our political analyst larry gerstin joins us to explain why next.. and you may not know what i'm talking about, but, uh. the yogurt made from your milk, is delicious. milk, fruit, cultures. mmmm, yoplait. qualified for the november 2016 >>> three initiatives have already qualified for the november 2016 general election in california. but more than 60, yes, 6-0, are in circulation with sponsors now seeking the necessary number of voter signatures. our political analyst larry gerstin joins us now. how did we get to this extraordinary number? >> extraordinary and a little frightening if you think about it because these things are not just a paragraph. they're pages and pages and pages each. where it used to be that initiatives, they could appear at any statewide election because at that point, they were allowed to do so. but because of recent legislation, vicky, all the rules are changed here. now they only appear in november of every presidential year. so you all gather up, right, and they qualify by sponsors obtaining signatures from 5% of the number

political analyst larry gerstin joins us live to discuss why lawmakers from both sides of the aisle appearo be in lockstep and what congress could learn from these guys. congress may be locked into endless bickering and partisan gridlock but t >>> well, congress may be locked into endless bickering and partisan gridlock these days, but the california state legislature is operating in a remarkably calm state. with republicans and democrats often on the same page. so what accounts for this unusual era of good feelings? nbc bay area's legal analyst -- i'm sorry, political analyst -- i'm turning you into a legal analyst now, too. >> i'm getting a new job. >> larry is here to weigh in with his thoughts. this is a much different picture than what we saw in the california state legislature just a faw years ago. >> it's freaky. it's not california any way we usually know about this state. that's all there is to it. the fact of the matter is, it just wasn't that long ago, you know this, i know this when the democratic leadership kept the doors locked to force votes on budgets and when the republica

nbc bay area political analyst larry gerstin is here to separate fact from fiction.s california on the same page with the rest of the nation today or not? >> you know there seems to be a parting of the ways if you will. simply in party identification. figures nationally and statewide. nationally the country is much more equally divided than in blue california. take a look at recent data sear, and here, and you can see only nine points separate the parties nationally. but in california you can see why, then, democrats tend to do so much better in the state. they really have a nice cushion. >> so do california democrats here in our state carry more sway than they do nationally and are they still trendsetters for the rest of their party? >> well they're not so much trendsetters right now as much as they're maybe outliers that kind of thing. nationally look both hillary clinton and bernie sanders, they've called for increases in the minimum wage. in california democrats here in the state legislature this year refrained from increasing the state's minimum wage. here's ano