Businesses Turn to Courts to Fight Policy Changes
With the one-party dominance of the Democratic Party in California leading to more government controls on business, companies are turning to the courts for relief from legislative mandates. As new laws were set to kick in on January 1, a number of lawsuits were filed by businesses seeking protection from the new laws. Many of […]
Why Gavin Newsom was wrong in vetoing ranked-choice voting – and how to fix it. Part 1
For the second time in three years, a California Governor has vetoed important pro-democracy legislation, granting the option to use ranked-choice voting (RCV) to California’s general law cities – Jerry Brown in 2016 and Gavin Newsom this year. For many in the electoral reform community, their official explanations rang hollow. When I was Mayor of […]
The Golden State is on a path to high-tech feudalism
“We are the modern equivalent of the ancient city-states of Athens and Sparta. California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta,” declared then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007. “Not only can we lead California into the future . . . we can show the nation and the world how to get there.” When a movie […]
Confusion abounds as California’s online privacy law kicks in
Enacted in 2018 over the vigorous objections of Silicon Valley tech giants, California’s first-in-the-nation online privacy law took effect Jan. 1, 2020. But with the staff of state Attorney General Xavier Becerra still far short of finalizing an enforcement framework, it’s unclear what effect the California Consumer Privacy Act will have in the short term. The law’s […]