California has long been considered a bellwether state. What happens here often trends across the country. Is the same true with the Golden State’s turn to progressive politics? Some hope the state’s positions on social, cultural and political issues are a vanguard to change attitudes and ultimately change policies across the country. That is part […]

Do Republicans have a chance in California? Seems a pointless question given California’s dramatic political turn to those left, all constitutional offices in the hands of the Democrats and a two-thirds supermajority of Democratic legislators. Still, at the California Chamber of Commerce Public Affairs Conference panel looking ahead to the 2018 elections, possibilities for the […]

With the announcement that State Senate president pro-tem Kevin de León will run against Dianne Feinstein (and billionaire Tom Steyer may join the fray), it will prove a good test on where California voters stand on how elected officials should function. Many progressives are loud and angry and ready to jettison Feinstein from her seat, […]

I guess I should use the old vaudeville line: Stop me if you’ve heard this one: the push to increase commercial property taxes is about government pension costs. Returning to this subject at this time (I wrote on the same subject for the Sacramento Bee last April) is prompted by the coming together of a couple […]

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill moving California’s presidential primary to early March 2020 and all the focus has been on what that means for Democratic candidates, Californians who might run for president, and setting the Democratic agenda for the entire campaign. But it is possible that the move to March might have an influence […]

With Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on SB 54, California now calls itself a sanctuary state. There is strong symbolism in the move, although California governments’ actions relative to individuals in the country illegally will change little in many parts of the state. Brown’s demand that some 700 additional crimes be added to the list that […]

Since Proposition 13 established a requirement for a two-thirds vote by the people for special taxes—that is, taxes earmarked for a special purpose–opponents of the idea have been critical. The major argument they make is that it is better to allow a majority vote because there is transparency in knowing how the tax money is […]

Last week’s Public Policy Institute of California poll contained a curious question that needed some in-depth follow-up to give us context. Since the follow-up did not occur, it left a reader of the poll to do some guessing. The question: “Would you rather see the next California governor elected in November 2018 generally continue Jerry […]