OPINION: Senate Bill 3, authored by State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), would enact an unwarranted additional hike in the state’s minimum wage, similar to his measure earlier this year, SB 935, which was a California Chamber of Commerce “Job Killer”. California’s minimum wage was just raised $1 to $9 per hour on July 1 of this year, well above the current $7.25 per hour mandated under federal law.
California's Highway 1 in Marin County. (Photo: Constantine Kulikovsky)FIELD POLL: Californians are taking a more positive view of the direction of the state than then did four years ago when near record proportions (80%) felt the state was seriously off on the wrong track. However, views about California’s overall direction vary considerably depending on where a voter lives and his or her party registration.
The Mokulumne River. Photo: Mountain Counties Water Resources Association)OPINION: Mountain watersheds can survive without the Delta, but the Delta cannot survive without the watersheds. In focusing on conditions in the statutory Delta, the California Legislature left out any consideration of the mountain watersheds and the ecosystems that provide the water to the Delta.
A section of the San Quentin Prison area for condemned inmates. Photo via SanQuentinBlog.orgOPINION: Here in Los Angeles, home to Hollywood, anyone will tell you that casting is key. A film’s meaning and potential are lost if it’s miscast or missing the right characters. The same could be said about a blockbuster story that has been playing out for decades in California: our bloated and costly prisons. Much attention has been paid to lawsuits about the conditions in these packed facilities, as well as the response by the Governor, Legislature and others.
State Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Franco Folini)State lawmakers and voters agreed on one thing: transparency in government. Local government, that is. State government remains exempt. Did voters know that when they approved Proposition 42 on June 3?
Pfeiffer Beach at the mouth of the Big Sur River in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. View looking upriver from the beach, with Cupressus macrocarpa trees. Photo: Wikimedia CommonsDecades ago, California began taking over the management of thousands of acres of rural wildlands in dozens of counties across the state. But over the years a problem arose: With the state in control, some counties were cut out of the money that they otherwise would have collected from property taxes. The state had promised to compensate the counties for the lost revenue by making payments in lieu of taxes.
Gov. Jerry Brown, who said in his state of the state address that the state and the locals need to work together to make realignment work, headed to Monterey today to meet privately with public safety officials.
The Field Poll, in a survey completed last week, asked a statewide sample of California voters what they thought of these proposals. The results show that only one in four voters (25%) back the idea of having these counties break away from California to form a new state.
Property theft in California increased in the first year of correctional realignment, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California highlighting the policy’s possible effect on future crime rates. Under realignment, the state shifted responsibilities to the counties — including the incarceration of some state prisoners — and gave them money to cover the costs.
Counties that completely flipped from red to blue include many suburban and inland counties, with significant changes among populous Los Angeles suburban counties, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura.