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CA lawmakers plot CPUC’s demise

The California Public Utilities Commission may not live to see the next presidential election. Under a new proposal put forth by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Glendale, the new chairman of the Committee on Utilities and Commerce, the CPUC — long under

Democratic Party faces restive CA activists

James Poulos February 8, 2016

Disgruntled Democratic activists in California have begun to buck the national party in key races this election year. After a string of failures in several central valley campaigns, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has come in for scorn by increasingly independent party members

CA poised for higher primary profile

James Poulos February 6, 2016

Accustomed to languishing at the tail end of the party primary calendar — a dispiriting position for a state that has long been treated as an ATM for East Coast candidates seeking national office — Californians have awoken this year to the

Kochs’ CA donor conclave reflects uneasy race

James Poulos February 6, 2016

With the Republican primary race for the presidential nomination still remarkably fluid, donors and campaign heavyweights gathered under the Koch brothers’ aegis in the California desert to discuss — and possibly shape — the party’s political future. The event, located

LAO: Teacher pension fund too risky and complex

Matt Fleming February 5, 2016

Policy analysts are calling on state lawmakers to simplify the way the teachers’ pension fund gets funded — to improve oversight and to avoid the state being left in a lurch. According to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, the “subjective” funding

New capital punishment plan sharpens CA execution fight

James Poulos February 4, 2016

Obliged by a court settlement to figure out a new method of capital punishment, California officials have exacerbated the state’s protracted debate over executions by settling on a different kind of lethal injection. With a widespread shortage of execution drugs

$Feds freeze offshore CA fracking$

Feds freeze offshore CA fracking

James Poulos February 4, 2016

Twin legal settlements with environmentalist plaintiffs put a freeze on fracking in California waters. “The agreements in Los Angeles federal court apply to operations off Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, where companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. operate platforms,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Federal

Minimum wage divides experts

Matt Fleming February 3, 2016

Voters will likely decide on the November ballot whether or not to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, even though experts are still divided on the issue. There will be plenty of anecdotes in between now and November

Another deadline delay for Covered CA

James Poulos February 3, 2016

Whether confused, unsure, busy or just procrastinating, Californians won yet another deadline extension for signing up with the state’s Obamacare exchange for health insurance coverage. Anyone who initiated enrollment prior to last Sunday’s deadline “will earn another week to finish up,”

CA could ban encrypted smartphones

James Poulos February 2, 2016

A worldwide controversy over whether to ban encrypted smartphones has opened a new front in California, where lawmakers introduced legislation that would crack down on the devices. Assembly Bill 1681, introduced by Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove, would mandate that phones