Dave Roberts, Author at CalWatchdog.com

Posts From Dave Roberts

Dave Roberts

Indian lands bill considered Wednesday

Assembly Bill 52, which would increase the power of California’s Native American tribes to delay or halt development in areas sensitive to Indian heritage, is raising concerns about more lawsuits and slower growth in the state. The bill’s backers

Sick leave bill could kill jobs, cut hours

Dave Roberts June 17, 2014

An Assembly bill requiring employers to provide paid sick leave could result in nearly a million California workers either losing their jobs or having their hours cut. Assembly Bill 1522, which passed the Assembly and is making its way

$CA oil industry celebrates defeat of fracking moratorium$

CA oil industry celebrates defeat of fracking moratorium

Dave Roberts June 12, 2014

California’s oil industry is celebrating the defeat of a bill that would have placed a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing — but warned that the fracking war is far from over. Senate Bill 1132 by Sen. Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles,

SB1188 could expand product litigation

Dave Roberts May 20, 2014

“California has consistently had one of the worst lawsuit climates in the nation, currently ranked at 47th for lawsuit fairness,” concluded the Institute for Legal Reform’s 2012 Lawsuit Climate Report. “The courts in Los Angeles rank as the country’s second

AB2170 could boost local taxes

Dave Roberts May 9, 2014

A majority of Californians would rather have lower taxes and fewer government services than higher taxes and more government services, according to a recent Field poll. But the drive for higher taxes and more government services continues unabated in

Legislative committee OKs $2 billion oil tax

Dave Roberts May 1, 2014

The Senate Education Committee last week approved a $2 billion tax hike on California’s oil industry that critics say would drive up energy costs and push businesses out of state. Proponents of Senate Bill 1017 tout the additional revenue it

San Ramon sued over ‘pension’ tax

Dave Roberts April 24, 2014

Is it legal for a city to make new residents pay hundreds of dollars extra in property taxes for essentially the same city facilities and services that current residents receive? That question is at the heart of a lawsuit

Initiative would revive redevelopment agencies

Dave Roberts April 14, 2014

If it were a movie, it might be called “Revenge of the JEDI: the Redevelopment Empire Strikes Back.” It’s the California Jobs and Education Development Initiative (JEDI), which would enable the revival of the 425 redevelopment agencies eliminated in

CA GOP stays neutral on new electoral-college initiative

Dave Roberts April 3, 2014

An initiative seeking to get on California’s November ballot likely would add 20 or more Electoral College votes to the Republican candidate’s tally in the 2016 presidential election. That’s more Electoral College votes than the battleground state of Ohio

California experiments with open-source voting

Dave Roberts March 28, 2014

After spending tens of millions of dollars in recent years on ineffective voting systems, California election officials are planning to experiment with an “open source” system that may prove to be the cure-all for secure, accessible balloting – or