Water Bond Proves No Need for California Forward’s 3-Day Rule
It’s done. A multi-billion dollar water bond, the result of several weeks of compromising, posturing, and in the end, bipartisan cooperation the likes of which we haven’t seen in Sacramento in quite some time. Legislators should be proud of what they’ve accomplished — and how they did it. The back-and-forth — right up until the […]
Soda Labeling Bill: Why It’s a Dumb Move for Democrats
Legislation that would require California to put warning labels on soda — equivalent to the Surgeon General’s warning on a pack of cigarettes — was stalled in an Assembly yesterday. That’s a good thing. Why? Because Democrats just passed another balanced, on-time budget. They’ve done a remarkable job of restraining themselves from passing boatloads of […]
Splitting Up California Into Six: Bad for Business Too
There’s a story in the Old Testament of the Bible known as the Judgment of Solomon. However, it’s not clear that Tim Draper has read it. Draper is a venture capitalist who has devised a plan to split California into six different states. It reminds me of the biblical story, in which two women dispute […]
Is the Department of Insurance Hiding the Ball on its Millions in Payments to Consumer Watchdog?
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and ConsumerWatchdog.org have a cozy relationship. In addition to receiving questionable no-bid government contracts from the Insurance Department that raised concerns among ethics experts, ConsumerWatchdog.org is the sole recipient of funds under Jones’ tenure of the department’s “intervenor fees,” pocketing $779,822 in fees in 2012 alone. In 2011, it also […]
Poll is More Bad News for Reed’s Pension Measure
Next week San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed is expected to make a decision on whether to move forward with gathering signatures for his pension “reform” measure. But every passing day seems to come with more bad news for his efforts, including a new poll that shows the measure faces an uphill battle for passage. Reed, […]
Reed’s Pension Measure: Too Toxic for Deep Pockets?
Major newspapers and pundits across the state are reporting Wednesday that San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed has his tin cup out … or as Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters politely puts it: Reed is trying to get “deep-pocketed backers to pony up the billions of dollars – perhaps $10 million-plus – that they would need […]
Three Strikes for Reed’s Pension Measure?
December has been the cruelest month for San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and his ballot measure designed to slash the retirement benefits of firefighters, teachers, police officers and other public employees. The first hit was a long-awaited assessment of the measure by the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office (LAO). As expected, the LAO noted that there […]
Poll: Reed’s Pension Measure Unpopular With Voters
For all the political chatter about pensions, California voters remain strongly opposed to gutting the retirement benefits of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public employees. According to a new statewide poll conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based GarinHartYoung Research Group, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s proposed ballot measure that gives cities the ability to slash […]
Devil is in the Details of Mayor Reed’s Pension Proposal
While the Pension Reform Act of 2014 proposal would end reliable, fixed-benefit retirement plans for public employees, the Act clearly looks like a lucrative retirement plan at taxpayer expense for those who are proposing the Act. If the Act were to pass, Section 9 of the Act enables the proponents of the Act to collect […]
The FPPC’s New Role: The Internet Cop
Last week, as a parting gift to its chairwoman, Ann Ravel (who is slated to be confirmed to the Federal Election Commission), the California Fair Political Practices Commission enacted a sweeping proposal to regulate online political communication. The move makes California the first state to attempt to require the disclosure of online communication by someone […]