The vote was 7-2, with Brown, who serves as a member of the board by virtue of his governorship, and Student Regent Sadia Saifuddin voting against the proposal. As  more of a formality Thursday the entire Board of Regents will officially approve the proposal.

UC President and Obama Administration alumni Janet Napolitano championed the tuition hikes arguing that doing so was “integral not only to the stability, but also to the vitality, of the University of California.”

At the meeting, Brown made his case against the proposed hikes and called for a rethinking and reorganization of the UC system. He offered an alternative plan to convene a group of experts to transform the UC system to better educate students and serve the needs of California.

Students in attendance protested the vote because they felt they were left out of the discussion by the Regents and became vocal at various points of the meeting. Some students at the meeting called for the resignation of Napolitano and others chanted “Hey hey, ho ho, Napolitano’s got to go.”

Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom defended the students telling reporters students “weren’t part of this process, and they felt dismissed. And they were.” Newsom, like Brown, has opposed the tuition increase.
Governor Brown has said that the UC system would not get additional funds from the state if tuition was increased. He statements will now be put to the test.

What complicates matters further is that many students were under the impression that if the 2012 Prop 30 tax increases were passed, tuition would not be increased. In fact, I experienced this first hand on campus in 2012 when I taught classes at California State University, Fullerton. The vast majority of my students were under the impression that if they did not vote for Prop 30 they would have to pay higher tuition and not be able to afford college—thus they overwhelmingly supported the tax increases.

Prop 30 was passed and now students, at least at the UC, are seeing tuition rise as well. And many feel betrayed.

This story is just beginning to unfold. Brown has made the UC system a priority since taking office, attending Regent meetings unlike his predecessor. Napolitano did not back down to Brown pushing for tuition hikes in, what many believe, was a political move to force Brown to give more state money to the UC system. But what will Brown do next? Stay tuned.

STATE SENATE:

There are two majorly competitive state Senate races of note: one in Orange County that Republicans hope to pick up and one in King County Republicans must hold.

In Orange County District 34 puts Republican Janet Nguyen against former Democrat Assemblyman Jose Solorio.

So far, only absentee ballot results are in but based on expected turnout Nguyen has a commanding lead that may prove insurmountable:

According to the Orange County Registrar of Voters Nguyen has 62.8% of the absentee vote to 37.2% of the vote held by Solorio.

In King County, District 14, between Republican Andy Vidak and Democrat Luis Chavez, is turning out to be extremely competitive. Though Vidak won his primary race against Chavez by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent, money has been flowing in from outside groups in an attempt to turn the race.

As of now, only absentee ballots are in and the race is incredibly tight. Vidak has 52% of the votes in and Chavez has 47.8 percent of the vote.

One surprise tonight is possibly Senate District 32. It was thought to be a safe Democrat seat but in recent days polls have shown it tight. As of now Republican Mario Guerra has 55.3% of the vote to Democrat Tony Mendoza’s 44.7% of the votes so far counted.

STATE ASSEMBLY:

In the Assembly, Republicans best chances to stave off a super majority are Assembly Districts 36 and 65. Democrat Assemblyman Steve Fox is opposed by Republican Tom Lackey in AD-36 and Democrat Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva is opposed by Republican Young Kim in AD-65.

As of now both Republicans are leading in the polls. Check our blog for up-to-date numbers.

Other competitive Assembly races include:

• District 16, the race between Republican Catharine Baker and Democrat Tim Sbranti for the seat vacated by termed-out Democrat Joan Buchanan will go down to the wire. The Sbranti campaign has significantly outspent Baker and the district has a seven point registration advantage for democrats. Still, Baker has kept it competitive.
• District 66, incumbent Democrat Al Muratsuchi should be able to hold against Republican challenger David Hadley.
• District 40, Democrat Kathleen Henry is facing Republican Marc Steinorth for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Mike Morrell. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.
• District 65, incumbent Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva is facing Republican Young Kim. Assemblywoman Quirk-Silva won by 4 points in 2012. The race will be really close, and they probably won’t be able to call a winner for a few days.

More semi-competitive races, but still worthy of mention:

• District 8, incumbent Democrat Ken Cooley will need to fend off Republican challenger Douglas Haaland in the general election. Cooley won by 9 points in 2012 and finished over 10 points ahead of Haaland in the June primary.
• District 32, incumbent Democrat Rudy Salas is facing Republican Pedro Rios. These two faced one another in the 2012 election, and Salas won by almost 6 points.
• District 42, Democrat Karalee Hargrove will face Republican Chad Mayes in the general election for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Brian Nestande. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.
• In District 44, Democrat Jacqui Irwin is facing Republican Rob McCoy in the general election for the seat being vacated by Republican incumbent Jeff Gorell. Republicans need to hold this seat to stave off a supermajority.

Stay tuned…

One would think with such importance that reporters and news organizations would have in place an incredibly large presence to cover the comings and goings of lawmakers and agencies in Sacramento. Yet, disconcertingly, the opposite is true.

In fact, the number of reporters covering state government is at a startling low. And a recent Pew study shows that number will likely continue to decline.

According to the study, national numbers of reporters covering state legislatures has dropped more than 35 percent since 2003, outpacing the overall drop in journalists from all fields. The Sacramento Bee, the newspaper of the capitol, has cut its state government reporting staff by almost half.  The same thing happened at the L.A. Times. Last December, Southern California Public Radio announced it would close its Sacramento news bureau and similarly, last August, ABC News announced the closing of its broadcast presence in the capitol.

The Pew study also exposed huge gaps in newspapers covering state capitols — only 30 percent of newspapers polled cover their state government at all.  Which means entire cities or regions read the news every day and see no significant legislative coverage. News stations are reducing the time the assigned reporters even spend on covering government. Only half of reporters assigned to cover state government do so full-time, and 15 percent of those assigned are student interns. If news organizations are not adequately reporting on how our state leaders are spending tax dollars and making decisions on our behalf, who will? 

What makes our situation in California worse is how we compare based on the length of our legislative sessions.  California is one of just five states with a 12-month legislative session.  Texas, the state with the most reporters, and full-time reporters, assigned to the state government, has an average legislative session length of under 5 months.  Among states with a year-long legislative calendar, California has a significantly higher percentage of part-time reporters.

It’s not as if the Legislature isn’t giving reporters plenty to keep an eye on.  In 2013, the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to opening government, gave our state Legislature a “D” grade.  Important details about legislation, committee assignments and votes weren’t available anywhere on the state’s website.  The report showed it was nearly impossible to tell what was going on in our own government based on what they report themselves.

Despite ongoing scandals and ethics violations, a significant number of legislators in Sacramento have backed away from passing comprehensive ethics reform.  And the Legislature adjourned for recess earlier this year without touching the most pressing issue on its agenda: A reformed water bond agreement that has been awaiting approval since former Governor Schwarzenegger helped draft the legislation five years ago.  If there were more coverage of Sacramento, would legislators move faster on legislation like this? I’d like to think so.

Heading into the November election, we’re about to send a lot of new leaders to make decisions for us. And there are decisions of great consequence, from education funding, to insurance premiums, to drought preparedness, to business and regulatory policies, at stake. Citizens need to know what politicians and influencers are doing and saying in Sacramento to make informed decisions.  And a vibrant press corps is essential to providing such information.