Inside Government
Back to homepageThe Pandernator
Sometimes, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ability to pander amazes and awes even me. One week it’s the environmentalists, the next it’s the firefighters. Everybody needs help, everybody needs some special exemption or set-aside. This week, it’s Vietnam Vets. Specifically, it’s our
Read MoreHearing details massive state waste
March 25, 2010 By KATY GRIMES Sometimes the most informative legislative hearings are the informational hearings. No vote is taken, there is an abundance of tough talk by legislators, mea maxima culps uttered by egregious state agency heads, and everyone
Read MoreImportant government hearings
In case you were assuming that our legislators are working on the state’s broken budget, the following is from today’s Senate Daily File and is a Governmental Organization committee hearing: GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION WRIGHT, Chair 9:30 a.m. – John L. Burton Hearing
Read MoreAB 32 Cap-And-Trade Auction Tax
An auction tax is one of the proposed methods for allocating permits to California companies and public agencies subject to the AB 32 cap-and-trade program under preparation by the California Air Resources Board. Thomas Tanton, Principal of T2 & Associates and Senior Fellow with
Read MoreState Employees: Calling Out The Cheaters
As a reporter for Cal Watchdog rooting out waste, abuse and fraud, I receive calls frequently from government employees wanting to tell me about the employee cheating they witness first hand in their particular government agencies by city, county, state
Read MoreWhat Budget Crisis?
Mar. 19, 2010 I spend my days attending state Assembly and Senate committee hearings, trying to follow proposed legislation. Most days I end up sitting in a red velvet chair in a committee hearing room, listening to the ridiculous banter
Read MoreCSUS AB 32 Study Attacked
The CSUS study authored by Sanjay Varshney (Dean of the College of Business Administration) and business professor Dennis Tootelian is now under attack. Why? Because in the study the refutes AB 32, global warming and green job creation as good
Read MoreFailed convention post-mortem
March 18, 2010 By ELISE VIEBECK Repair California, the campaign to overhaul the state’s constitution through a constitutional convention, reports that interest remains high in its governmental reform ideas since it suspended its efforts a month ago. Critics maintain that
Read MoreThe Happiness Factor
With a headline like that, I bet you people can’t wait to read this one. But after reading this New Yorker piece by writer Elizabeth Kolbert on how psychological research into happiness translates into public policy, I couldn’t resist writing
Read MoreDOJ to state agencies: pay up
March 17, 2010 By KATY GRIMES The California Department of Justice wants to be compensated by California’s state agencies for legal services. Last year, the DOJ lost $30 million of its budget and had to cut 130 attorneys from its staff. As a way
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