Sebastian Ridley-Thomas
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas is an American politician who served in the California State Assembly. A Democrat, he represented the 54th Assembly District, which includes the Los Angeles County communities of Century City, Culver City, Mar Vista, Baldwin Hills, Windsor Hills, Ladera Heights, View Park, Leimert Park, Mid City, West Los Angeles, he was elected to office on December 3, 2013 to fill the 54th Assembly District seat vacated by Holly Mitchell upon her election to the California State Senate. He resigned from office December 31, 2017. Prior to his election to the Assembly in 2014, he was an aide for former State Senator Curren Price, he is the son of longtime Los Angeles politician Mark Ridley-Thomas. Ridley-Thomas is the son of Avis Ridley-Thomas and Mark Ridley-Thomas, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Morehouse College. During his tenure in the Assembly, Ridley-Thomas chaired the Elections & Redistricting and Revenue & Taxation committees, as well as the Select Committee on Mental Health.
He was a member of the Assembly Appropriations, Joint Rules, Water, Public Safety, Local Government, Public Safety, Public Employment & Retirement, Labor & Employment committees. On December 27, 2017, Ridley-Thomas announced that he would resign from the state Assembly on December 31, he cited unspecified health problems in his statement and said he would "an extended period of time to recuperate. In August 2018, the Los Angeles Times reported that Ridley-Thomas was "the subject of two sexual harassment complaints at the time he stepped down from the Legislature last year." An Assembly investigation released on January 16, 2019 concluded that Ridley-Thomas made an unwanted sexual advance toward a female Capitol staffer two years ago. According to the LA Times reporting:Ridley-Thomas was raising money for reelection to a third full term. Late in November 2017, the Assembly Rules Committee informed him that an investigation into a complaint was underway, according to correspondence reviewed by The Times.
Two sources familiar with the investigation said the complaint was about alleged unwanted physical contact of a sexual nature but did not disclose details of the allegation. A second sexual harassment complaint, by a different person, was filed around the same time... Ridley-Thomas resumed some political work just weeks after resigning. In February, he registered Millennial Advisors; the firm has collected more than $80,000 from the African American Voter Registration and Participation Project, a political action committee founded by his father. The fees cover office expenses and advertising. A related AAVREP committee specially formed to support Gavin Newsom's bid for governor —mostly backed by donations from labor unions — listed Sebastian Ridley-Thomas as treasurer and paid his Millennial Advisors firm more than $27,000, he joined the faculty of USC, which sits in his father's district and with which the supervisor has had a long and close relationship. USC appointed him "professor of practice of policy and social work" this spring...
In addition, the university gave him a scholarship to study for a master's degree in social work. The unusual arrangement has come under scrutiny in recent weeks as the scandal-plagued university attempts to adopt more transparency in its affairs. Administrators launched an investigation and Sebastian Ridley-Thomas was fired.... After the internal probe, USC approached the U. S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles; the university told federal prosecutors it had concerns about a recent $100,000 donation from a campaign fund controlled by Mark Ridley-Thomas. The gift to USC's Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work ended up in the account of a nonprofit group outside the university run by Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, according to sources and public records
National Football League
The National Football League is a professional American football league consisting of 32 teams, divided between the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. The NFL is one of the four major professional sports leagues in North America, the highest professional level of American football in the world; the NFL's 17-week regular season runs from early September to late December, with each team playing 16 games and having one bye week. Following the conclusion of the regular season, six teams from each conference advance to the playoffs, a single-elimination tournament culminating in the Super Bowl, held in the first Sunday in February, is played between the champions of the NFC and AFC; the NFL was formed in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association before renaming itself the National Football League for the 1922 season. The NFL agreed to merge with the American Football League in 1966, the first Super Bowl was held at the end of that season. Today, the NFL has the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world and is the most popular sports league in the United States.
The Super Bowl is among the biggest club sporting events in the world and individual Super Bowl games account for many of the most watched television programs in American history, all occupying the Nielsen's Top 5 tally of the all-time most watched U. S. television broadcasts by 2015. The NFL's executive officer is the commissioner; the players in the league belong to the National Football League Players Association. The team with the most NFL championships is the Green Bay Packers with thirteen; the current NFL champions are the New England Patriots, who defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII for their sixth Super Bowl championship. On August 20, 1920, a meeting was held by representatives of the Akron Pros, Canton Bulldogs, Cleveland Indians, Dayton Triangles at the Jordan and Hupmobile auto showroom in Canton, Ohio; this meeting resulted in the formation of the American Professional Football Conference, a group who, according to the Canton Evening Repository, intended to "raise the standard of professional football in every way possible, to eliminate bidding for players between rival clubs and to secure cooperation in the formation of schedules".
