Insurance Industry Watches Pending California Bills

"Several bills of interest to the California property/casualty insurance industry - including proposals to reform the workers' compensation system and address privacy issues - are pending on the Senate and Assembly floors. . . .The (financial privacy) bill (SB 1) passed the Senate earlier this year, but has been rejected twice by the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee. It would create the country's most restrictive privacy standards, according to the Association of California Insurance Companies (ACIC)."(first two sets of parentheses mine)




Pleasanton Asks Congress to Monitor Patriot Act

"The Pleasanton City Council adopted a resolution this week that stops short of condemning the bill, but urges Congress to monitor its implementation to ensure that civil rights are not abridged." The vote was 3-2.




Sample Oral Histories Online

The Regional Oral History Office (ROHO), is a division of UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library directed Richard Candida Smith. "The Bancroft Library's oral history archives date back to the library’s namesake, Hubert Howe Bancroft, who recognized that his vast collection of books, journals, maps, and manuscripts on western North America failed to include the living memories of many of the participants in the development of California and the West. In the 1860s he began interviewing pioneer Westerners; the resulting volumes, called 'Dictations,' remain a valuable primary source for historians."

"And since ROHO was formed in 1954, staffers have added 2,000 interviews related to the history of California to the Bancroft's archives and to more than 700 libraries worldwide for use by historians and other scholars. Within general categories like the Arts and Community History are fascinating interviews with the major players of the Free Speech Movement, black alumni, and the instigators of the Disability Rights Movement."
Listen to online samples.



San Diego Opts to Filter

Without opposition from the public or from any Council members, the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to install filtering software on all public computers that can access the Internet. Filters already exist on 115 children's computers.
The installation should be complete by the beginning of next month.
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune




Pleasanton City Council to Consider Patriot Act

On Tuesday the Council will meet to debate taking a stand on the Patriot Act. The Council refused to hold this debate in May.
Consideration of the issue at this time is due to the urging of the Library Commission...."Last month, the Pleasanton Library Commission decided to tackle the issue -- in part because of fears that provisions of the Patriot Act could be used to monitor citizens' use of the library or to track bookstore purchases.
Now, the council is being asked whether it supports the Library Commission's actions."