CA Continues To Abandon UC and CSU
The State of California’s 2017–18 Enacted Budget confirms an ominous trend as state spending on retirement costs continues displacing state spending on the University of California and California State University. Seven years ago the state provided $5.5 billion for UC and CSU and $6 billion for retirement costs. The new budget provides $7 billion for UC and […]
NFIB Index: Small Business Optimism is Up
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) monthly Index of Small Business Optimism, released yesterday, rose 1.6 percent in July to 105.2, a strong performance led by significant gains in hiring activity. Strong consumer demand is boosting small business optimism at the federal level. Small business owners are feeling better about the economy because their customers are feeling better […]
Sanctuary and Consistency
Gov. Jerry Brown says he wants changes to the sanctuary state law working its way through the legislature. While conjecture is that he wants to make sure that criminal immigrants don’t get protection under the law, there may also be a sense of gaining consistency in the state’s viewpoint of the on-going rhetorical battle with […]
Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts
Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over, says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem […]
At Upcoming L.A. Event, a Question: Is the Republican Party Dominant, Dead, or Both?
Can a political party be both dominant in national politics, and dead, at the same time? That’s the question being asked at a free and public Zócalo Public Square event the evening of Aug. 10 at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in Los Angeles. All are welcome at the event, which includes […]
Reminiscence: Arnold Announces for Governor
In yesterday’s Politico California Playbook, Carla Marinucci remembered the day 14 years ago that Arnold Schwarzenegger caught the world by surprise in announcing for governor in the 2003 recall. Carla linked to the article she wrote for the San Francisco Chronicle at the time about what happened that night on Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show.” The story brought […]
California Democrats Reap Trump Dividend
Donald Trump is hardly California’s best friend. His policies are out of step with most folks in the Golden State and his stances on immigration, health care and climate change have spurred confrontations between California and the Trump Administration. One gaggle of Californians, however, has benefited from the Trump phenomenon—Democratic politicians. Jerry Brown has seized […]
Why CA’s non-citizens should vote
President Trump claims that California allowed millions of non-citizens to cast ballots in the 2016 elections. This allegation, while totally bogus, has put California and its political leaders on the defensive. They are forced to respond as Trump and his allies use the lie to justify a new federal commission devoted to making it harder […]
Ballot Measure Offers Little Control on Cap-and-Trade Spending
California voters enshrine climate change in the state’s constitution—thanks to a phony ballot initiative being promoted by weak Republican Party leaders as a brake on cap-and-trade spending. If you search the terms “carbon emissions,” or “greenhouse gas,” or “global warming” in the voluminous text of the California State Constitution, you will come up empty. While […]