Another meeting was held on September 17, 1920 with representatives from teams from four states-Akron, Canton and Dayton from Ohio. The league was renamed to the American Professional Football Association; the league elected Jim Thorpe as its first president, consisted of 14 teams. The Massillon Tigers from Massillon, Ohio was at the September 17 meeting, but did not field a team in 1920. Only two of these teams, the Decatur Staleys and the Chicago Cardinals, remain. Although the league did not maintain official standings for its 1920 inaugural season and teams played schedules that included non-league opponents, the APFA awarded the Akron Pros the championship by virtue of their 8–0–3 record; the first event occurred on September 26, 1920 when the Rock Island Independents defeated the non-league St. Paul Ideals 48–0 at Douglas Park. On October 3, 1920, the first full week of league play occurred; the following season resulted in the Chicago Staleys controversially winning the title over the Buffalo All-Americans.
On June 24, 1922, the APFA changed its name to the National Football League. In 1932, the season ended with the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tied for first in the league standings. At the time, teams were ranked on a single table and the team with the highest winning percentage at the end of the season was declared the champion; this method had been used since the league's creation in 1920, but no situation had been encountered where two teams were tied for first. The league determined that a playoff game between Chicago and Portsmouth was needed to decide the league's champion; the teams were scheduled to play the playoff game a regular season game that would count towards the regular season standings, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, but a combination of heavy snow and extreme cold forced the game to be moved indoors to Chicago Stadium, which did not have a regulation-size football field. Playing with altered rules to accommodate the smaller playing field, the Bears won the game 9–0 and thus won the championship.
Fan interest in the de facto championship game led the NFL, beginning in 1933, to split into two divisions with a championship game to be played between the division champions. The 1934 season marked the first of 12 seasons in which African Americans were absent from the league; the de facto ban was rescinded in 1946, following public pressure and coinciding with the removal of a similar ban in Major League Baseball. The NFL was always the foremost pro
John and Ken
John Chester Kobylt and Kenneth Robertson Chiampou, known professionally as John and Ken, are American talk radio hosts of a four-hour weekday radio show, The John and Ken Show, on KFI AM 640 in Southern California. The John and Ken Show airs from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. PST on KFI AM 640 The program is the most listened to local talk radio program in the United States: they draw an estimated weekly audience of 1.2 million listeners. According to Talkers Magazine estimates, they are the only local radio show with more than one million listeners. John Kobylt was born to a working class Catholic family in New Jersey, his father, was born in Poland and like many Europeans of his time was affected by the German aggression. He was held in a Nazi labor camp for five years, he joined the British Military and immigrated to the U. S. where he married Helen. Chester and Helen had two sons John and Richard and lived a typical working-class life in northern New Jersey. John entered the radio business as a sportswriter after dropping out of Seton Hall University.
Ken Chiampou, a native of Brentwood, New York, was a certified public accountant and had graduated from the University at Buffalo, working in corporate audits for a Big Eight firm. Both worked in the Elmira-Corning market in New York state in the late 1980s, Kobylt as a disc jockey at WENY and Chiampou at the station's cross-town rival WELM. Kobylt and Chiampou first worked together in 1988 for a radio station in New Jersey. According to Kobylt, the show was named "The Odd Couple" by a producer, the "stupidest man on two legs." Kobylt became program director of WOND. One of their earliest pranks was while they hosted mornings at 103.7 WMGM. They started a food drive for rival 95.1 WAYV's morning DJ Russ Monroe after he was fired a week before Christmas. The pair, as part of the prank, called WAYV live on the air to solicit a donation, which led to a hang up. In 1990, the pair was offered the afternoon drive slot on the brand new station New Jersey 101.5 in the state capitol of Trenton, New Jersey.
