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State finances: LAO’s own report on CalSTRS demolishes LAO’s happy talk
I’m still struggling to make sense of Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor’s bizarrely upbeat report last month on state finances that predicted budget surpluses for years to come — but barely mentioned the state’s huge unfunded liabilities for retiree pensions and
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Tax ’em if you got ’em
California is inhaling another pack of attempts to increase cigarette taxes. Joe Mathews enthuses about it on Fox and Hounds: This state needs to raise tobacco taxes. For a state as properly focused on health as California, the fact that
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California’s disappearing farmland
More than 370,000 acres of California’s irrigated farmland disappeared from 2006-10. Officials are concerned that hundreds of thousands of additional acres could be lost in the coming years, threatening California’s leading role in feeding the nation and indeed much
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Strikes for higher minimum wage hit CA, USA
Anti-Walmart protests struck across California and the rest of America on Black Friday. The protesters demanded that the giant retailer pay its worker higher wages and benefits. As part of the protests, Robert Reich is pushing a petition on Facebook. The former
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Tech experts wary about healthcare.gov progress
In the wake of the disastrous healthcare.gov rollout, Americans began to wonder when the federal exchange website would be fixed. Inevitably, it was assumed, the website would have to start working. But when? The White House announced in October that
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Thanks, Dan: Cal Watchdog themes now Walters’ favorite talking points
For a year, Cal Watchdog contributors and staffers (and a Cal Watchdog alum) have been pretty much alone in pointing out two extremely relevant statistics that demolish Gov. Jerry Brown’s and the media’s narrative of the Golden State bouncing back
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Latino enrollment in Covered California lags
In the wake of the disastrous healthcare.gov rollout, many defendants of the Affordable Care Act began to look for a bright spot. They soon pointed to Covered California, California’s health insurance exchange, as a national model. There are several differences
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Local governments approve numerous tax increases: Part 2
This is Part 2 of a series of stories about tax increases passed throughout California in the November 5 elections. To read Part 1, click here. Last month, over two dozen tax increases passed in local municipalities throughout California. Voters
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Lobbyist organizes second legislative junket to Cuba
An influential Sacramento lobbyist — who paid out a $500,000 settlement for allegedly engaging in “pay-to-play” behavior — has organized a second junket to Cuba for California lawmakers. This week, Darius Anderson, the founder and president of Sacramento-based lobbying firm Platinum
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