Cal Facts Quiz
The Legislative Analyst’s Office has opened up its vault of data and information with its Cal Facts report accompanying it this year with the introduction of an on-going blog to add to and enhance the information. To kick off awareness of this great resource Fox and Hounds decided to put together a short quiz to […]
Looking for Solutions – “A Revolution in American Policing”
With continued protests in California cities sparked by the high profile deaths of black people at the hands of white police officers and a search for solutions to the raw situation, I want to transcribe comments from Connie Rice, well-known Los Angeles civil rights attorney who went from suing the Los Angeles Police Department to […]
Setting up for the Coming Debates over Minimum Wage – Some History and Examples
With rallies in Los Angeles and Bay Area cities seeking a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers and Senator Mark Leno introducing a bill to increase the state minimum wage over the recent boost the legislature approved, the debate on the minimum wage is sure to heat up across the state. Arguments over increasing […]
High Speed Rail Strategy – START to Build it and They Will Come!
The High Speed Rail project found its way into three of the five panels in the Public Policy Institute’s all-day State of Change conference Wednesday. At the end of the day, you understood the High Speed Rail authority’s strategy to gain support for the project – START to build it and they will come! In […]
Voters Skeptical of Major Tax System Overhaul
While much attention has been paid to potential tax measures on the 2016 ballot, working in the background is an effort to overhaul the state’s tax system. The recently released Public Policy Institute of California poll shows how difficult a task that could be. Presenting a proposal for overall tax reform is the Think Long […]
Brown Key to 2016 Tax Measures
With the 2014 election finally over, attention is turned to possible tax measures on the 2016 ballot. I previously wrote about groups looking to raise taxes on commercial property, oil extraction, cigarettes, and extending or making permanent the income tax piece of Proposition 30. Marc Lifsher covered similar ground in the Los Angeles Times over […]
The Bocanegra Conundrum
The Bocanegra Conundrum is not a book title from the late thriller novelist Robert Ludlum — but there is mystery involved. Patty Lopez, a neophyte community activist concerned with education, knocked Raul Bocanegra, a respected up and coming one-term assembly member, from his post in the November election. The political upset was so stunning that […]
Survey: A Divide Over Immigration Plan
If Fresno is an appropriate test market for political issues then the country is as a whole is evenly divided on President Barack Obama’s immigration proposals. A Survey USA poll taken on Friday after the president’s announcement tallied a dead even split in Fresno. One-third of Fresno residents who were aware of the president’s proposal […]
Tuition Hike Proposal Like Dialogue from an Old Movie
University of California officials could borrow dialogue heard in dozens of old movies when they essentially tell state officials: “Give us the money or the kids get it!” Of course, the UC administration and the Regents panel that endorsed their plan yesterday were not holding a gun to the students but made the threat in […]
Workers’ Comp – Again
Sad to read Dan Walter’s item that California once again leads the nation in workers’ compensation costs. It was just a decade ago that the Small Business Action Committee carried the initiative supported by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that ultimately brought the warring sides of business and labor to agree to a legislative compromise that brought […]