They gained national notoriety for criticizing New Jersey governor Jim Florio for passing the largest state tax hike in United States history after taking office. During this period, their ratings quadrupled to 600,000 listeners. Kobylt criticized Florio for reneging on his promise not to raise taxes. A caller, postal worker John Budzash suggested the idea of Hands Across New Jersey, a protest that would symbolically cut the state in half; when other callers noted that blocking traffic was illegal, the movement turned into a rally in front of the State House in Trenton. A State Police officer told Budzash, who reported to the crowd from onstage, that 65,000 people attended the event while another 100,000 people were turned away for lack of parking and because of crowded conditions, it was the largest rally held in New Jersey. Kobylt and Chiampou both attended the rally and spoke passionately about Hands Across New Jersey, better government, lower taxes and they encouraged people to stand up and fight back for a better New Jersey.
Florio lost Ken's listenership quadrupled during this period. Kobylt and Chiampou campaigned feverishly for the abolition of tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike claiming that cutting government excess expenditures could itself fund highway maintenance, they lobbied for the opening of HOV lanes to regular traffic. The pair left WKXW in late 1992 to move to KFI to do their afternoon drive time spot, replacing former Los Angeles Police Department chief Daryl Gates; the hosts began national syndication in 1997, which displeased management at Cox Communications the owners of the station. At its peak, 125 stations carried the program. On March 19, 1999, The John and Ken Show was taken off the air at KFI by a vice president in Atlanta over the syndication issue, although the spat was referred to as a "contract dispute". In addition, the hosts themselves were more comfortable with dealing with state and local issues. Kobylt and Chiampou were replaced by syndicated consumer advocate Clark Howard from 3 pm to 4 pm followed by Karel and Andrew, the first gay couple in weekday talk radio in the country.
Kobylt and Chiampou publicly referred to them as "Siegfried and Roy", berated the show for its low quality and lower ratings compared with their own show. On July 1, 1999, The John and Ken Show was reborn as a morning drive talk show on crosstown competitor KABC; the morning show was short-lived as they kept their afternoon show style and brought it to the mornings. Kobylt and Chiampou had various stunts, one of which got them in trouble and forced them into attending diversity training, which they said they resented taking, disliked the Disney management toning down their banter. Due to low ratings and mutual dissatisfaction between the station and the hosts, KABC dropped the show on October 20, 2000; the John and Ken Show returned to KFI on May 2, 2001, the hosts regaled listeners with the behind-the-scene problems at KABC before returning to their normal topics. Since they have remained as a live program. On January 14, 2006, a new version of the show entitled John and Ken: Saturdays began.
The show has been repeated on the weekend from time to time, however, J&K: Saturdays covers new material, otherwise omitted during the week. The hosts did not show up to the studio live on Saturday but taped the Saturday edition during the week as time permits. J&K Saturdays was syndicated to other stati
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
Yvonne Brathwaite Burke is a politician from Los Angeles, United States. She was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress, she served in the U. S. Congress from 1973 until January 1979, she was the Los Angeles County Supervisor representing the 2nd District. She has served as the Chair three times, her husband is a prominent philanthropist and creator of the Los Angeles Marathon. On December 1, 2008, she retired from the Board of Supervisors and was replaced by Mark Ridley-Thomas. On March 29, 2012, she was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve on the Amtrak Board of Directors. Born Perle Yvonne Watson on October 5, 1932, in Los Angeles to James A. Watson and the former Lola Moore, she married William A. Burke in Los Angeles on June 14, 1972, their daughter Autumn Burke was born on November 23, 1973. Burke attended the University of California, Berkeley from c. 1949 to 1951 before receiving a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1953.
She subsequently earned a J. D. degree from the University of Southern California Law School in 1956. Mrs. Brathwaite first became interested of running for public office while working as a volunteer for the reelection of president Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. Prior to representing the 2nd District, Burke served as Vice-Chairperson of the 1972 Democratic National Convention, represented the 4th District, was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives representing portions of Los Angeles, was a member of the California State Assembly representing Los Angeles' 63rd District. Many of her early legislative efforts centered around juvenile issues and limiting garnishment of wages. A lot of what she achieved influenced her to convince others to run after their dream, so she went to children's hospitals and encouraged some of the children to never give up, she said: "No matter what is in your way never give up and chase after your dream, with no interference of discouragement." During her tenure in Congress, she served on the House Select Committee on Assassinations and the House Committee on Appropriations.
