Two years ago, in a rare display of support for transparency in government finance, the Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown required local governments and school districts to tell voters how proposed bond issues would affect their property taxes. That would seem to be just common sense and good government, but...
Walters: 'Job Killer' Bills May Be More Difficult to Kill
For two decades, the California Chamber of Commerce’s annual descriptions of certain legislative bills as “job killers” have framed the Capitol’s sharpest economic conflicts. The chamber, working in concert with other business and employer groups, has been remarkably successful in modifying or killing the two or three dozen measures that...
Beyond the Tampon Tax: How Far Will California Go to End 'Menstrual Inequity'?
Annie Wang remembers the panic she felt being a freshman in a 500-person chemistry class at UC Davis when her period arrived and she didn’t have a tampon or pad. There was nowhere nearby to go, and leaving to find something meant missing the class. So she tried to focus...
‘Common Sense Regulations’ or ‘an Extended Middle Finger’? How Far Will California Go on Charter Schools?
With new fast-tracked transparency rules for charter schools in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has fulfilled a January pledge to bring “long overdue” accountability measures to this growing sector of public schools. But the open meeting and disclosure law Newsom signed — after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed similar bills twice in prior years...
Walters: State Supreme Court Ducks Key Pension Issue
The state Supreme Court could have addressed a fundamental issue in California’s public employee pension crisis – whether the so-called “California rule” makes it impossible to reduce benefits. However, the court punted this week, ruling that since the Legislature and former Gov. Jerry Brown legitimately eliminated a way that workers...
Walters: State Tax Reforms or State Tax Increases?
There is a substantial list of governance issues that former Gov. Jerry Brown said were important, but that he left on his desk for successor Gavin Newsom. For instance, although he and the Legislature enacted a very modest reform of public employee pensions, he repeatedly said it was only a...
Walters: 'Dr. Newsom' Wants to Cure State's Tech Disease
One of the great mysteries of California politics is why, in a state that boasts of its digital innovation, its government has such a miserable record on using technology. We’ve seen an endless litany of technology projects that run up enormous costs but fail to deliver promised efficiencies, or in...
Gov. Brown Tweets to California: 'Thank You'
Gov. Jerry Brown will finish his final term at noon Monday and then head to his Colusa ranch with wife, Anne Gust Brown. Brown tweeted a video compilation of his accomplishments Friday afternoon, along with a three-word political farewell: "Thank you, California." Indeed, several of Brown's achievements wouldn't have been...
Brown's Last Act Includes Keeping High-Speed Rail Leaders
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown reappointed two leaders of California's embattled high-speed rail board on Wednesday, days before leaving office. He gave Dan Richard of Piedmont and Tom Richards of Fresno fresh four-year terms on the board of directors that oversees the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is tasked with...
Last-Minute Challenge to New California Police Records Law Fails
SACRAMENTO — The California Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a last-minute challenge to a pending state law that opens police records to the public and eases what currently is one of the nation's most secretive police privacy laws. The justices denied a police union's petition contending that the law should...