Demystifying the Legislative Process
California’s legislative process may not follow the normal structure in these abnormal times. How the process works out—including the Senate’s possible use of remote voting and the Assembly’s meeting as a committee of the whole—is taking shape to deal with the threat of the coronavirus. Yet, when we return to normal, there is a structure […]
How to Free the Budget Hostages
Governor Newsom’s Revised Budget proposes cuts to programs in the event more federal COVID funds are not provided. We propose a solution that would free the 10 programs below and improve the state’s structural deficit without jeopardizing the financial security of retired state employees. The first eight programs would be funded by savings from substituting Oregon’s or Colorado’s programs for providing […]
Why Californians Should Celebrate Monterey’s Birthday
Monterey turns 250 next month. The rest of the state should claim the date as its birthday too. Monterey’s beginnings are the closest thing California, an orphan of a state, has to a birth story. Admission Day—September 9, 1850, when California became an American state—isn’t a birthday, since California was a province of Spain and […]
Where’s the “science” that Governor Newsom continues to preach?
Listening to the daily COVID-19 virus updates from Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti, brings to mind one of the best-known quotes from Clara Peller who was a manicurist and American character actress who, at the age of 81, starred in the 1984 “where’s the beef?” advertising campaign for the Wendy’s fast food restaurant […]