Well not quite, but it is now on the Watchlist according to the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF). The annual report issued by ATRF gives the latest rankings of America’s least fair legal climates. These are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an inequitable manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits. This is ATRF’s eighth annual report.

This year, California has been placed on the report’s Watchlist. The Watchlist shows jurisdictions that may be moving closer or further away from other Hellholes as their respective litigation climates improve or degenerate. I think it is fair to say that ATRF feels California might be slipping further and further into the litigation abyss.

I rolled my eyes a few years ago when AEG proclaimed that L.A. Live would be like Times Square of the West.

Yeah, right, I thought. Good luck with that. After all, a true Times Square-like town plaza must be widely recognized – accepted, really – by the community as its central gathering place. It must be the one spot where locals go to celebrate or mourn or mark the seasons or just hang out because, well, people yearn to be at the center, in the heart of a city. It’s got to get worn by use. In the public eye.

And L.A. Live? Only a year and a half ago, many Angelenos were dimly aware that it was under construction. Fewer still probably had a clue where it was. How could that vacant place be embraced as our Times Square?

Well, it’s only been a year since L.A. Live more or less opened, and darned if AEG isn’t pulling it off.

So far, the Citizen’s Redistricting Commission looks like it could be made up of a whole bunch of white guys from Sacramento. And there’s a good chance they’re Republicans. Statistics on the commission’s website indicate those are the principal characteristics of the plurality of those who have applied for the job of drawing California’s assembly and senate districts during the first two days applications were submitted.

Sure, it’s early and things could change. The period for submitting applications to the Citizens Redistricting Commission created by Proposition 11 opened Tuesday. The commission has set up a website and will report daily on the number of applications and break down statistics into categories of Ethnicity, Political Party, Region and County.

Proposition 13 has been under attack ever since Californians approved the historic property tax reform initiative, and this year is no exception.

The argument is more of the same, a rehash of the complaint that the property tax system is unfair – a claim that has been rejected repeatedly by the courts and the voters.

Those who are pushing to end Proposition 13’s taxpayer protections claim that California’s property tax system gives businesses a tax break at the expense of homeowners. They allege that Proposition 13 caused a shift in tax burden from businesses onto homeowners.

The California Taxpayers’ Association decided to put this claim to the test. We looked at the property tax data published annually by the State Board of Equalization, and compared property taxes on homeowners to the taxes on all business and non-homeowner property subject to Proposition 13 assessment.

The best of John Burton, the former legislator and now California Democratic Party chairman, is his commitment to fighting for the poorest and the neediest.

The worst of John Burton is the sort of tribal partisan nonsense he recently offered up to the San Francisco Chronicle in explaining why he’s against confirming Lt. Gov-designate Abel Maldonado. Burton doesn’t want Maldonado confirmed no matter what. “Why give his seat to another party?” he recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. He added a few other partisan swipes — “There’s a reason why some people are Democrats, and some are Republicans. And Democrats don’t vote for Republicans” – and a blast at the notion of bipartisan compromise — “The only thing in the middle of the road is a yellow stripe and a dead skunk.”

Well, a yellow stripe, a dead skunk and the independent California voters who decide statewide elections.

Burton’s thinking runs contrary to the interests of his own party.

It’s one thing to hear that California is looking at a $20 billion-plus budget shortfall next year. It’s another to realize just what isn’t getting done in the state because of the financial mess.

A report released this morning by TRIP, a national transportation research group, said the state’s crummy roads are costing California drivers about $40 billion a year from traffic accidents, higher vehicle operating costs and just plain delays from highway gridlock.

The road troubles will do far more than inconvenience drivers stuck on Southern California and Bay Area freeways.

“With an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent … and with the state’s population continuing to grow, California must improve its system of roads, highways, bridges and public transit to foster economic growth, avoid business relocations and ensure the safe, reliable mobility needed to improve the quality of life for all Californians,” the report stated.

Originally published in the Los Angeles Times

Let me tell you about my recent trip to Sacramento. It is a story about why we need a revolution.

Earlier this month, Senate leaders introduced a "parent trigger" into California’s "Race to the Top" education reform legislation.

Under the policy, parents at a systemically failing school could circulate a petition calling for change. If 51% of the parents signed it, the school would be converted to a charter school or reconstituted by the school district, with a new staff and new ways of operating. The concept recognized a truth that school officials often discount: Parents are in the best position to make decisions about what’s right for their kids.

Last week, the parent trigger legislation moved to the Assembly Education Committee, chaired by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica). Thousands of parents sent letters, made calls, staged protests and showed up to testify before her committee about the importance of parents taking back power over our schools.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci reported recently that Tom Campbell may be dropping out of the governor’s race to run for the US Senate against Sen. Barbara Boxer. If this is true, it could be a blockbuster event in campaign 2010.

Campbell’s thinking seems driven by two realities; he doesn’t have enough money to compete in the GOP gubernatorial primary, and the nomination may be worthless anyway as some polling shows Attorney General Jerry Brown poised to win in a landslide.

But if he shifts to the Senate contest, he will have one huge impact – and it is not his nomination, but that of Assemblyman Chuck Devore. A Campbell candidacy probably finishes off the GOP establishment favorite, businesswoman Carly Fiorina. Her base is among the Silicon Valley GOP types, as is Campbell’s, and with the declining Republican Party in California, there is simply not room for two Silicon Valley Republicans.

California is sinking in a quicksand of debt but an initiative awaiting title and summary may have the answer to reduce the debt burden.

First, a review of the problem.

On Monday, the Assembly Budget Committee met to bemoan California’s rising debt obligation. With California sitting on $83.5 billion of long-term debt, the debt is costing the state treasury $6 billion a year. Over the last decade, cost of servicing the debt has increased 6.5 times faster than the increase of general fund revenues, which are used to pay down general obligation bonded debt.

Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor told the legislative hearing that bond service would hit ten percent in a few years. Since servicing debt has first call on the state’s revenue after schools that means that one out of every ten dollars will be used to retire debt and squeeze out funding for other government services.