An effort to require condom use in adult films made in California may be coming to the 2016 ballot.

After two unsuccessful attempts to pass a statewide mandate in the Legislature, advocates for the requirement are launching an initiative campaign. If they collect enough signatures to qualify, the measure would be put before voters in 2016.

In 2012, voters in Los Angeles County approved Measure B, which requires condom use in adult movies filmed in the county. It passed by a 14-point margin.

Michael Weinstein, president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said his group's polling shows it would be "even stronger at the state level."

The foundation had pushed two bills in the Legislature, most recently earlier this year. Supporters said required use of condoms and other protective barriers would stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among adult film performers.

But the measures faced fierce opposition from some in the adult film busines, who argued that the...

Gov. Jerry Brown played down concerns Thursday about Republicans killing the state’s $68-billion bullet train, saying that “they’re going to join the chorus” in support of high-speed rail once construction around Fresno and Bakersfield gains momentum.

“Look, we have the ingredients to get this thing launched,” Brown told reporters on his way into an Anti-Defamation League lunch at a Beverly Hills hotel.

Republicans in Congress, most notably House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is from Bakersfield, have vowed to block any further federal spending on the rail network to link Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Republicans’ capture of a U.S. Senate majority in Tuesday’s election could make it more difficult for Brown to win further support from Washington for a project that would be a major legacy for the Democratic governor. So far, the federal government has provided $3.2 billion in grants to get the project started.

“We have the amount of federal money we’re going to get, at least over...

A group of politicians, environmentalists and businesses announced Thursday it is launching a campaign to fight efforts to repeal a ban on single-use plastic bags from stores that is scheduled to take effect July 1.

The new group is trying to counter plastic bag manufacturers, operating as the American Progressive Bag Alliance, which is trying to collect more than 504,000 signatures for a referendum that, if it qualifies, would delay the bag ban until a statewide vote in November 2016.

That effort to repeal the nation's first statewide bag ban will be fought by a new coalition that includes Sierra Club California, Surfrider Foundation, the California Grocers Assn., Grocery Outlet Inc., Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and Assemblyman-elect Kevin McCarty.

"Unfortunately our state’s electoral system is being hijacked by a corporate special interest: the dying plastic bag industry, companies that apparently can't read the writing on the wall about their product,” said Mark Murray, a...

State Sen.-elect Bob Hertzberg has accepted a second job as a government affairs attorney for the law firm Glaser Weil, but says he will not advise clients on issues that may come before state agencies or the Legislature.

Hertzberg, a Democrat from Los Angeles, won election Tuesday to the 18^th Senate District that includes much of the San Fernando Valley, returning to the Legislature after having previously served as speaker of the state Assembly. He takes office Dec. 1. His annual salary as a senator will be $97,197 and he will also get tax-free per diem expenses of about $25,000 a year as a lawmaker.

He said he will also become Of counsel to Glaser Weil, joining the law firm’s government affairs practice, which is overseen by former Beverly Hills Mayor Thomas Levyn and Tim McOsker, former chief of staff to then-mayor of Los Angeles James Hahn.

Hertzberg did not return calls for comment but said in a statement that he is “thrilled” by the job and will not advise clients on matters...

 In one of the handful of fall congressional races between members of the same political party in California, former Obama administration official Ro Khanna said he is not giving up in his battle with Rep. Mike Honda (D-San Jose).

At the end of the election night tally, Honda led Khanna 52.2% to 47.8%.  But Khanna estimated Wednesday that there were at least 40,000 ballots remaining to be counted and that it could take days before the outcome is known.

"When we started this campaign nearly two years ago, I was polling at just 3%," Khanna of Fremont said in a statement released Wednesday.  "Now, they're still counting ballots.  It's that close."

The Honda campaign predicted the veteran congressman will prevail after the final ballot is counted.

Fall contests between members of the same party were made possible by the state's top-two system, in which all candidates appear on the same primary ballot and only the first- and second-place finishers, regardless of party affiliation, advance...

With a handful of key congressional races still too close to call Wednesday, Democrats can savor one victory, at least: Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar delivered an open Inland Empire seat into their hands.

Aguilar defeated military veteran and businessman Paul Chabot, 51% to 49%, for the seat being vacated by the retirement of Rep. Gary Miller (R-Rancho Cucamonga).

It was the only House seat in California that Democrats picked up in Tuesday's election. 

They had expected to take the open, Democratic-tilting 31st Congressional District seat two years ago. But candidates of that party, including Aguilar, splintered the primary vote, enabling Miller and another Republican to advance to the fall election.

But the news wasn't all good for the state's dominant party: Four Democratic incumbent House of Representatives members are in danger of losing their seats once all the ballots are counted.

On Wednesday morning, fewer than 700 votes separated Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Westlake Village) from...