Tag "Steve Miller"

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CA’s history of direct democracy sometimes brings out ‘crackpots’

This week, lawmakers once again loudly proclaimed their outrage at a proposed ballot initiative that would allow voters to decide whether gay people should be shot. The notion is both sickening and unconstitutional, but it’s also part of California’s political

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UC endowments soar as tuition hikes continue

While families struggle to help students with tuition — and as student loan debt skyrockets — California universities continue to amass multimillion- and even billion-dollar endowments. Endowments at the state university system schools have seen massive increases since 2009, even

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Teachers union dues rise along with pay

The Los Angeles Unified School District this month agreed to a 10 percent raise for teachers, creating a deficit for the district that would reach $559 million by 2016-17, according to a projection by the district. It was reportedly the first

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Records of lawmakers a step closer to transparency

A judge has found that the records of lawmakers can be subject to open records requests, making California one of 28 states in which the records of state lawmakers are open to the public. The April 3 ruling  interprets a part

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State is owed millions in allegedly unpaid fees from Verizon

Verizon owes $11 million to a state fund to help the poor, the hearing-impaired and people in rural areas access telecommunications service, according to a draft document from the state’s Public Utility Commission. The fees are owed on service to prepaid

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Study: CA ranks last in spending transparency

California ranked at the bottom for the second consecutive year on the annual report on state government transparency compiled by the Public Interest Research Group, an investigative and advocacy organization based in Boston. And the state’s beleaguered Department of Technology, or CalTech, can be assigned part

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State lawmakers’ financial interests now posted online

Mike McGuire made over $100,000 in 2014 as a Sonoma County supervisor and another $525 in parting gift certificates as the young Democrat left to take a $95,291-a-year job as a state senator. Richard Pan, a physician, took in just

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Dock strife boosted political spending

The work dispute between West Coast longshore workers and the major shipping companies may be headed for peace. But the most recent chapter of acrimony between the parties included generous political spending in Washington. The labor contract between the International

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CA bag ban initiative heading toward 2016 vote

The effort to repeal the state’s looming prohibition on plastic grocery bags is projected to have enough valid signatures to move the initiative forward, according to a random sample of the signees compiled by the California secretary of state’s elections office. The sample

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