SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed sweeping labor legislation that aims to give wage and benefit protections to California rideshare drivers at companies like Uber and Lyft and to workers across other industries. The closely watched proposal could have national implications as lawmakers, businesses and unions confront the...
Colorado's Hickenlooper Ending 2020 White House Bid
DENVER — John Hickenlooper will drop out of the Democratic presidential primary on Thursday, according to a Democrat close to him. The former two-term Colorado governor, who ran as a moderate warning of the perils of extreme partisanship, struggled with fundraising and low polling numbers. His planned departure from the...
Walters: A Crackdown on Misusing Public Funds for Campaigns?
When Yuba County’s Board of Supervisors asked its voters to hike sales taxes last year, it wasn’t alone. Hundreds of California’s local governments, cities and counties primarily, were doing so, promising voters that the new revenues would be used to enhance popular services, such as parks, police and fire protection....
Joel Fox: Changing Prop. 13 Could Worsen Housing Crisis
For four decades, Proposition 13, the property tax reform that passed in 1978, has been blamed for many of the ills that have befallen California. Working with Howard Jarvis, a Proposition 13 co-author, and later running his taxpayers association, I have followed the multiple attacks on the measure, many silly...
Ballot Measures: Florida OK’s Restoring Felons’ Voting Rights
NEW YORK — Potentially altering the election landscape in a key swing state, Florida voters Tuesday approved a ballot measure that will enable more than 1 million ex-felons to regain their voting rights. Floridians also approved a measure aimed at phasing out greyhound racing in the state, the last stronghold...
California Ballot Initiative Seeks to End High-Speed Rail
SACRAMENTO — Opponents of the California gas tax increase passed by state legislators last year on Tuesday proposed a new ballot measure for 2020 to provide money for road repairs and eliminate the state's $77 billion high-speed rail project. The backers of the 2020 measure are also behind Proposition 6,...
Rent Control Fuels Costliest Fight on California 2018 Ballot
SACRAMENTO — A Los Angeles-based health care nonprofit known for funding controversial ballot measures is waging an expensive battle with the real estate industry over rent control in California. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation has poured more than $12 million into a November initiative it's spearheading to let cities and counties...
San Francisco To Consider Taxing Companies To Help Homeless
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco voters will decide in November whether to tax large businesses to pay for homeless and housing services, an issue that set off a battle in another West Coast city struggling with income inequality. The city elections department verified Monday that supporters had collected enough signatures...
Who Runs California? Special Interests Flex Muscles Again.
SACRAMENTO — As the deadline approached last week for measures to qualify for California's November ballot, wealthy special interests pushed lawmakers to cut deals to avoid costly ballot measure campaigns in the latest display of money's power over policymaking. In a single day, beverage companies, a wealthy real estate developer...
Fresno Unified and Teachers Union Will Study Parcel Tax
A side letter in the new labor contract between Fresno Unified School District and the Fresno Teachers Association calls for a joint study of potential ballot measures — including a parcel tax — to help the district "reduce class sizes, improve student achievement and enhance programs that expand the learning...