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Farmworker overtime bill to get second chance soon

After a staged, 24-hour hunger strike, proponents of a bill to increase overtime pay for farmworkers announced on Wednesday the once-dead measure will be on the Senate floor next week. The hunger strike was designed link the legislators’ sacrifice of

Vacancies, dysfunction cause legislator-pay commission to cancel meeting

Matt Fleming April 27, 2016

Last month, CalWatchdog reported that the commission on state lawmaker pay was plagued by vacancies. This month, the California Citizens Compensation Commission had to cancel its annual meeting scheduled for Wednesday due to lack of quorum. The seven members of the

Legislature mostly mum on lawmaker accused of domestic violence

Matt Fleming April 15, 2016

Following the news that the wife of Asm. Roger Hernández had filed a temporary restraining order against the West Covina Democrat, a lone colleague was questioning whether he should remain in a leadership position in the Assembly. It wasn’t the newly chosen Speaker

How much taxpayers lose in special elections

Matt Fleming April 13, 2016

Henry T. Perea’s decision to vacate his Assembly seat early cost Fresno County a half-million dollars — enough to pay for four sheriff deputies — and has reignited a discussion on the cost of special elections. The Fresno Democrat announced

State officials report expensive gifts and luxury trips

John March 4, 2015

State lawmakers and constitutional officers accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in international travel, fine wines, rounds of golf and expensive meals in 2014, according to annual financial disclosure reports filed this week with state ethics officials. Among the top

Leg Analyst: Fix CA lost-and-found program

John February 24, 2015

California needs to find ways to improve its lost-and-found program. That’s the conclusion of a new report by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. He reviewed the state program for returning unclaimed property to its rightful owners. At the end of 2014, the state

CalSTRS to sock local school budgets

John Seiler December 30, 2014

California’s pension crisis just keeps getting worse. The major crisis now is the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. Gov. Jerry Brown warned about the crisis in his Jan. 2014 budget proposal, but didn’t do anything about it. Election year. We’ll