Growing support for the idea of Universal Basic Income is challenged in a new report from the California Business Roundtable (CBRT) which argues that it is better to recognize workers value in society through programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) rather than promote Universal Basic Income “which essentially discards lower-income residents as obsolete […]

The school establishment is clearly nervous about the viability of the split roll tax increase plan. The California School Board Association is testing the chances of another tax measure for the 2020 ballot that could provide school funding. This measure would take the tried-and-true method of seeking voter approval by taxing “someone else” and avoiding […]

The Trump Administration is pulling financing from California’s high speed rail and those who can hardly wait for Trump to exit the White House see this as another policy a new president would reverse. I wouldn’t count on it. The Trump Administration is cancelling an additional $929 million promised for the bullet train and the […]

An interesting political circumstance to consider in the battle to pass Measure EE, the Los Angeles school parcel tax on the June 4 ballot, is that completely inside LAUSD boundaries is a special election to fill the Los Angeles City Council District 12 seat. Could the hotly contested city council race in the more conservative […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to create health care subsidies by pushing a mandate requiring those who don’t carry health care insurance to pay a fee. Or is it a tax? The distinction matters because Newsom is trying to accomplish his goal of expanding health care with majority vote bills. A tax requires a two-thirds vote […]

The courts got new money in the May budget revision and it was long overdue. Circumstances leading to the lack of funding over the years may have been due, in part, to a ballot measure I supported 21-years ago when you hitch that measure to the legislature’s desire to expand health and welfare programs while […]

Government response to a rush to digitalization varies when it comes to paper receipts and paper money. While some in the legislature think it’s a good idea to discard paper receipts, others in local governments are putting a halt to the idea of retail stores eliminating cash sales. AB 161 by San Francisco Assemblyman Phil […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a record breaking $213.5 billion budget, $4.5 billion larger than he proposed in January. The state’s got $21.5 billion surplus money to spend and  $16.5 billion stashed away in the “rainy day” fund. California’s treasury is bursting with money. Does anyone remember that the state’s voters asked for budget discipline by […]

Privacy is an inalienable right according to the California constitution. Voters added privacy rights to the Constitution in 1972 and while the issue is front-and-center again, the motivation behind the current push for more privacy protection has changed since the 70s. Now, businesses’ ability to capture data about individuals is the target. In 1972 the […]

Attempting to connect certain dots in the political/policy world can be a shaky proposition, but I think the recent stand by three California chapters of the NAACP civil rights group could signal complications for Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign strategy. The perception of the Harris campaign is that beyond hoping to capture large favorite daughter […]