefore, it is essential the motoring public be reminded to exercise due caution when driving near schools and school buses.
Slow to 25 miles per hour in school zones unless a lower speed is posted and stop behind a school bus when the flashing red lights and stop arm are activated.
If you get the chance, extend your gratitude to school bus drivers for their valued service and safe transportation of the state's children.
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