The Time is Now for the California WaterFix
Last week, the State Water Resources Control Board began a series of hearings on the California WaterFix, the plan to update the state’s aging water infrastructure. Our Southern California region is highly dependent on this infrastructure, with one-third of our fresh water flowing from the Sierra Nevada Mountains through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In total, 25 […]
Two Reporters Walked Into a Bar…
Well, not really. Two reporters moved from California to Texas and last week both of them wrote stories about companies moving to the Lone Star State. In the Dallas Morning News, Jill Cowan wrote a piece about how financial firms are shifting their business operations out of hyper-expensive New York City to “lower cost, more business-friendly […]
Controversy Involving Presidential Debate Commission Previously, and I was There
Donald Trump hinted over the weekend that he may skip a couple of the scheduled presidential debates because they conflict with National Football League games, an effort to diminish the debate’s audience, he claimed. The Commission on Presidential Debates, a non-profit foundation created by the major political parties to put on debates, denied Trump’s charge. However, […]
Rest of World Ignoring Gov. Brown, Calif. on Greenhouse Gases
“We will get it one way or another,” Gov. Jerry Brown told reporters in Philadelphia about spreading California’s climate policies across the world. The quote was in the Los Angeles Times, which reported, “Brown is facing political headwinds to protect California’s cap-and-trade program, the centerpiece of its efforts to battle global warming.” And the paper reported on […]
Protecting Pointless Elections
California is a one-party state. There are few issues on which we disagree. And running for office here is no picnic. So sometimes, only one person runs for an office. This is common enough in local elections that it’s become routine for elections to be cancelled when there’s only one candidate for a city council […]
The Incredible Shrinking Public Co.
Congress claimed it was sticking it to the fat cats 14 years ago when it passed a raft of laws regulating public stocks. But you know how these things work: Exactly the opposite happened. The cats got fatter. The rest of us? We got scrawnier. And those laws continue to hurt us, even here in […]
The Legislature’s Back and There’s Gonna be Trouble…Hey La, the Legislature’s Back
Welcome back, legislators! You have one month to complete work on this session’s bills before adjournment and the beginning of election sweepstakes. Will the state’s swiftly changing political dynamics alter the old rules about passing controversial legislation? Legislators are usually averse to passing contentious legislation right before the voters go to the polls. Politics have […]
The Best and Worst Bills Facing the Returning Legislature
The Legislature returns on Monday from their summer recess and with just one more month left in the 2015-2016 legislative session, let’s get right back into the best and worst bill nominees. BEST: Budget Trailer Bill 707: California is one of the few states that doesn’t have “by right” housing protocols; that is that as long […]
From Inside the Democratic National Convention—a Review
What an incredible week in Philadelphia…Highs and lows and every emotion in between. From the “Berners” accosting innocent Hillary supporters in the streets on Day 1 shouting about corruption and the TPP, to the nightly parade of the very best that the Democratic Party has to offer in the Wells Fargo Arena each night. There […]