Low Lying Fruit

There are only three more days in the legislative year (leaders of both the Senate and Assembly have vowed to call it a year on Thursday). But both houses of the legislature are avoiding the big ticket items today and postponing them for later: gay marriage, raising the minimum wage, the “million solar roofs” initiative, etc. Instead they are focusing on low-lying fruit—minor issues that do not evoke public controversy. Tomorrow is (or is currently planned to be) the big vote on gay marriage. Leno fell three votes short in June. He now touts the endorsement of the United Farm Workers (which he hopes will sway more socially moderate Latino legislators), but his prospects for passage look questionable at best.