October 2015 | Page 2 of 6 | CalWatchdog.com

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Subsidized housing new front in CA teacher pay

The San Francisco Unified School District is following Los Angeles Unified’s lead with plans to build subsidized housing for schoolteachers and teaching assistants. The districts’ actions may foreshadow a new era in which teachers unions try to use their clout to

CA infrastructure spending hits impasse

James Poulos October 26, 2015

With big infrastructure questions still unanswered, Gov. Jerry Brown has found himself at loggerheads with lawmakers in Sacramento. From water storage to road repair and beyond, legislators have not met Brown eye to eye, raising the prospect of a protracted conflict

Ballot initiative filing fees set to increase

Joel Fox October 25, 2015

One strategy for pursuing policy changes through ballot initiatives may become victim of the new law to charge a larger fee to file an initiative for title and summary with the Attorney General’s office. The $200 filing fee, in place

Can ‘Big Data’ figure out how to reduce CA gridlock?

Chris Reed October 24, 2015

The use of “Big Data” has transformed strategizing in baseball, given rise to microtargeting of individual voters in presidential campaigns and turned browsing the Internet into an unsettling experience in which users see advertisers guess what they might want to

L.A. homelessness draws federal attention

James Poulos October 23, 2015

Struggling to slow L.A.’s spike in homelessness, city leaders have booked an appointment with the federal government. “Secretary Julian Castro will be in Los Angeles on Tuesday to meet with Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council members and county supervisors, HUD

Moody’s: Energy edict will hammer SoCal municipal utilities

Chris Reed October 23, 2015

Assembly Bill 32, the landmark 2006 law requiring California to begin shifting to cleaner-but-costlier forms of renewable energy, hasn’t hit consumers as hard as some economists feared for an ironic reason: Dirtier “brown energy” got cheaper. The U.S. fracking/shale revolution

Brown may seek new tax increases on 2016 ballot

James Poulos October 22, 2015

California lawmakers have left Gov. Jerry Brown in the lurch. That was Brown’s judgment of the Legislature’s performance, which has left his administration with substantial unfinished business heading into the election year. The consequence may be a fresh round of

Banks, firms not sold on bullet train

James Poulos October 22, 2015

As big banks hesitate to fund California’s high-speed rail project, Sacramento officials have turned back to state coffers to keep the effort going. In calculating the risk of loans that would likely exceed $35 billion, bankers want to see a

U.S. Senate 2016: Duf Sundheim hopes to emerge as alternative to all-Democrat general election

John October 21, 2015

It’s been 27 years since a California Republican has won a campaign for U.S. Senate. The deck may be stacked against Republicans in California, but Duf Sundheim isn’t discouraged. The former California Republican Party chairman and small business attorney says that

Electric skateboard startups set to flourish in CA

James Poulos October 21, 2015

With a unique new law on its side, the nascent electric skateboard industry has made California its home. Two new startups — a third leader is based out of New York — have set up shop in San Francisco. The cofounders of