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New report: CA high-speed rail faces 50 percent cost overruns

SACRAMENTO – California’s ongoing “high-speed rail” project connecting Los Angeles with San Francisco continues to run up against the same, recurring problem since voters gave the plan initial bond funding in a 2008 statewide initiative. There’s a growing chasm between

California bill would ban driving while high

James Poulos January 16, 2017

Amid a patchwork landscape of laws and enforcement, California legislators eyed a new bill that would ban getting high behind the wheel. Joined by Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, introduced Senate Bill 65 to address an

Rep. Darrell Issa leads bipartisan push for visa reform

James Poulos January 16, 2017

With contending pieces of legislation now up for consideration in Congress, California has returned to the national spotlight on one of the most contentious immigration issues — special visas granted by the federal government to attract foreign talent. Long critiqued

Assemblyman wants to crack down on unpermitted, self-driving vehicles

Matt Fleming January 12, 2017

It’s not enough that Uber killed its unpermitted, self-driving-vehicle pilot program in San Francisco just a week after it started; an assemblyman wants to squash any further attempts to test vehicles without a permit as well. Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San

State finds savings in minimum wage increase, but counties get the bill

Matt Fleming January 12, 2017

The good news: Last year’s deal to increase the minimum wage won’t cost the state nearly as much as was projected. The bad news: Providing certain health care services just became way more expensive for the counties. The Brown administration is ending

Brown budget projects $2 billion deficit, calls for more savings

Matt Fleming January 10, 2017

Gov. Jerry Brown preached prudence on Tuesday as he unveiled his 2017-18 state budget, proposing no new major spending programs while taking a wait-and-see approach to the incoming Trump administration, even as other prominent California Democrats brace for the unknown.

CA Democrats spend $90M in same-party races

James Poulos January 10, 2017

A new report tallying the costs of running against members of your own party revealed that Golden State Democrats spent big in 2016 on races without a Republican. This year, “Democrats raised or spent a total of $90.8 million on same-party

Scientists rebuke Coastal Commission over desalination

Steven Greenhut January 10, 2017

SACRAMENTO – The Coastal Commission’s stated concern that a proposed Huntington Beach desalination plant’s intake pipes pose a threat to small and microscopic plankton has been rebutted in a letter from three prominent California marine biologists. Anthony Koslow, Eric Miller

Assemblyman: Is Legislature’s contract with former U.S. Attorney General legal?

Matt Fleming January 6, 2017

While the Legislature’s hiring of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder made headlines on Thursday, the move may violate the state Constitution, according to an California assemblyman. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, a Rocklin Republican, asked the California attorney general’s office on Friday

Demographers eye no-growth future for California

James Poulos January 6, 2017

Driven by rising out-migration and falling birth rates, California’s population growth has stalled, leading analysts to consider a possible forecast of a so-called “no-growth” period in the future. Although Americans nationwide have been flooding south and west for years,