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How Do You Reform A Reform?

SEPT. 28, 2010 By ANTHONY PIGNATARO The state Political Reform Act Task Force will largely steer clear of issues such as conflict of interest and lobbying as it seeks to rewrite the state law governing politicking, the panel decided Monday.

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Prop. 25 Will Weaken Prop. 13

SEPT. 27, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI What voters and even taxpayers associations don’t seem to recognize about the upcoming November election in California is that if enacted Proposition 25 would provide an opportunity for school districts to pass parcel taxes

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Lawmakers Like Prop 25

SEPT. 27, 2010 By KATY GRIMES Proposition 25 has many of the state’s legislators up in arms, but for very different reasons. Some fear losing the two-thirds vote threshold on budgets and taxes, while others fear the initiative process is

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When Is A Tax Just A Tax?

SEPT. 24, 2010 By KATY GRIMES When is a tax just a tax, and a fee just a fee? A November ballot initiative seeks to answer the question by defining both a tax and a fee, and then require both the

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Officials Hid Size Of Pension Crisis

SEPT. 22, 2010 By DAVE ROBERTS Due to “Alice in Wonderland” accounting methods, the amount that taxpayers owe to provide pensions for local and state government employees is much larger – perhaps an extra $2.5 trillion – than government officials

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DA: Bell Officials 'Looted At Will'

SEPT. 22, 2010 By TORI RICHARDS, reporting from the courtroom LOS ANGELES – The mayor and seven other current and former city of Bell officials made their first court appearance today to answer charges that they misappropriated more than $5.5

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Tax Hike Idea Ignores 'Capitalization'

SEPT. 22, 2010 By WAYNE LUSVARDI San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Debra Saunders has proposed raising the annual rate of property tax increase allowed under Proposition 13 from 2 percent to 2.5 percent to solve the state budget crisis (see “What I Would Do If I Were Governor,”

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Will Prop. 23 kill American troops?

SEPT. 22, 2010 By JOHN SEILER You know a campaign is going ballistic when the terrorism threat is brought up, even in a context seemingly not connected. That has happened with Proposition 23, which would suspend AB32 until unemployment in

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Bell Shows Value Of Open Records

SEPT. 21, 2010 By TORI RICHARDS When Bell city officials started raking in obscene salary amounts, it’s a safe bet that they never considered the California Public Records Act. The law that discloses almost anything related to politicians’ lives would

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The Attack on Seniors

SEPT. 21, 2010 by KATY GRIMES This op ed originally appeared in The Sacramento Business Journal Sept. 17, 2010. On the weary backs of California seniors, the governor’s May budget revision offers a plan to help alleviate the state’s $19.1

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