Image by eyegelbOPINION – The State of California General Fund budget more than doubled in size from $96.3 billion in fiscal year 2014 to $225.9 billion in fiscal year 2024 while the state population remained essentially flat. Do residents feel their state government services have doubled during this period? I doubt it.
Photo by APLawmakers from D.C. to California are calling for tighter regulations on event ticket-selling giant Ticketmaster. But efforts to do so in California have into finger pointing and recriminations that leave those potential reforms in limbo.
Image by wildpixelOPINION – Both AB 2557 and AB 2561 are being promoted as good government bills. They are the exact opposite. If enacted, local services will suffer, local governments will be unable to prioritize the most important needs of our communities, and costs for local services will skyrocket.
Senator Steve Glazer. Photo by Joha Harrison, Capitol WeeklyPanelists at Capitol Weekly’s Covering California: The Future of Journalism in the Golden State conference on Thursday were blunt in their assessment of the news business these days – it’s not good, and it probably won’t get better anytime soon.
Image by Yuliia BukovskaThe ongoing conflict in Gaza has sparked intense debates and protests all over the country. With that in mind, we asked our panel of experts to weigh in on how this might impact the November elections. The question: Will ongoing campus strife over the situation in Gaza negatively impact Dems at any level of government in November?
Two connected puzzle pieces with the words politics and money, representing the influence of wealth in elections.Special interests, otherwise known as “lobbyist employers,” paid lobbying firms a little more than $76 million to lobby California state government in the first quarter of 2024, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
Flag of California in a mixed stack of coins. Image by eyegelbEagle-eyed readers of Capitol Weekly’s recent report on quarterly lobbying payments might have spotted an unfamiliar firm name among the top recipients for the first quarter of 2024: the Deveau Burr Group. Especially close readers also might have noticed that Strategies 360, a perennial top firm in Sacramento, was conspicuously absent from the list of top payees for the quarter.
Loupe one hundred dollars banknotes on keyboard. Finding financial earnings on the internet conceptWhile California campaigns and election regulators like the California Fair Political Practices Commission have generally succeeded in providing transparency to the contribution side of the campaign finance ledger, they’ve fallen comparatively short when it comes to expenditures.
Image by bangolandCalifornia Government Code Section 11350 provides that any interested person may obtain a judicial declaration regarding the validity of any regulation or order of repeal by bringing an action for declaratory relief in superior court in this state in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure.
Prop. 47 co-author Lenore Anderson speaks at Capitol Weekly's Conference on Crime. Moderator Emily Hoeven, left; Sheriff Jim Cooper, right. Photo by Joha Harrison, Capitol WeeklyState lawmakers have proposed a series of bills aimed at curbing retail thefts, dealing with opioid abuse and reforming – ever so slightly – California’s landmark Proposition 47. Last week Capitol Weekly brought together a stellar group of lawmakers, law enforcement officials, advocates and others for a deep dive into these serious and complex issues.