Inside Government

Moody’s raises questions about teacher pension funding fix

Soon after the CalSTRS funding fix crafted by the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown took effect on July 1, Moody’s Investors Service raised CalSTRS’ bond issuer rating. But six weeks later, Moody’s has put out another release that examines how much

Feds abdicate on own rules for CA bullet train $

Chris Reed August 14, 2014

The Obama administration has given the state $3.5 billion in funds for its bullet train project. But the 2009 stimulus funds that were the source of most of the federal bequest came with lots of strings attached, as is common

Petty corruption all too common at CA special districts

Chris Reed August 12, 2014

The California government agencies that provide water, sewage, trash and other special services are often oblivious to ethical norms and tone-deaf to how their actions look to the outside world. Part of it may be these agencies don’t get the

Unlike Brown, Hawaii gov took on teachers — and paid

Chris Reed August 11, 2014

As someone who went to college in Hawaii and spent eight years there as a journalist, I know the state’s politics pretty well. It is so solidly Democrat that it only has one Republican in its state senate. This monolithic

Legislature returns for last month

John Seiler August 7, 2014

“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session,” Mark Twain supposedly said. That certainly is true in California, where the last month of the legislative session, which we’re now in, always sees a frenzy

Prop. 26 shows teeth, kills San Diego hotel tax hike

Chris Reed August 7, 2014

One of the few recent big triumphs of the small-government, low-tax movement in California came in 2010, when state voters approved Proposition 26. The constitutional amendment cleared up loopholes that allowed governing bodies to pass tax hikes on simple majority

CA on sidelines as brown energy revolution unfolds

Chris Reed August 6, 2014

In the 41 years since the OPEC cartel begin throwing its weight around, U.S. consumers have gotten used to fluctuations in the price of gasoline. The dynamics have gotten pretty stable in recent decades as OPEC has deradicalized. In the

Behind push against truancy/absenteeism: unions’ money hunt

Chris Reed August 4, 2014

What is by far the single most important factor in how California government functions? I stand by my theory that I wrote up last year for Cal Watchdog: Like Neo figuring out how life was coded to work in “The

Associated Press blows coverage of bullet-train ruling

Chris Reed August 3, 2014

Led by the Associated Press, the mainstream media coverage of the state appellate court ruling overturning two anti-bullet train trial court rulings is somewhat peculiar in that it depicts the ruling as monumental. Read the 49-page decision, and it seems

Does anyone cover the news in Sacramento?

Brian Calle July 31, 2014

California is perhaps the most significant state in the union both culturally and economically. One in every eight Americans lives here. In 2012, California’s GDP was $1.9 trillion — roughly the same size as that of Italy and Russia. If we