Is Local Tax Measure Success a Sign of Things to Come?
As usual, Michael Coleman’s California City Finance website has an excellent recap of local tax measures and how they fared in the recent election. Local ballots contained 268 revenue measures — tax increases, tax extensions or bonds, of which 71% or 189 passed. The two largest categories of revenue instruments were general fund city taxes […]
Water…Unfinished Business
“When I get on a roll with something, it’s really hard for me to put it down unfinished.” ~Taylor Swift Facing a fourth year of drought, many Californians reacted to voter approval of the water bond measure on the November ballot with a sigh of relief. It felt good and it is good — an […]
San Jose Pension Reform: New Players, New Ruling
In what looked like a referendum on a voter-approved pension reform, a supporter, Councilman Sam Liccardo, was narrowly elected mayor of San Jose. He defeated a union-backed reform opponent, Supervisor Dave Cortese, who conceded last week. Local, state and national public employee unions reportedly spent more than $800,000 to defeat Liccardo with a campaign warning […]
Former State Senator Joe Dunn and State Bar Battle Over His Firing
Whistleblower and retaliation claims can get very personal very quickly, because such claims often put the whistleblowing employee’s performance under close scrutiny. In pursuing his whistleblower and retaliation claims, which former state senator and fired executive director of the State Bar of California Joseph Dunn brought under California’s Labor Code section 1102.5, Dunn must show that there is […]