senator mark leno who couldn't join us today as been quoted as saying, quote, there's been no evidence to suggest long prison sentences deter or limit people from abusing drugs. in fact, time behind bars and felony records often have horrible, unintended consequences for people trying to overcome addiction because they are unlikely to receive drug treatment in prison and have few job prospects and educational opportunities when they leave. this legislation will help implement public safety realignment and protect our communities by reserving prison and jail space for more serious offenders. commenting on the fact 13 other states have moved in this direction, senator leno has said, quote, in fact, the experience of these other states when treating drug possession as a health issue has resulted in better public safety outcomes which can result in safer communities. george, why don't we start with you. you've dedicated post of your adult life to fighting crime and trying to make communities safer as the elected district attorney of san francisco, you've committed yourself to that, and yet

i would also like to recognize the honorable senator mark lenos, honorable eric mar, supervisor, chen ceto of the foundation. >> we also have some guests from the president of san francisco state university, dr. leslie wong, dr. frank hong,ment of santa rosa junior college, and dr. lisa stevens, president of the academy of art university. in the 33 year history of the campus, classes have been housed in over 30 different locations. we are very happy and proud to finally have a permanent home and a beautiful modern facility to train the future generations of students. this has been a 40-year journey for the community. some of you have been with us from the start. today we join together the community, the faculty, the students, the staff, the business community and our neighbors and friends to start a new chapter in our history. we'd like to introduce john miso, president of our board of trustees. he has been with us for the last few years helping us with this project. he chairs the information committee that watches over this project, including our higher goals. >> trustee riso >> than

. >> and we'll sit down with state senator mark leno and ask him what's the future of prop 13, now the democrats are in control? might get interesting in a minute. >>> we have lots to talk about, but it is a chilly morning around here. even colder than what we saw yesterday morning at this time, parts of the bay area under a frost advisory right now. brian hackney joining us live with what we can expect. i'm hoping a warmup. >> yeah, good morning, anne. thanks for coming by channel 5 this morning. veterans day, a fairly coolish day, but plenty of sunshine. a few clouds out there popping around. aside from that, it is going to be nice, if brisk. there is a frost advisory posted, especially up in the north bay, where temperatures are very chilly this morning. things nevertheless will be warming up. we'll tell you about the temperatures, what to expect for the rest of the week. rain in the forecast. first, phil and anne are in the forecast. >> thanks, brian. >>> well, the forecast politically in california, democrats are in the most powerful position they have been in decades after tuesda

also, our conversation with senator mark leno about the brand-new power. >> and we sit down with leader willie brown and say, okay, future of nancy pelosi. she did reclaim the house. is she staying on in washington customer. >> a lot coming up, but the weather forecast is cold. even colder than what we saw yesterday at this time. frost advisory. >> there are frost advisories posted as well. they were listed at 8:00, but it is chilly up there. temperatures range from 56 degrees to 63. it's on the chilly side for the bay area finance on time. a very nice sunday. we will have the entire forecast in a few minutes. >> thank you. california democrats in powerful positions they have been in decades after tuesday's election. >> is a super majority enabling them to pass tax increases without a single republican vote. republicans held the last super majority back in 1933. all this follows the campaign. that's a record levels of spending here in california. a few wealthy people spent tens of millions of dollars with mixed results. tom cyrus and $32 million in support of proposition 39 which did pa

the panel began, you shared with me that your organization has previously supported a measure that mark leno brought forward to lower the punishment for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana to a misdemeanor to an infraction. in this case your organization is essentially opposed to it. what do you say to mr. adelman and mr. gascon? >> i think one of the things i want to point out is that in terms of the changes currently taking place in california's criminal justice system is that we have embarked on a very, very large experiment and that's called realignment. prison population in california is going to approach by -- or sometime next year the federal mandate of 130,000. we've already released some 50,000 individuals to serve their time locally, and these offenses that we were talking about here are currently in the list of offenses that were to be served in county jails now. and if the notion here is to provide services and treatment to these individuals from a practical point of view, and i lean heavily on my experience as a misdemeanor prosecutor for all those years when we did po

[applause] >> tal, let me follow up and just say opponents of mark leno's measure would say it's not the amount of drug that somebody is in possession of, the fact that they're using drugs indicates they've got to find a way to supply themselves with ongoing, you know, sources of drugs or by taking the drugs, they're going to place themselves in a state that makes them more likely to commit crime. is this a valid argument? >> well, i think there are -- i think not everybody who uses drug is a drug addict. and there's a segment of the population that recreationally uses narcotics and don't necessarily need treatment and they certainly don't need a felony conviction. that having been said, if you are an addict, it doesn't make any sense to turn you into a felon addict. we just heard that person before very eloquently talk about spending most of his life incarcerated. and he's made it. but the fact of the matter is, encumbrance of a felony conviction is so debilitating. countless of times you run into people who can't get housing, can't get education, can't get jobs, it's a trap. if we

