SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KEYT) – On Tuesday, California's Senate President pro Tempore, Monique Limón of Santa Barbara, announced the committee membership assignments for the remainder of this legislative session.

The Central Coast member of the state's upper chamber will be sworn into the position on Jan. 5, 2026.

"I am proud to assume the role of President pro Tempore of the California State Senate at this critical time in our state and the nation’s history," the future President pro Tempore shared in November. "I look forward to working alongside my colleagues to move California forward and address the issues impacting the almost 40 million people who call this state home." 

The next session's Senate Democratic Leadership Team was also announced on Tuesday.

Article IV of the California Constitution established a biennial term for regular legislative business meaning this legislative session started on December 3, 2024, and will end on Nov. 30, 2026.

Bills that are not passed by both chambers within the session period will have to be reintroduced.

According to Article IV, the Governor can call for a special session of the state's legislature outside of that regular period.

For example, Governor Newsom called for a special session in 2023 to address rapidly rising oil prices in the state which resulted in the passage of SBx 1 - 2 and the creation of the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight all within a few months.

Chamber Democratic Leadership

• President pro Tempore: Senator Monique Limón
• Majority Leader: Senator Angelique Ashby
• Assistant Majority Leaders: Senator Aisha Wahab and Senator Laura Richardson
• Democratic Caucus Chair: Senator Caroline Menjivar
• Majority Whip: Senator Tim Grayson
• Assistant Majority Whips: Senator Dave Cortese, Senator Steve Padilla, Senator Susan Rubio

Senator Limón's Office noted that changes to the Budget Committee and its associated Subcommittees as well as the Natural Resources and Water Committee assignments will take immediate effect and all other changes, including the creation of new legislative committees, will take effect on Feb. 1, 2026.

Senate Committee Assignments

Agriculture Committee:

• Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced) (Chair)
• Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Jackson) (Vice Chair)
• Senator Angelique Ashby (D-Sacramento)
• Senator Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton)
• Senator Steve Padilla (D-San Diego)

Appropriations Committee:

• Senator Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside) (Chair)
• Senator Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) (Vice Chair)
• Senator Christopher Cabaldon (D-Yolo)
• Senator Megan Dahle (R-Bieber)
• Senator Tim Grayson (D-Concord)
• Senator Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro)
• Senator Aisha Wahab (D-Silicon Valley)

Banking and Financial Institutions Committee:

• Senator Tim Grayson (D-Concord) (Chair)
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CNN

Marshall Cohen

(CNN) — The Justice Department on Wednesday said it has uncovered over a million more documents potentially related to the Jeffrey Epstein case and may need “a few more weeks” to review and release them to the public.

The department made the revelation in a post on X, saying the the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI had informed the department of the new documents.

“The DOJ has received these documents from SDNY and the FBI to review them for release, in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, existing statutes, and judicial orders,” the post said.

“We have lawyers working around the clock to review and make the legally required redactions to protect victims, and we will release the documents as soon as possible. Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks. The Department will continue to fully comply with federal law and President Trump’s direction to release the files,” the post continued.

It was not immediately clear how the new documents were discovered or what might be in them. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

The announcement on Wednesday comes after a week of intermittent releases as required by a new transparency law that Congress passed last month. The department already had been facing criticism for not releasing everything as required on December 19, though officials insisted they needed time to redact information to protect victims and alleviate other possible legal concerns.

Even before the revelation Wednesday of more possible documents, the Justice Department had been scrambling to get out everything in its possession. CNN reported Tuesday that Justice Department leadership had asked for volunteers in a prosecutor’s office in South Florida to help with redactions.

The Justice Department first posted a massive trove of documents required to be released under the new law on the Friday deadline. That was followed up with another drop early Saturday, and another major release on Tuesday, which contained Read more

CNN

By Meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Chris Dolce

(CNN) — A powerful storm carrying a strong atmospheric river is laying siege to California, where evacuations have been issued because of the risk of life-threatening flooding and debris flows.

“A dangerous scenario is unfolding, with widespread and significant impacts from flash flooding and debris flows expected,” the Weather Prediction Center said about areas near and north of Los Angeles as the downpours arrived Wednesday morning.

Some areas in the mountains to the north and northwest of Los Angeles have already seen 4 to 8 inches of rain and the atmospheric river continues to soak the region. Feet of mountain snow, severe thunderstorms and strong winds round out the multiple threats the state is facing.

Evacuation warnings or orders were in place in parts of at least five Southern California counties, notably around areas recently burned by wildfires.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Shasta counties. The state of emergency will “activate emergency authorities and preposition resources to keep our communities safe,” Newsom said in a Wednesday post on X.

