Posts Tagged: 12
News
Once thought of as a sacred cow, Proposition 13, the tax revolt measure passed in 1978, is now under attack. Schools and Communities First, a coalition of nearly 300 groups and leaders, has qualified to put an initiative on the Nov. 2020 ballot that would lift caps on property taxes for commercial and industrial properties.
Analysis
Since 2015 Capitol Weekly has been conducting polling to inform readers about policy and politics in the Golden State. This latest installment is an exit poll of voters done by Capitol Weekly using data and tools from Political Data, Inc. This polling focuses on early voters who cast ballots in the mail or at early voting centers. The full survey includes more than 11,000 respondents surveyed over a three-week period of ballot returns.
News
The Republican side of the governor’s race has become an interesting contest to watch because, if for no other reason, of the way these candidates are trying to differentiate themselves before the June primary election. A debate in San Francisco led moderator John Diaz from the Chronicle to exclaim “This is the first time in San Francisco I have heard an argument among people about who most supports Donald Trump!”
News
California’s stem cell agency is ready to award $20 million on Thursday to a UCLA researcher to assist in his 30-year search for a widely available cure for what has come to be known as the “bubble boy” syndrome– severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).
News
CA120: With just hours until polls close in California, the crucial Democratic presidential contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders appears to be tightening. On the Republican side, the unopposed presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump is trying to show that he can consolidate the Republican electorate behind his candidacy.
News
A move to oust the executive director of the California Coastal Commission is under way, an effort that marks the most significant attempt against the commission’s ranking administrator in two decades. Commission Chair Steve Kinsey wrote a letter to Executive Director Charles Lester, saying the 12-member panel “will consider whether to dismiss you” at the commission’s February meeting.
News
Efforts to contain a July 12 brush fire in San Bernardino County were delayed for eight crucial minutes after response crews spotted a hobbyist’s drone flying close to the fire area. The drone, which US Forest Service officials suspect may have been recording footage of the fire, eventually flew off, allowing grounded air crews to resume. For firefighters, those lost minutes can be devastating as they try to contain a wildfire.
News
California’s Asian population is the largest of any state in the nation, and its increase during a 12-month period was the largest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state’s Asian population reached 6.3 million through last summer, the latest period for which data is available, reflecting a 162,000 increase over July 2013. California’s Asian population represents nearly a third of the nation’s 20.3 million.
News
Payments seven judges make toward their pensions would be cut nearly in half by a bill approved last week in a Senate committee, despite a warning from the chairwoman of a “slippery slope” undermining the governor’s pension reform.
News
Lowering the vote threshold for passage of local school parcel taxes would likely allow far more to pass. But there is no evidence that it would expand their use beyond the sort of wealthy Bay Area school districts that already have them. These are the key findings of a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC). The report assesses the potential effect of reducing the vote required to pass these taxes from two-thirds to 55 percent—a proposal the state legislature has been discussing. Although a parcel tax is one of the only local revenue options available to school districts, these taxes are not widespread. Only about 10 percent of districts have passed one, and the money raised amounts to less than 1 percent of total K–12 revenue.
Gov, Jerry Brown, left, and Howard Jarvis, the architect of Proposition 13, at their first joint news conference in July 1978. Voters approved the initiative the month before. (Photo: Associated Press)