She instead ran for Attorney General of California. She won the Democratic nomination over Los Angeles City Attorney Burt Pines but was defeated in the general election by Republican State Senator George Deukmejian. In 1979, shortly after leaving Congress, Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to the Board of Regents of the University of California. A. County Board of Supervisors. Burke was first African-American supervisor, her district, was made up of affluent, conservative white areas on the coast. In 1980, Burke was defeated in her bid for a full term in the seat by Republican Deane Dana. In 1982, Brown again appointed her to the Regents. In 1992, Burke ran for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. After a hard-fought campaign that turned negative, Burke defeated State Senator Diane Watson. In 2007, she announced that she would retire when her term expired in 2008. On July 27, 2007, the Los Angeles Times published a front-page story revealing Burke was not living in the low-income district she represented, but rather in the wealthy Brentwood neighborhood, an apparent violation of state law.
Burke responded that she was living at her Brentwood mansion because the townhouse she listed in official political filings was being remodeled. Women in the United States House of Representatives List of African-American United States Representatives Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Africana: The Encyclopedia. Ebony. "Women Who Make State Laws": p27-34. Gray, Pamela Lee. "Yvonne Brathwaite Burke: The Congressional Career of California's First Black Congresswoman, 1972–1978." Ph. D. diss. University of Southern California, 1987. United States Congress. "Yvonne Brathwaite Burke". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Yvonne Burke's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project Appearances on C-SPAN
History of African Americans in Los Angeles
This article discusses the History of African Americans in Los Angeles. In 1781, the early non-Indian settlers in Los Angeles included eight mulattoes. Pío Pico, California's last governor under Mexican rule, was of mixed Spanish, Native American, African ancestry. Pico spent his last days in Los Angeles, dying in 1894 at the home of his daughter Joaquina Pico Moreno in Los Angeles, he was buried in the old Calvary Cemetery on North Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles, before his remains were relocated. Blacks and mulattoes did not face legal discrimination until after California was handed over to the United States in 1848. Many white Southerners who came to California during the Gold Rush brought with them racist attitudes and ideals. In 1850, there were twelve black people registered as residents of Los Angeles; because many blacks were enslaved until abolition in 1865, few blacks migrated to Los Angeles before then. Due to the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad and a settlement increase in 1880, increasing numbers of blacks came to Los Angeles.
By 1900, 2,131 African-Americans, the second largest black population in California, lived in Los Angeles. In 1872, the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles was established under the sponsorship of Biddy Mason, an African American nurse and a California real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist, her son-in-law Charles Owens; the church now has a membership of more than 19,000 individuals. The first branch of the NAACP in California was established in Los Angeles in 1913. From 1920 to 1955, Central Avenue was the heart of the African-American community in Los Angeles, with active rhythm and blues and jazz music scenes. Jazz legend Charles Mingus was born in Los Angeles in 1922. Raised in the Watts area of Los Angeles, he recorded in a band in Los Angeles in the 1940s. In 1928, World War I veteran William J. Powell founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club. In 1931, Powell organized the first all-black air show in the United States for the Club in Los Angeles, an event that drew 15,000 visitors.
Powell established a school to train mechanics and pilots. Singer-songwriter Ray Charles moved to Los Angeles in 1950. In 2004, his music studio on Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles was declared a historic landmark. The Watts Riots took place in 1965. Martin Luther King, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center in Willowbrook the King-Drew Hospital, opened in 1972 to serve the surrounding areas of South Los Angeles as a response to complaints that came to light during the Watts Riots about the area having inadequate and insufficient hospital facilities. In 1972, Wattstax known as the "Black-Woodstock," takes place in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Over 100,000 black residents of Los Angeles attended this concert for African American pride. In 1973, a documentary was released about the concert. In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected as Mayor of a role he'd hold for 20 years. L. A.'s first African American mayor, Bradley served over five terms, prior to the establishment of successive term limits, making him the longest-serving mayor of Los Angeles.
In 1991, Rodney King was beaten by police officers. His videotaped beating was controversial, heightened racial tensions in Los Angeles. Just 13 days after the videotaped beating of King, a 15-year-old African-American girl named Latasha Harlins was shot and killed by a 51-year-old Korean store owner named Soon Ja Du. A jury found Du guilty of voluntary manslaughter, an offense that carries a maximum prison sentence of 16-years. However, trial judge, Joyce Karlin, sentenced Du five years of probation, four hundred hours of community service, a $500 fine; when four Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted of charges associated with the beating of Rodney King, the decision led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The trial of the O. J. Simpson murder case took place in 1994. Philip Garcia, a population specialist and the assistant director of institutional research for California State University, stated that a group of communities in South Los Angeles became African-American by the 1950s and 1960s.
