Posts Tagged: coalition

News

Pension initiative draws unions’ fire

School workers at a labor rally in Bakersfield. (Photo: Richard Thornton, Shutterstock)

A union coalition contends that a proposed initiative is being falsely portrayed as only a potential cut in pensions for new employees, when in fact it could cut or eliminate pensions earned by current employees for work done in the future. One of the initiative authors, former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, disagrees with the union reading of the proposal. But it’s a key pension reform issue that could lead to another disputed initiative title and summary.

News

Proposed pension initiative targets local changes

The leaders of two local pension reforms, former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, are working with a coalition on a statewide initiative to help local governments make cost-cutting pension reforms. During a break at the Reason Foundation’s third annual Pension Summit in Sacramento last week, the two men said they are “on the same page” and working with a coalition on the details of a proposed initiative for the November 2016 state ballot.

News

California players gathering, again, for internet poker

An online gambler concentrates on his game in Nevada, which recently authorized internet gaming and may license fantasy sports companies.(Photo: Associated Press)

Rival interests are rolling the dice to legalize California’s internet gaming market, the most lucrative in the nation. At stake in the Capitol negotiations is a prize worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and maybe more. It’s not the first time. Efforts to legalize internet poker in California – where the revenue may top $1 billion annually over a decade — have failed repeatedly in the past.

News

New push for online gaming

An illustration of an online poker player. (Photo: photosani)

Three months after attempts to reach an agreement to establish internet poker in California fell apart, a major California gaming tribe says it has joined a coalition to push for new legislation to bring online gambling to the state.

News

Enviro coalition offers its own water plan

An aerial view of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

A day after Gov. Brown proposed a $6 billion water bond for the November ballot, an environmental coalition offered their own plan with a similar price-tag and with $1.5 billion for recycling and conservation, and $800 million to treat waste water and develop drinking water projects.

News

January looms, fuel fight heats up

California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Currently, fuel is about $4 per gallon and California burns about 14 billion gallons annually. Estimates of the magnitude of a potential hike vary widely, but most range from 15 to 20 cents per gallon, which would raise perhaps $2.1 billion to $2.8 billion annually. Efforts are under way in the Capitol, led by the petroleum industry, to exempt transportation fuels from the auctions until 2018.

News

Online poker pact reached — but lobby fight looms

An illustration of an online poker player. (Photo: photosani)

Thirteen of California’s casino-owning tribes have agreed on a plan to legalize internet poker in California, a move that could tap an estimated $845 million market and create the nation’s largest online poker system. One major tribe, the Banning-based Morongo Band of Mission Indians, was not a party to the agreement.

News

LAO eyes pension initiative

A major public pension reform initiative got a mixed cost analysis last week from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. The measure would give state and local governments the option of cutting retirement benefits current workers earn in the future, while preserving benefits already earned through past service.

News

Transgender ballot battle looms?

Six weeks before California’s first-in-the-nation law takes effect to guarantee certain rights to transgender students, foes of the new statute say they have collected enough signatures for a statewide referendum next year to let voters decide. The new law, signed by Gov. Brown in August after it was approved by the Legislature, takes effect Jan. 1.

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