The Buzz: Lawmakers move to thaw out mountain lion - Sacramento Bee
One of the hundreds of bills acted on by the Legislature this week could decide the fate of a dead mountain lion.
The carcass in question came into the hands of a Kern County museum roughly three years ago. The Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest wanted to display the lion, an apparent victim of road kill, in an exhibit. But a 1990 voter-approved initiative to protect mountain lions required, in part, that any carcasses be turned over to the Department of Fish and Game.
The museum says it worked for more than two years to get the department's OK to preserve and display the beast, storing the carcass in a freezer as it petitioned for permission.
Republican Sen. Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, introduced Senate Bill 769 to allow museums and other nonprofits to display dead mountain lions for educational and scientific purposes.
"I urge an aye vote so we can get this out of the freezer and into the museum," Fuller told her colleagues Tuesday.
Because the bill amends an initiative, it needed a four-fifths vote to pass – a higher threshold than that for increasing taxes.
Allowing taxidermy proved easier than raising revenue, however. The measure passed with no opposition and now heads to Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration.
– Torey Van Oot
BILL WATCH
The Assembly has sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill to allow undocumented immigrants eligible for resident fees at CSU or community colleges to be compensated for student government positions they hold. Assembly Bill 844 comes after Pedro Ramirez, president of Fresno State Associated Students, last year said he was undocumented and volunteered to serve in his position for no compensation.
– Dan Smith
WORTH REPEATING
"I think we're the only county named after a crop, and there aren't a lot left there."
ASSEMBLYMAN CHRIS NORBY, Orange County Republican, digressing somewhat during his opposition to a resolution that encourages Congress to consider California's cut flower industry when negotiating free trade agreements with Colombia
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01 Sep, 2011--
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