These communities were Avalon, Baldwin Hills, Exposition Park, Santa Barbara, South Vermont and West Adams. Since the Santa Barbara street was renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. 98,685 blacks moved to Los Angeles in the period 1965 through 1970. During the same period 40,776 blacks moved out. Between 1975 and 1980, 96,833 blacks moved to Los Angeles. Over 5,000 of the blacks moved to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area. About 2,000 to 5,000 blacks moved to the Anaheim-Santa Ana-Garden Grove area. James H. Johnson, a University of California-Los Angeles associate professor of geography, stated that due to affordable housing, blacks tend to choose "what is called the balance of the counties" or cities neutral to the existing major cities. In the Inland Empire, blacks tended to move to Rialto instead of San Bernardino. Of the blacks who left the City of Los Angeles between 1975 and 1980 who moved away from the Los Angeles area, over 5,000 moved to the Oakland, California area, about 2,000-5,000 went to San Diego, about 1,000-2,000 went to Sacramento, about 1,000 to 2,000 went to San Jose, California.
About 500 to 1,000 blacks moved to Fresno, Santa Barbara, Simi Valley, Ventura. Johnson stated that the areas from Fresno to Ventura are "areas that traditionally blacks haven't settled in". Many blacks leaving Los Angeles who California moved to cities in the U. S. South, including Atlanta, Dallas, Little Rock, New Orleans, San Antonio. Other cities receiving LA blacks include Chicago, New York City, Las Vegas. In the late 1990s, many Afri
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is an American outdoor sports stadium located in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, United States. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to L. A. veterans of World War I. Completed in 1923, it will be the first stadium to have hosted the Summer Olympics three times: 1932, 1984, 2028, it was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics. The stadium serves as the home to the University of Southern California Trojans football team of the Pac-12 Conference, it is the temporary home of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. The Coliseum was home to the Rams from 1946 to 1979; the Coliseum is serving as their home stadium again until the completion of Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. The facility had a permanent seating capacity of 93,607 for USC football and Rams games, making it the largest football stadium in the Pac-12 Conference and the NFL.
USC, which operates and manages the Coliseum, began a major renovation of the stadium in early 2018. During the renovation project the seating capacity will be 78,467 and will be 77,500 upon completion in 2019; the $270 million project is scheduled to be completed by the 2019 football season and is the first major upgrade of the stadium in twenty years. The project includes replacing the seating along with the addition of luxury boxes and club suites. Naming rights were granted to United Airlines but following some concerns expressed by veterans groups and the new president of the Coliseum Commission, the naming rights are in limbo. United Airlines did not approve of any change from United Airlines Memorial Coliseum and suggested that they were willing to step away from the deal; the stadium is located in Exposition Park, owned by the State of California, across the street from USC. The Coliseum is jointly owned by the State of California, Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles and is managed and operated by the Auxiliary Services Department of the University of Southern California.
From 1959 to 2016, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was located adjacent to the Coliseum. Banc of California Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium and home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC, was constructed on the former Sports Arena site and opened in April 2018; the stadium was the temporary home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball from 1958 to 1961 and was the host venue for games 3, 4, 5 of the 1959 World Series. It was the site of the First AFL-NFL World Championship Game called Super Bowl I, Super Bowl VII. Additionally, it has served as a home field for a number of other teams, including the Los Angeles Raiders of the NFL, UCLA Bruins football; the Coliseum is now the home of the USC Trojans football team and the temporary home of the Los Angeles Rams. Most of USC's regular home games the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity crowd; the current official capacity of the Coliseum is 78,467. USC's women lacrosse and soccer teams use the Coliseum for selected games involving major opponents and televised games.
USC rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events. The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to L. A. veterans of World War I. The official ground breaking ceremony took place on December 21, 1921 with construction being completed in just over 16 months, on May 1, 1923. Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl's initial construction costs were $954,873; when the Coliseum opened in 1923, it was the largest stadium in Los Angeles with a capacity of 75,144. In 1930, with the Olympics due in two years, the stadium was extended upward to seventy-nine rows seats with two tiers of tunnels, expanding the seating capacity to 101,574; the now-signature Olympic torch was added. For a time it was known as Olympic Stadium; the Olympic cauldron torch which burned through both Games remains above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances.