[applause] >> before i invite the final speaker i just wanted to make sure i acknowledge senator mark leno for being here today. thank you very much. big champion for transportation in our state. steve mecher and thank you for being here. ongoing support. got the sf giants hat, yes. mike cureo and thanks for being here and the construction trades and we have been working with you to get the folks trained over the years. it's a wonderful time, and the chairman -- and the chairman of our san francisco metropolitan transportation agency who has been a long time champion of public transit, a regular muni rider, someone who loves the city and has been at the forefront of not only a great transportation but has his head in our city and programs and wonderful services. please come on up. chairman tom nolan. [applause] >> leader pelosi asked me what is of going to say after reverend frong. i didn't have a chant rate for that. this is a great day for san francisco. this is a labor of love. we know the economic and transit values of this. as an agency we are committed and not only committed to bring

with just 7 companies controlling 94% of the market in california, state senator mark leno says it's cause for concern. >> when a market place gets more concentrated the opportunity for that market manipulation only increases. >> leno has launched an official investigation into the california refinery season and its oversight. he says there's not enough evidence to prove collusion. but there's also no watchdog agency in place to keep an eye on them. >> israel continued a blistering rocket assault on what it described as 100 terror sites in gaza. tanks and troops are positioned along the border. the battle is escalating. israeli commanders call it payback for on going rocket attacks. all of this is raising fears of a wider region corral conflict. the un security council is urging maximum restraint from both sides. the white house is backing israel. >>> the angry conflicts spilled in the streets of san francisco. a small contingent came out in support of israel. a larger pro palestinian group came pout. >> they need to stop. military attack on gaza strip. the message for the american p

applause] >> and it's now time to hear from a colleague and friend in public service, state senator mark leno. [applause] >> thank you peter and thank you abbey so much for this invitation to be part of this celebration of milton's life. oftentimes or sometimes remarkable people come from unremarkable families. sometimes remarkable people come from remarkable families. that certainly was milton's situation . i did not know senator marks all that well, but i am very well aware of his judicial and legislative accomplishments. everyone loved senator marks even when he was a republican. and then of course carolene and her own force of nature feared by many, loved by more. i certainly was in that latter category, but i think we all recognize that milton learned well from his folks, and he learned well from his jewish tradition. he learned that the repair of the world was something that was all of our responsibilities. he learned a lesson also from the tal mud that says" not ours to complete the task nor it is to begin it" and whether the issue was restoring, revitalizing, increasing the urban cano

. >>> mark leno is holding a hearing in san francisco about california refineries and impact on the price we pay for gas. according to the sacramento bee, a report will be released that will show during recent spikes the refineries continued to produce gas despite claims of shortage and equipment failures in may shell was down one week for maintenance when it had been scheduled for two weeks, richmond refinely never ceased operations over two weeks of maintenance drive paying paying 50 cents a gallon more than the rest of the. >>> crews will be out in daly city shoring up an unstable hillside before rain hits the bay area. rain is in the forecast causing a concern that more of the hillside will come down. a plan for permanent repairs is not expected until after the rain has arrived. officials still don't know why that pipe ruptured but suspect age was a factor. >> age is always fake for. time to check the weather. >> whatever do you mean by that rick? >> i mean exactly what you think i mean. >> our young man meteorologist mike nicco looking at when that rain will arrive. >> a little wet b

and we need to continue to support our great state senator mark leno in its never-ending quest for a call at that locality. [applause] but we have to also keep in mind that this industry needs to be more and more organized in order to have the political organization as one supervisor, or two supervisors, there is only so much you can do. please come and get more organized. my colleagues, david and my colleagues need to hear from you. build an alliance with the business community. one of the biggest champions is that california chamber of commerce. we know it is good for business. and please, organized with the neighborhood bars. there are so many great neighborhood bars in this city that could add that neighborhood element to political organizing. and when you are a district supervisor, it is one thing to have nightclub owners come to you. it is another thing to have neighborhood business owners like bar owners coming to you. we need to organize as a bar owner and that will move us in a positive direction. i am optimistic about the future of night life in this city. i think we have t

. >> welcome, everyone, to the 2012 justice summit, i'm mark leno and so wish key be with you today but i'm attending to my legislative duties in sacramento. council, i thank you for your interest in criminal justice and all your energies and efforts on its behalf. we know this is an issue that is of great importance to the state of california and to the nation. of course we have the opportunity to yet again lead the way here in california. we're offering a bill this year, s.b.-1506 which would redefine the crime of simple possession of a drug from felony to misdemeanor. there are 13 other states, and the federal government which already do this and in the 13 other states, we have the data that shows that we get better results, better outcomes, meaning safer communities, and surprisingly the states include not only the large eastern states of pennsylvania and new york, but also states like mississippi, south carolina, west virginia, wyoming, iowa, all of which use this mid deem charge rather than felony. and what we find in these 13 other states is that there are higher rates of drug tr

. >> reporter: it's one of the reason senator mark leno called a committee hearing today. they found that in may, gas prices shot up to 4.41 a gallon which is the equivalent of $48 million in profit a day for the gas companies. in october, they were hiked even higher to $4.71 a gallon. but because of supply, the profit slightly lower for companies but still $25 million a day. >> i feel certain if we do nothing, that which we have seen this year will only repeat itself in years to come and the spikes that we saw in october might look to be minor spikes compared to what we could have in the future. >> reporter: so he called on robert mccullough who has three decades of experience in energy markets. he pored over thousands of documents and believes that the refineries were operating when they said me were offline. we can heard in may lots of announcements of closures and that could be an attempt to misinform the market. we have certainly seen that. tore could be an exercise in market power. >> reporter: he says there is not enough evidence to show any type of collusion among