Dave Roberts, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts

State may face $29-43 billion budget deficit in 2020

In Gov. Jerry Brown’s State of the State Address last week, he noted that California’s budget has repeatedly failed to prepare for recession, resulting in “painful and unplanned-for cuts” to schools, child care, courts, social services and other programs. He

Glazer hopes to lead centrist movement

Dave Roberts December 8, 2015

Correction: Due to a reporter error, an earlier version of this article mistakenly reported that Assemblywoman Catharine Baker supports the extension of Prop. 30 taxes. Baker does not, in fact, support the proposed extensions. Steve Glazer – bald, bespectacled and

Officials: Get used to paying more for less water

Dave Roberts November 24, 2015

Californians may need to get used to paying more for water, despite and because of their successful efforts at conservation, according to state water officials at a recent Assembly committee hearing. Californians exceeded the state’s 25 percent water conservation mandate

Chuck Reed: Reform measure will bite pension liability ‘elephant’

Dave Roberts November 10, 2015

Former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed acknowledged at a recent taxpayer forum that his latest proposed pension reform initiatives won’t solve California’s $350 billion unfunded retirement benefit liability problem. But he thinks they’ll help. “Sometimes you have to eat the

Finance Department urges CalPERS to reduce risk

Dave Roberts October 30, 2015

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is considering reducing its investment risk with a plan that would be so ineffectual it could lead to a “rate shock” when the pension bills come due, according to the California Department of Finance.

Brown warns climate fight will cost trillions, disrupt lifestyle

Dave Roberts October 12, 2015

Gov. Jerry Brown warned at a recent climate change workshop that trillions of dollars, the transformation of our way of life and a worldwide mobilization on the scale of war will be required to stave off climate change’s “existential threat”

Commission investigates Denti-Cal problems

Dave Roberts October 4, 2015

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

Government transparency effort faces union backlash

Dave Roberts September 23, 2015

Senate Bill 331, a bill sponsored by government employee unions that is on Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk, is touted as increasing transparency in contracting by certain local governments. But critics say the bill’s provisions are actually intended to punish agencies

Contested family leave bill on governor’s desk

Dave Roberts September 18, 2015

Since 1997 the California Chamber of Commerce has prevented more than three-quarters of bills that it calls “job killers” from reaching the governor’s desk. This year only three of 19 targeted bills were passed by the Legislature. Gov. Jerry Brown

San Francisco voters to weigh temporary ban on new construction in Mission District

Dave Roberts September 8, 2015

A housing moratorium on San Francisco’s November ballot is aimed at keeping rents and housing prices affordable in the city’s Mission District, where prices have nearly doubled in five years. But opponents say it will have the opposite effect. Proposition