Legislative Analyst's Office

Tag "Legislative Analyst’s Office"

LAO report: $1.3 billion state building plan lacks oversight

The $1.3 billion first phase of a project to build and modernize 11 state office buildings lacks adequate accountability and oversight and is behind schedule, according to a report. The report, released by the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office on Wednesday, identified three

Bail reform tops criminal-justice efforts in next legislative session

Steven Greenhut November 15, 2016

California has long been known as a law-and-order state, particularly following the crime spikes of the 1980s. The state passed the toughest “three strikes” law in the nation and state officials from both parties often have argued over who would

Competing death-penalty measures revive old feud

Steven Greenhut October 25, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Thirty years ago, California voters did something unprecedented (and not seen since): They bounced Chief Justice Rose Bird from the supreme court. Two other state high-court justices also failed to win reconfirmation to the court, following an intense

Tobacco-tax fact checks miss the mark

Matt Fleming September 26, 2016

Twice now we’ve seen fact-checkers panning the anti-tobacco tax campaign’s claim in a radio ad that Prop. 56, an increase of $2 per pack on cigarettes and other tobacco and nicotine products, “cheats schools out of at least $600 million

Prop. 53 could have far-reaching consequences for state project financing – or not

Steven Greenhut September 13, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Most California voters are unfamiliar with the inner workings of the municipal-bond process. Many are likewise unfamiliar with the differences between, say, “general obligation” bonds and “revenue” bonds. Nevertheless, they will be asked Nov. 8 whether to require

LAO: Teacher pension fund too risky and complex

Matt Fleming February 5, 2016

Policy analysts are calling on state lawmakers to simplify the way the teachers’ pension fund gets funded — to improve oversight and to avoid the state being left in a lurch. According to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, the “subjective” funding

Housing report by Legislative Analyst raises affordability questions

Wayne Lusvardi March 24, 2015

The California Legislative Analyst’s new report on housing costs puts numbers to what housing-hunters know on the ground: affordable housing in the state’s coastal areas is scarce and getting scarcer. But the report itself raises new questions. According to the

Another reminder of Jerry Brown’s, Mac Taylor’s irresponsibility

Chris Reed March 7, 2014

This Los Angeles Times story should infuriate anyone familiar with Gov. Jerry Brown’s claims that the state is on firm ground financially — and absolutely appall anyone who knows that alleged watchdog Mac Taylor of the Legislative Anayst’s Office gave

CalSTRS hearing underscores Mac Taylor’s destructive happy talk

Chris Reed February 20, 2014

An Assembly committee hearing Wednesday on the immense underfunding problems facing the California State Teachers’ Retirement System also illuminated another strange problem in Sacramento: the emergence of Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor as a civic arsonist. As John Myers reported, one

LAO confirms insanity of Mac Taylor’s November happy talk

CalWatchdog Staff March 21, 2013

March 21, 2013 By Chris Reed In November, to the amazement of many journalists who have admired the independence and thoughtfulness of the Legislative Analyst’s Office over the years, LAO boss Mac Taylor gave an amazingly sunny take on the