Investigation
Back to homepageFPPC shuns investigation of CA legislators’ Cuba trip
April 9, 2013 By John Hrabe and Katy Grimes After Friday’s report on CalWatchdog.com that at least two state legislators traveled to Cuba with a powerful Sacramento lobbyist, you’d think the state’s political watchdog might be launching a formal investigation. After all,
Read MoreSalmon eating farmers along San Joaquin River
April 1, 2103 By Wayne Lusvardi As with the fish eating Jonah in the Bible story, salmon now are eating California farmers. The San Joaquin River is California’s longest river, running 366 miles from the Sierra Nevadas through the Central
Read MoreLawsuit, bills seek to dowse fire tax
March 25, 2013 By Dave Roberts It hasn’t been a great year for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In January, the Los Angeles Times revealed that for seven years Cal Fire has been hoarding a slush fund
Read MoreRadicalness of CARB’s long-term plans comes into focus
March 20, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — While the California Air Resources Board continues to forge ahead like a blind bull in a china shop with its far-reaching climate change plan, the extent of the destruction that could result
Read MoreLawmakers text while discussing lack of broadband for poor
March 12, 2013 By Katy Grimes Click-click-click went lawmakers’ smart phones as they texted Monday while seeming to listen to four hours of hearings on expanding broadband Internet services to poor people. At the same hearing, representatives from AT&T, Verizon, and
Read MoreRedevelopment fallout: Lawmakers impose big new taxes
March 5, 2013 By Katy Grimes SACRAMENTO — SB 391 is the California Stamp Act. The original Stamp Act was imposed in 1765 and helped spark the American Revolution against British tyranny. According to History.org, “The new tax was imposed
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Voters can dry up ‘inevitable’ tax on rain
Feb. 25, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi The lyrics to Celine Dion song, “Rain Tax (It’s Inevitable),” suggested that some day government was bound to levy a tax on natural rainfall. By 2009, the California legislature voted to impose just such a
Read MoreWill Blue-State California become Detroit on the Pacific?
Environmentalists have used the allusion of the canary in the mineshaft when describing the importance of protecting the endangered Desert Sand Fly, Stephens Kangaroo Rat or the infamous Delta Smelt. By placing these insignificant creatures on the Endangered Species List,
Read MoreBrown proposal would force local school tax increases
Feb. 12, 2013 By Wayne Lusvardi Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed re-engineering of the California public school finance system takes a chapter out of President Obama’s urban policy playbook to covertly fund big city school districts with suburban money. We could
Read MoreObamacare grants exemptions for everyone but taxpayers
Feb. 5, 2013 By Katy Grimes Obamacare is beginning to directly affect Californians’ wallets — and health. New regulations released last week from the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services made it clear that spouses and children
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