Posts Tagged: independent

Recent News

Hoping to beat historic odds, GOP hopeful eyes controller’s office

State controller candidate Lanhee Chen, center, speaking with potential voters. (Photo: Chen campaign committee)

Lanhee Chen decided to become a Republican at age 10 after watching the 1988 presidential debate between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis. He has a vivid memory of watching Bush talk about “compassionate conservatism” and how important it is to encourage people to help one another. “Government is not the reflexive solution to everything,” said Chen, 44. “That was the vision.”

Analysis

Bitterness over speakership fray permeates the Assembly

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. (Photo: Rendon's Twitter feed.)

Timing is crucial in politics, and the battle over the Assembly speakership is no exception. The clock is ticking. If Rendon continues through the end of the current two-year session, then any change in the speakership will be decided in the next session, following the November elections, when all 80 Assembly seats are up for election.

News

Stem cell agency seeks to weaken conflict-of-interest rules

Two of the members of the CIRM governing board, Chair Jon Thomas and Vice Chair Art Torres, during an earlier meeting.(Photo: CIRM)

Directors of the $12 billion California stem cell agency have moved to weaken conflict of interest provisions affecting its governing board — eliminating “leave-the-room” requirements that are used by most private nonprofits to assure the integrity of their operations.

News

Beer battle brewing over distribution

A worker at a small brewery examines beer during the fermentation process. (Photo: MAD_Production, via Shutterstock)

An under-the-radar tussle is shaping up in California over how beer is being brought to drinkers across the state. The emerging beer battle pits small craft brewers against big distributors. On one side are the small brewers, who charge that the big distributors don’t want to bother with the relatively small volumes of craft brewers.

Opinion

CPUC ‘yes’ vote could cut water bill surcharges for millions

Residential water sprinklers in action. (Photo: Fahroni, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For over a decade, Californians have been dealing with unpredictable and confusing water surcharges. That could change if the state’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) votes to adopt a program recommended by the Public Advocates Office (Cal Advocates) as soon as Aug. 27.

Opinion

Insurance adjustment: CA surety bond adds inefficiency

Motorists in Oceanside drive through flooded streets after the arrival of a tropical storm.(Photo: DBSOCAL, via Shutterrstock)

OPINION: From mudslides to droughts, fires to earthquakes, natural disasters are an inexorable part of our way of life. Needless to say, the cost of these disasters is staggering. In 2018 alone, wildfires in our state accounted for nearly a quarter of all insurance company disaster claims nationwide. 

Opinion

AB 5: Small solution, big problems

Demonstrators outside the Uber offices in San Francisco. (Photo: Lucius Rueedi, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Assembly Bill 5 has been signed; now the battle begins. The bill compels some businesses, and labor platforms like Uber, Lyft, Doordash, TaskRabbit or GrubHub to classify their on-demand workers as employees with labor law protections. 

News

PPIC: A look at California’s likely voters

An array of voters casting their ballots. (Photo: Alexandru Nika, via Shutterstock)

A report from the Public Policy Institute of California on the makeup of the California electorate as the 2020 elections approach. Eight in ten eligible voters are registered to vote; independent registration continues to increase. As of February 2019, 19.9 million of California’s 25.3 million eligible adults were registered to vote. At 79.1% of eligible adults, this is an increase from the registration rate in 2015 (72.7%), the last year preceding a presidential election.

Opinion

Exempt health care professionals from AB 5

A perfusionist operating a heart-lung machine in a surgical setting. (Photo: Dmitry Kalinovsky, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: In an attempt to address some problematic side-effects of a recent California Supreme Court case focusing on the employment of independent contractors, lawmakers have crafted a proposal that would take away our ability to decide how and when we work.

News

California’s redistricting panel flooded with applications

A map showing cities in a swath of northern California. (Photo: BestStockFoto, via Shutterstock.

More than 7,100 people have applied to be on California’s independent redistricting commission, the 14-member panel that will draw new political boundaries based on population counts from the 2020 census. State Auditor Elaine Howle’s office said of the large applicant pool, nearly 6,000 were tentatively eligible.

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