Here’s the latest:

• Rare high risk of flooding rain: More than 7 million people in portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties are in the highest-risk zone Wednesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center. More than a dozen flash flood warnings have been issued this morning in Southern California. One of those includes over 6 million people in Los Angeles until 6 p.m. PT.
• Roads and highways washed out: Authorities in northwest Los Angeles and northeast Ventura counties have reported “heavy rain, rockslides, mudslides, and washed out roadways,” the National Weather Service said. Debris flows and flooding have also been reported in the San Bernardino Mountains, including Highway 2. Mud and debris flows shut down northbound Interstate 15 near Cajon Junction Wednesday morning, according to Caltrans. Law enforcement has also reported flooding across nearly all lanes of Interstate 5 just northwest of Burbank, the NWS said. The Los Angeles Police Department has responded to 52 traffic accidents, a Wednesday morning release from the mayor’s office said.
• New evacuation warning for Wrightwood: The San Bernardino County Sheriff issued an Read more

By Tami Luhby, Jacqueline Howard, CNN

(CNN) — A leading pediatrics group is asking a federal judge to stop the Trump administration from terminating nearly $12 million in long-running federal grants.

The American Academy of Pediatrics argues that the US Department of Health and Human Services last week ended seven grants in retaliation for the academy speaking out against the administration’s actions that the group feels threaten children’s health, including advocating for evidence-based vaccine policy. The Academy’s efforts have been “met with targeted smears from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other senior officials looking to discredit one of the agency’s most prominent critics,” according to the complaint, which was filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The suit is asking the court to immediately block the funding cuts and require that the grants be reinstated while the case proceeds.

“In this suit, AAP challenges HHS’s retaliatory actions, which not only irreparably harm AAP, but undermine the health and safety of all Americans by senselessly slashing programs that help pediatricians detect, prevent, and mange fatal and debilitating illnesses and conditions,” according to the complaint.

The funding is used for “training and technical assistance to pediatricians in rural communities, the reduction of sudden unexpected infant death, the prevention of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and universal newborn hearing screenings,” the complaint said.

“Without immediate court intervention, these programs will end within weeks, staff will be laid off and children and families nationwide will lose access to crucial child health programs,” the Academy said in a statement Wednesday.

The Academy has 67,000 members, including primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists. Democracy Forward, which has filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration this year, is representing the Academy in this case.

An HHS spokesperson told CNN last week that the grants awarded to the Academy and several other organizations were canceled “because they no longer align with the Department’s mission or priorities.”

The AAP and Kennedy have been in conflict – and litigation – over certain public health policies, including those related to childhood vaccinations.

Earlier this year, the AAP took the rare step of breaking with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its recommendation that the Covid-19 vaccine for children should be “based on shared clinical decision-making.” The AAP recommendations were more explicit, saying that all children 6 months through 23 months should receive a Covid-19 vaccine unless they have known allergies to the vaccine or its ingredients.

The AAP also criticized the CDC last week for adopting its vaccine advisers’ decision to no longer recommend the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.

A coalition of medical groups led by the AAP argued in federal court last week that recent changes to recommendations by the CDC’s vaccine advisers and certain actions by Kennedy violate the Administrative Procedure A

CNN en Español

Estados Unidos profundiza la campaña de presión sobre Venezuela y el presidente Nicolás Maduro con la amenaza de nuevas sanciones “al máximo” sobre el país.

El presidente de EE.UU., Donald Trump, tiene la intención de usar “todo el poder y la fuerza” con nuevas medidas, dijo este martes el embajador del país ante la ONU, Mike Waltz, tras el bloqueo del Gobierno estadounidense a petroleros sancionados y la interceptación de varios buques en el Caribe, sumado a numerosas sanciones ya aplicadas.

En las últimas semanas, el Gobierno de Trump sancionó tanto a Venezuela como a Maduro, e incluso a miembros de su familia. Estas acciones de EE.UU. constituyen “una amenaza directa al orden jurídico internacional y la seguridad global”, dijo Maduro.

Tres sobrinos de la esposa de Maduro, Cilia Flores, así como otro empresario afín a Maduro, fueron incluidos en la lista de sanciones del Departamento del Tesoro de EE.UU. el 11 de diciembre.

Dos de los sobrinos sancionados habían sido condenados previamente por narcotráfico en EE.UU., y luego liberados en un intercambio de prisioneros.

En un intento de cortar la principal fuente económica de Caracas, Trump ordenó un bloqueo “completo” de los petroleros sancionados que entran y salen de Venezuela. El Gobierno de Venezuela advirtió que ese bloqueo naval afectará el suministro de energía y advirtió que el mundo se encamina hacia un escenario de confrontación global.

EE.UU. también anunció nuevas sanciones a compañías navieras y buques que, según dice, ayudan a transportar crudo venezolano. El Tesoro afirmó que seis buques incurrieron en prácticas de transporte marítimo engañosas e inseguras que proporcionaron recursos financieros al Gobierno de Maduro.

Un día antes, personal estadounidense armado incautó un petrolero en aguas internacionales frente a la costa venezolana, que presuntamente había estado involucrado en una “red de transporte ilícito de petróleo” en apoyo a países como Venezuela e Irán, según la secretaria de Justicia, Pam Bondi.

A finales de noviembre, el Gobierno de Trump designó al Cartel de los Soles como Organización Terrorista Extranjera (FTO, por sus siglas en inglés) y a Maduro como miembro de la organización