Regulations

CTA wins: Brown lobbies to weaken own school-funding reform

Gov. Jerry Brown made a surprise appearance Thursday at a State Board of Education meeting to call for board members — most of whom he appointed — to approve loophole-ridden regulations for the implementation of the sweeping education funding changes

Bill would strengthen public's right to comment before votes

Katy Grimes January 16, 2014

“The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them,” says California Code Section 54950 of The Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's bedrock open-government law. cure for diabetes But that’s not always the

PRI report examines bankruptcy as tool for struggling cities

Chris Reed January 16, 2014

The Pacific Research Institute has released a report that couldn't be more timely. “Going Broke One City at a Time: Municipal Bankruptcies in America” by economist Wayne H. Winegarden. buy a paper One of Winegarden's key conclusions: “If used appropriately, bankruptcy

Push to increase CA green power mandate flops

Wayne Lusvardi January 16, 2014

On Jan. 6, a key provision was quietly struck from Assembly Bill 177, a measure introduced by Assemblyman V. Manuel Perez, D-Coachella, that would have expanded the green-power mandate for California utilites from 33 percent to 51 percent by the

Fresno mayor obstructs initiative process to save water rate hike

John January 15, 2014

Fresno residents could see their water rates double, and in the process, all Californians could see their petition powers diminished, if a state appellate court doesn't act quickly on a lawsuit to stop strong-arm tactics by the city of Fresno. The battle

LAO questions legality of plan to use cap-and-trade $ on bullet train

Katy Grimes January 14, 2014

The governor’s just-released 2014-15 budget proposes to spend $850 million from cap-and-trade auction revenue on various projects — including the state’s high-speed rail project. That would defy the very purpose of cap-and-trade. In a new report on the spending plan,

Will CA green-energy policies backfire like Germany’s did?

Wayne Lusvardi January 13, 2014

Will California’s new green energy regime suffer the same fate as Germany’s Energiewende? In Europe, wholesale prices for solar and wind power have dropped below the cost to produce it. This has resulted in Germany having to rapidly build new polluting

$U.S. fracking changes global balance of power; can’t CA join fun?$

U.S. fracking changes global balance of power; can’t CA join fun?

Chris Reed January 12, 2014

Anti-fracking forces are gearing up in California, aided by our pathetic state media, which never mention that the Obama administration considers hydraulic fracturing to access natural gas and oil reserves to be just another heavy industry that can be made

Market closing Prop. 13 commercial property tax gap

Wayne Lusvardi January 6, 2014

Almost 36 years after it was passed by voters, controversy continues to swirl around Proposition 13, the 1978 tax limitation measure. Periodic calls to repeal or modify it, supposedly to gain more tax revenue, so far have gone nowhere. The

Brown seeks to prop up doomed bullet train with AB 32 $

Chris Reed January 6, 2014

As warned in this spot, Gov. Jerry Brown is conflating two of the state’s worst programs: “Brown plans to propose spending millions of dollars in fees paid by carbon producers to aid the state’s controversial high-speed rail project. “The proposal