Posts Tagged: practices

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

Needed: Protecting small businesses from predatory lending

A loan document package ready to be signed. (Photo: nik93737 via Shutterstock)

OPINION: “Small businesses are the backbone of the economy.” We hear this all the time from elected officials, but the data show it’s much more than a political platitude. California’s four million small businesses employ 50% of the state’s private sector workforce, and accounted for two-thirds of job creation over the last seven years. They lifted us out of the Great Recession. But small business owners still grapple with acute challenges, particularly access to affordable credit.

Opinion

Wanted: An early warning system for local governments

Pedestrians crossing Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. (Photo: Sean Pavone, Shutterstock)

OPINION: Back in 2012, then Treasurer Bill Lockyer called for an early warning system that would give state officials time to proactively address local government fiscal emergencies before they wound up in bankruptcy court. We are now five years closer to the next recession and its attendant set of local government financial crises, but the state has made little progress toward implementing Lockyer’s proposed system.

News

Drought’s back broken — or not?

A man shielded against the rain looks across L.A. from the Hollywood Hills. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Despite the torrential rains of the last few weeks, experts say it’s too early to tell whether California’s interminable drought is really over. It will be necessary to monitor rainfall through at least March to make an assessment.

Opinion

Politics, pocketbook go together

Everyone knows about the pharmaceutical companies, defense contractors and other financial interests that dominate political spending in Washington, D.C. Because federal spending provides a big share of those businesses’ revenues, it’s not surprising they spend heavily for a Congress sympathetic to their interests. But fewer know about the financial interests that dominate political spending in Sacramento.

News

FPPC gets new enforcement chief

Galena West, a veteran lawyer at the Fair Political Practices Commission, has been named chief of enforcement at the agency, which serves as the state’s campaign ethics watchdog. West replaces Gary Winuk, who left earlier to go into private practice. West, who has been on the FPPC staff for 10 years, has served as acting enforcement chief since March.

Opinion

Guarding students’ online privacy

OPINION: The Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA) solidifies California’s standing as a leader in crafting smart public policy that extends common sense protections for kids and families.

News

Foes raise $92 million over two ballot measures

Led by medical insurers, opponents of two November ballot initiatives aimed at regulating insurance rates, raising the limits on pain-and-suffering awards and requiring doctors to be drug tested have raised nearly $92 million from their largest donors, according to figures compiled by the state’s political watchdog.

News

Audit ordered for low-income health program

A sign advertising a Los Angeles medical clinic. (Photo: JDS via Shutterstock)

A state legislative committee has ordered an audit of provider directories that are given to people in California’s low-income health program, after reports of major inaccuracies. The audit will examine the managed-care directories, whether they list enough doctors who are accepting new patients and whether state regulators have done their jobs overseeing that aspect of the Medi-Cal program.

News

Dark money: Governor OKs disclosure rules

Election 2014: Gov. Brown on Wednesday signed into law new disclosure rules for nonprofits, a move prompted by the 11th-hour flood of stealth cash that roiled the November 2012 elections. The bill takes effect in July – after this year’s primary elections but in time for the general election.

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