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Developer lobby helping to promote $9 billion education bond
A $9 billion school-construction bond that voters will decide on in November 2016 will be promoted heavily by titans in the construction industry that stand to profit mightily if the measure passes. The stakes for builders are high; failure to
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Pension reform initiative reworked
The leaders of California’s pension reform movement have scrapped their previous effort, introducing two new schemes instead. The news added a fresh twist to the state’s long-running game of political cat and mouse, which has seen state officials labor to cast would-be reforms
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Brown signs right-to-die legislation
Falling back on personal intuition, Gov. Jerry Brown signed physician-assisted suicide into California law. The move capped a long and sometimes tortuous effort to get legislation through the state Legislature, where opponents of elective death managed to mount a successfully targeted opposition
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Lawsuit could highlight flimsy government privacy claims
For decades, California government officials have said privacy laws prevent them from disclosing information about employees’ misbehavior — up to and including petty corruption. The claims have always been dubious, according to experts on state privacy and labor relations statutes.
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Anti-vax referendum push falls short
The drive to restore California’s vaccination exemptions through the state referendum process has failed. At stake was Senate Bill 277, signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on a wave of concern that “herd immunity” among California children was compromised by a growing
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Commission investigates Denti-Cal problems
Half of California’s children are reliant for their oral hygiene on Denti-Cal, a state-run dental care system that has failed miserably. A state audit report in December 2014 chronicled the California Department of Health Care Services’ years of dental neglect
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Poll: Voters hesitant on potential 2016 tax hike initiatives
A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll took the measure of many of the potential tax initiatives on the 2016 ballot. This snapshot in time indicates supporters of the tax increases have a lot of work to do to convince
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UCLA studies add up to grim picture of CA housing costs
California’s politicians have finally made dealing with the state’s worst-in-the-nation poverty rate a priority. Efforts to increase the minimum wage and to increase affordable housing are being championed in the Legislature and in most of the Golden State’s larger cities.
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Brown signs ironic “Made in America” bill
Known for his propensity to veto legislation that strikes him as ill-conceived, Gov. Jerry Brown surprised some observers by signing a bill critics describe as authorizing an outright lie. Supporters said the new law, passed as Senate Bill 633, merely
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