March 2016 | CalWatchdog.com

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Lawmakers OK state-wide $15 minimum wage

The Legislature passed it, the governor said he’ll sign it, and so a $15-per-hour minimum wage is all but a done deal. The measure, which raises the wage from $10 per hour incrementally until 2022 and 2023 (depending on the

Transparency activists seek CA sunshine

James Poulos March 31, 2016

National Sunshine Week — an effort to increase and encourage government transparency — has come and gone in California while multiple types of state secrecy continue to draw fire from lawmakers and citizens. Budgeting has topped the list of recent complaints. “The

S.F. suburb’s unique anti-crime strategy has outside skeptics

Chris Reed March 31, 2016

A gritty Bay Area coastal suburb’s unique program to deter violent crime — including paying people with criminal backgrounds, using donated funds, to stay on the straight and narrow — is winning national attention. The program has its roots in

Proposed pilot program could replace Caltrans with counties

Matt Fleming March 30, 2016

Caltrans is on notice: A new bill looks at a life where counties would fix roads themselves. Responding to years of mismanagement and voter frustration with state roads, coupled with successful transportation programs administered in his home county, Sen. John Moorlach

SoCal support for bullet train wavers

James Poulos March 30, 2016

California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project has hit yet another speed bump: a loss of confidence among Southern California officials already left hanging by plans that shifted first-stage construction northward. “The California rail authority’s failure to identify a source of funding

Lawmakers take step toward retirement fund for all Californians

Matt Fleming March 29, 2016

State policy makers on Monday inched closer to a state-run retirement system for workers who don’t have access to employer-run accounts. Secure Choice, if implemented, would require employers of five or more people to automatically enroll employees into portable retirement

Public unions prevail as split Supreme Court sinks Friedrichs suit

James Poulos March 29, 2016

A landmark California case against state teachers unions’ mandatory dues collection fell victim to the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s absence from the Supreme Court — salvaging “a long-standing rule that requires about half of the nation’s teachers, transit workers and

State leaders, labor groups announce deal on $15 minimum wage

Matt Fleming March 29, 2016

Democratic lawmakers and labor groups announced on Monday a deal to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Gov. Jerry Brown and Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de León of Los Angeles, joined by representatives of the Service Employees

What effect with Trump have on CA GOP?

James Poulos March 29, 2016

With Republican party leaders casting about for a way to stop Donald Trump, California has emerged as a possible firewall. Although a new poll of likely Republican primary voters, issued by the Public Policy Institute of California, showed Trump besting

CalPERS has faith in imperiled energy status quo

Chris Reed March 28, 2016

Is the California Public Employees’ Retirement System about to make another big mistake with a mistimed investment strategy, this time in the industrial solar sector? Beginning 13 years ago, CalPERS invested heavily in real estate at the height of the