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L.A. union leader wants exemption from new $15/hr wage
Just a week after the L.A. City Council voted in support of a $15 minimum wage, Rusty Hicks, the head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and co-chair of the “Raise the Wage” campaign, has requested that unions be
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Reformers get help in fight over school funding law
Education reformers and advocates for poor communities have a new tool in the fight over implementation of a 2013 law that was supposed to provide extra help to millions of struggling California students. The Local Control Funding Formula — championed
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Union grip on CA elections slips
After a lengthy streak of outsized influence, California’s private-sector unions have suffered a string of electoral setbacks — shaking up the balance of power in Democratic circles and giving Republicans reason for cheer even when facing down defeat. A perfect storm Although
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CA legislators revisit microbead ban
After a near miss last year, a new push to ban so-called microbeads has gained momentum, clearing the California Assembly. The tiny plastic orbs, especially prevalent in cosmetics and personal care products, like facial scrubs, became the target of environmentalist scorn over recent
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L.A. budget gets good marks, but big obstacles ahead
A few years ago, the Los Angeles city government appeared to be hurtling toward the fiscal abyss because of heavy pension costs for police and firefighters and a sluggish local economy. But a pension reform measure and a relatively tough
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Teacher tenure bill defeated in Assembly
On Thursday, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee voted to hold Assembly Bill 753, in effect killing the bill for this legislative session. AB753 is authored by Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, and would expand the scope of the tenure system to teachers working in small
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Ling Ling Chang announces bid for state Senate in 2016
Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, has announced her campaign to replace termed-out State Senator Bob Huff. Chang’s campaign for the 29th State Senate district sets up a showdown with former Irvine Mayor Sukhee Kang for a seat that Democrats see as an
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Bill raising sales tax cap passes CA Assembly
Although Californians already pay some of the highest sales taxes in the nation, a bill that recently passed the Assembly paves the way for the sales tax to go even higher. Assembly Bill 464 increases to 3 percent (from the
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CA follows NV lead on desert-style lawns
Nevada, where lush lawns have largely become a thing of the past, has become a landscaping model for California. Buying brown Although it was once unthinkable for Nevadans to give up on green grass, a combination of incentives eventually succeeded in
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CA Employment Report reveals slow job growth, shrinking labor force
The California Center for Jobs & the Economy has just released their “California Employment Report” for April 2015. Among the most notable highlights from this report: CA’s unemployment rate declines to 6.3 percent, still 17 percent higher than the national rate:
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