CalWatchdog Morning Read – November 22

• Democratic supermajority in Legislature
• Pension costs going up?
• Calexit initiative filed
• But do they know how hard secession would be?
• Silicon Valley picked the wrong candidate. Now what?

Good morning. Happy Tuesday, also known informally around the CalWatchdog newsroom as “Almost Thanksgiving.” We have a bit of breaking news this morning: Democrats appear to have achieved a supermajority in the state Legislature.

The linchpin is one Southern California Senate district, where Republican Assemblywoman Ling Ling Chang had held a narrow lead over Democrat Josh Newman in the race to replace the former Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff, who is termed out. 

But Chang’s lead dwindled daily. On Monday it was less than 200 votes. This morning she trails Newman by more than 800 votes.

We wrote about the importance of this race yesterday. 

In other news:

• Pension costs: “There’s bad news coming down the pike for California municipalities following several days of board meetings for the nation’s largest state-based pension fund. Although no action has been taken, it’s clear the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, or CalPERS, might again lower its expected rate of returns on investments. That means cities and other member agencies would have to pay more to make up the shortfall.” CalWatchdog has more. 

• Calexit: “Supporters of a plan for California to secede from the union took their first formal step Monday morning, submitting a proposed ballot measure to the state attorney general’s office in the hopes of a statewide vote as soon as 2018.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• More Calexit: Most “Calexit” advocates do not note how legally difficult the process of secession is. In 2006, the late Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: “I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court. To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede.” CalWatchdog has more. 

• Trouble in Silicon Valley: “When it comes to working with the Trump administration, Silicon Valley finds itself in a bit of a bind: It needs to mend fences with an incoming president it derided, without stirring up liberal employees and netizens,” writes The San Jose Mercury News. 

Legislature:

• Gone till December.

Gov. Brown:

• In Modesto for the memorial service of Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Dennis Wallace. 11 a.m., CrossPoint Community Church, 1301 12th st.

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