Posts From James Poulos
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Democrats again outspend GOP in California primary races
While maintaining a marked edge in legislative representation across the state, California Democrats notched a different but familiar distinction against Republicans in the 2016 election cycle, new data showed. Consistent with the results of previous races since the implementation
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Gas tax recall effort for Josh Newman grows
Perceived as the most vulnerable of the legislative Democrats who passed Gov. Jerry Brown’s gas and vehicle tax package by a razor-thin margin, freshman state Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, faced an intensifying campaign to turn him out of office, potentially
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Push begins to overturn new California gas tax
A fresh effort has been launched to reverse Gov. Jerry Brown’s fuel and vehicle tax deal, passed narrowly in Sacramento on the strength of a series of sharply criticized side deals. “Only one Republican – state Sen. Anthony Cannella – voted in favor
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Credit industry circles California pot banking
As Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration turns toward tidying up California’s complex and still-unsettled marijuana laws, the massive market for money made from the plant’s products has begun to attract attention from financial services companies that want to take advantage without
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California seeks solutions to higher energy costs
Amid a shifting landscape of growing consumer choices and increasingly exacting emissions regulations, state utilities and regulators have pressed ahead with a variety of initiatives designed to prevent energy shortages, consumer rebellions or a perfect storm of the two. Losing
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Confusion on CA housing market brings flurry of legislation
Debate over California’s housing situation ratcheted up amid conflicting data and a flurry of new legislation designed to mitigate high prices and low supply. Analysts have separated into two camps around Golden State real estate, one more bullish than the
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Silicon Valley faces slowdown
Market watchers have keyed in to a series of statistics suggesting breakneck growth in Silicon Valley has begun to slow down. “Tech companies in San Francisco and San Mateo counties lost 700 jobs from January to February and tech employment
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Board of Equalization faces heavy criticism for mismanaged funds
Created to make California’s tax system work better, the Board of Equalization has found itself under a cloud of radical criticism, plunging it into a moment of extraordinary crisis. “At a chaotic budget hearing for an agency that collects a
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Brown gets new gas tax through
At the end of a tumultuous road, a wheeling and dealing Gov. Jerry Brown secured passage of a high-stakes new gas tax raising over $50 billion in ten years. “The California Legislature passed Senate Bill 1 on Thursday night, raising
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Thousands of California inmates could go free
Nearly 10,000 inmates could leave California prisons within four years, another consequence of the state’s long struggle with the judicial system over the way it incarcerates convicts. “As the state prison population comes close to exceeding a court-mandated limit, the
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