California is the most ethnically diverse place in the world. From corner to corner, across its coastline, valleys, deserts and mountains there is just about every type of voter in the state. From the strong Republican rural communities along the Nevada border to urban Democrats in Los Angeles and San Francisco the state typifies diversity.
After years of nothing but budget cuts and bad news, California’s public schools are poised for a comeback.
Our economy is improving, which has stabilized county and state revenues for the first time in nearly a decade. And in November, California voters agreed to temporarily increase taxes to support education. Though our education system
Tucked away in the state budget package on Gov. Brown’s desk is a provision that makes it easier for local governments to avoid complying with Public Records Act requests.
“The bill essentially makes a portion of the Public Records Act optional for local governments – that’s the long and short of it,” said Phillip
Earlier this year Governor Brown, referring to how California voters had supported his Proposition 30, said, “We just got a nice tax, I think we ought to take a deep breath and show how we are spending it in a wise way before we start looking for more money.” Virtually every Californian would agree with the
State elected officials often voice their support for open, accessible government. But they also, with few dissenting votes, recently approved legislation that would allow the governor to meet secretly with local legislative bodies.
“The question here should be why can the attorney general, district attorney or chief of police be allowed to have closed
Gov. Brown said his plan to take $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auction funds — money that was intended to directly further efforts to fight greenhouse gas emissions — is a “reasonable accommodation” aided in part by voters’ approval last year of a measure to raise corporate taxes.
“We had Proposition 39 funding for
In the upper levels of California government, Mac Taylor is indeed a rarity – he’s nonpartisan.
As the Legislative Analyst – he’s only the fifth one since the office was created 72 years ago – Taylor is the taxpayers’ watchdog over budget and ballot measures and their potential costs. He is the Legislature’s nonpartisan
A major budget battle has erupted between the Brown administration and California’s counties over health-care spending, with the governor hoping to divert some $2.5 billion from the counties over the next three years.
At issue is money – initially, $300 million — that the counties use to provide care for the indigent. But Brown
If you listen to Jerry Brown, you would think he was one of the foremost proactive climate change leaders around. At UC Berkeley last week, he said, “the changes in our climate are…, soon to be irreversible” (May 20th, 2013). . On May 23rd, the Sacramento Bee reported that Governor Brown “complained bitterly” that “the
The price tag is up to nearly $25 billion, but the benefits are up, too, says the Brown administration as the state inches forward to launch an unprecedented project to move more northern California water south through a pair of tunnels in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
On Wednesday, the administration pegged the cost