Posts Tagged: performance

Outside auditor takes critical look at stem cell agency

A researcher examines meat cultured in laboratory conditions from stem cells. (Photo: Alex_Traksel, via Shutterstock)

by DAVID JENSEN posted 11.09.2021

California’s $12 billion stem cell agency needs to do better in several critical areas, ranging from planning for the replacement of its current chair to handling information that is key to its operations as well as the tracking of potential sources of royalties. That’s according to that latest performance audit of the 17-year-old agency.

Poll: A third of respondents favor Newsom recall

California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Photo: Amir Aziz, via Shutterstock)

by MARK DiCAMILLO posted 02.02.2021

IGS Survey: The latest Berkeley IGS Poll conducted online last week among over 10,000 registered voters finds just 46% approving of Newsom’s performance as governor, while 48% disapprove, 31% of whom disapprove strongly. This represents a big shift in public sentiment from last year when large majorities approved of the job Newsom was doing.

State Bar asks CA Supreme Court for bailout

Photo illustration of Lady Justice. (Kaspars Grinvalds)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 10.03.2016

Blocked by lawmakers at the 11th hour and facing a fiscal emergency, the State Bar of California went directly to the state Supreme Court seeking authority to levy dues on thousands of attorneys. The Bar, which filed the request Friday, said it would go out of business early next year without the money generated by the dues.

A tale of tension at the Coastal Commission

Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, south of Carmel. (Photo: Tom Tietz)

by ALEX MATTHEWS posted 02.04.2016

For those attempting to oust Charles Lester, the executive director of the California Coastal Commission, the upcoming hearing is a referendum on his job performance. For the environmentalists who follow the commission, it’s a coup and an attempt to seize the upper hand in the power struggle between pro-development interests and an environmentalist staff that they believe has defined the commission since the reign of Peter Douglas.

California gets C-minus for integrity

by Rob Gunnison posted 11.09.2015

One night in March 2014, state Senator Leland Yee stood before a fancy dinner thrown in San Francisco by the Society of Professional Journalists to receive the Public Official Award — for a second time. Yee, then a candidate for secretary of state, was saluted for “his courage to oppose his own Democratic Party leaders and the governor in 2013 with public criticism of efforts to weaken the California Public Records Act.” A week later, a handcuffed Yee appeared in federal court, accused of taking bribes, political racketeering and even running guns in the Philippines.

Democrat Brown draws GOP support; voters split on state’s direction

Gov. Jerry Brown in the state Capitol last year. (Photo by Max Whittaker/Getty Images)

by MARK DICAMILLO and MERVIN FIELD posted 05.27.2015

The latest Field Poll finds nearly six in ten California voters (58%) approving of the job Jerry Brown is doing as Governor, while just 26% disapprove. This nearly equals his record approval rating of 59% that he achieved a little more than a year ago in April 2014. At present, 37% of rank-and-file Republicans currently approve of the job Brown is doing, up from 27% who said this three months ago.

FIELD POLL: There has been a sizeable decline in President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among California voters over the last few months. A statewide Field Poll completed last week found that almost as many Californians now disapprove of the job the President is doing (43%) as approve (45%). This reading is the poorest appraisal of the job performance that Obama has received of his presidency.

Partisan split on lawmakers’ performance, state outlook

The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: AMadScientist, via Wikimedia)

by MARK DiCAMILLO and MERVIN FIELD posted 06.27.2014

FIELD POLL: Slightly more voters believe California is generally on the wrong track (46%) than say it is moving in the right direction (41%). In addition, more voters disapprove (47%) than approve (35%) of the job performance of the state legislature. Opinions about both matters are directly related to the party registration of voters. Democrats offer a much more optimistic assessment of the direction of the state and hold more positive views of the job the state legislature is doing than Republicans.

Among the findings: Dianne Feinstein’s approval ratings are on the decline and rank among the lowest she’s received in her 20 years in office. Barbara Boxer’s positives are on the rise. Meanwhile, more than four out of five Californians disapprove of the job Congress is doing, which is close to a record.

President Barack Obama’s job performance rating among California voters has taken a ten-point drop since the Field Poll’s last measure in February. Then, 62% of this state’s voters approved of the job he was doing. Now, the President’s approval rating stands at 52%.

The largest decline in Obama’s job appraisals is seen among segments of