The football field runs east to west with the press box on the south side of the stadium. The scoreboard and video screen that tower over the peristyle date back to 1983. Over the years new light towers have been placed along south rims; the large analog clock and thermometer over the office windows at either end of the peristyle were installed in 1955. In the mid-and late 1950s the press box was renovated and the "Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum" lettering and Olympic rings, lighted at night, were added to the eastern face of the peristyle tower. Between the double peristyle arches at the east end is the Coliseum's "Court of Honor"—plaques recognizing many of the memorable events and participants in Coliseum history, including a full list of 1932 and 1984 Olympic gold medalists.. For many years the Coliseum was capable of seating over 100,000 spectators. In 1964 the stadium underwent its first major renovation in over three decades. Most of the original pale green wood-and-metal bench seating was replaced by individual theater-type chairs of dark red and yellow.
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is a bicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento; the California State Legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States. The Democratic Party holds supermajorities in both houses of the California State Legislature; the Assembly consists of 61 Democrats and 19 Republicans, while the Senate is composed of 28 Democrats and 10 Republicans, with two vacancies. Except for a brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election; the Senate, has been under continuous Democratic control since 1970. New legislators convene each new two-year session, to organize, in the Assembly and Senate Chambers at noon on the first Monday in December following the election. After the organizational meeting, both houses are in recess until the first Monday in January, except when the first Monday is January 1 or January 1 is a Sunday, in which case they meet the following Wednesday.
Aside from the recess, the legislature is in session year-round. Since California was given official statehood by the U. S. in September 9, 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850, the state capital was variously San Jose and Benicia, until Sacramento was selected in 1854. The first Californian State House was a hotel in San Jose owned by businessman Pierre "Don Pedro" Sainsevain and his associates; the State Legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Members of the Assembly serve two-year terms. All 80 Assembly seats are subject to election every two years. Members of the Senate serve four-year terms; every two years, one half of the Senate is subject to election, with odd-numbered districts up for election during presidential elections, even-numbered districts up for election during midterm elections. Term limits were established in 1990 following the passage of Proposition 140. In June 2012, voters approved Proposition 28, which limits legislators to a maximum of 12 years, without regard to whether they serve those years in the State Assembly or the State Senate.
Legislators first elected on or before June 5, 2012 are restricted by the previous term limits, approved in 1990, which limited legislators to three terms in the State Assembly and two terms in the State Senate. The proceedings of the California State Legislature are summarized in published journals, which show votes and who proposed or withdrew what. Reports produced by California executive agencies, as well as the Legislature, were published in the Appendices to the Journals from 1849 to 1970. Since the 1990s, the legislature has provided a live video feed for its sessions, has been broadcast statewide on the California Channel and local Public-access television cable TV. Due to the expense and the obvious political downside, California did not keep verbatim records of actual speeches made by members of the Assembly and Senate until the video feed began; as a result, reconstructing legislative intent outside of an act's preamble is difficult in California for legislation passed before the 1990s.
Since 1993, the Legislature has hosted a web/ftp site in another. The current Website contains the text of all statutes, all bills, the text of all versions of the bills, all the committee analyses of bills, all the votes on bills in committee or on the floor, veto messages from the Governor. Before committees published reports for significant bills, but most bills were not important enough to justify the expense of printing and distributing a report to archives and law libraries across the state. For bills lacking such a formal committee report, the only way to discover legislative intent is to access the state archives in Sacramento and manually review the files of relevant legislators, legislative committees, the Governor's Office from the relevant time period, in the hope of finding a statement of intent and evidence that the statement reflected the views of several of the legislators who voted for the bill; the most sought-after legislative committee appointments are to banking and insurance.
These are sometimes called "juice" committees, because membership in these committees aids the campaign fundraising efforts of the committee members, because powerful lobbying groups want to donate to members of these committees. A bill is a proposal to repeal, or add to existing state law. An Assembly Bill is one introduced in the Assembly. Bills are designated in the order of introduction in each house. For example, AB 16 refers to the 16th bill introduced in the Assembly; the numbering starts afresh each session. There may be one or more "extraordinary" sessions; the bill numbering starts again for each of these. For example, the third bill introduced in the Assembly for the second extraordinary session is ABX2 3; the name of the author, the legislator who introduced the bill, becomes part of the title of the bill. The legislative procedure, is divided into distinct stages: Drafting; the procedure begins when a Assembly Member decides to author a bill. A legislator sends the idea for the bill to the California Office of the Legislative Counsel, which drafts it into bill form and returns the draft to the legislator for introduction.
Introduction or First Reading. A legislator introduces a bill for the first time by reading or having read: the bill number, name of
