Business & Economics
Business & Economics
As Bell shows, public pay is the public’s business
During National Sunshine Week, the public continues to be outraged by the lavish salaries taken by former city officials in Bell. Fortunately, the city can teach important lessons on how to improve California’s transparency laws. The Bell scandal came to light using the 1968 California Public Records Act (CPRA), which ...
Business & Economics
Bringing More Sunshine to California
To counter the powerful incentives facing elected and appointed public-sector officials and government employees to conceal information and operations, “sunshine laws” have been enacted to open the doors of government so the public can view the debates, decisions, and actions of government and the outcomes of government policies. The laws ...
Business & Economics
National Sunshine Week: New Report Shows How to Bring More Open Government to California
Study looks at the history, strengths, and weaknesses of open-government laws and practices in California and recommends more than two dozen reforms based on a comparative assessment of California’s laws and practices with those in the other 49 states. Sacramento—California’s open-government laws are weak in many areas and in need ...
Business & Economics
Bye-Bye Secret Ballot?
State Democrats are again trying to eliminate the secret-ballot vote for union certification. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his latest measure as the alternative electoral method for choosing collective bargaining representatives. It is that, and a lot more. Under card check, instead of voting for or against union ...
Business & Economics
Jerry Brown’s Good Deed Gets Punished
Forced to choose between funding public schools and subsidizing ritzy golf courses, many California officials prefer the latter. That’s become painfully clear in the past few weeks as Golden State politicians have fiercely opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shave $1.7 billion from the state’s budget deficit by shuttering California’s ...
Business & Economics
Governor exposes his hypocrisy by denying Californians a vote
Republican efforts to trade a tax vote for a fiscal reform vote are going nowhere fast, as Gov. Jerry Brown continues to prove that he is the best $30 million investment that the state’s public employee unions ever could have made. That’s the amount of independent expenditures the unions spent ...
Business & Economics
California’s three-step recovery
As conflicts rage across the Midwest between state governments intent on solving their budget crises and public-sector unions trying to protect the status quo, there has been a worrisome calmness in Sacramento. This is a sure sign that California leaders are refusing to make hard decisions, in a state whose ...
Business & Economics
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
Business & Economics
The Fed needs to free the market
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its finding that the devastating economic events of the past few years were “preventable.” The FCIC heaped the blame on many parties, but drew the wrong conclusion when it faulted the government and Federal Reserve for lax oversight. On the ...
Business & Economics
Obama should abandon energy fables and deal with facts
After a bruising battle over cap and trade last year, President Obama has set his sights on another target — oil and natural gas companies. Vilifying “big oil” might be good politics, but it’s bad policy. If we’re going to get serious about energy solutions, we first need to separate ...
As Bell shows, public pay is the public’s business
During National Sunshine Week, the public continues to be outraged by the lavish salaries taken by former city officials in Bell. Fortunately, the city can teach important lessons on how to improve California’s transparency laws. The Bell scandal came to light using the 1968 California Public Records Act (CPRA), which ...
Bringing More Sunshine to California
To counter the powerful incentives facing elected and appointed public-sector officials and government employees to conceal information and operations, “sunshine laws” have been enacted to open the doors of government so the public can view the debates, decisions, and actions of government and the outcomes of government policies. The laws ...
National Sunshine Week: New Report Shows How to Bring More Open Government to California
Study looks at the history, strengths, and weaknesses of open-government laws and practices in California and recommends more than two dozen reforms based on a comparative assessment of California’s laws and practices with those in the other 49 states. Sacramento—California’s open-government laws are weak in many areas and in need ...
Bye-Bye Secret Ballot?
State Democrats are again trying to eliminate the secret-ballot vote for union certification. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg describes his latest measure as the alternative electoral method for choosing collective bargaining representatives. It is that, and a lot more. Under card check, instead of voting for or against union ...
Jerry Brown’s Good Deed Gets Punished
Forced to choose between funding public schools and subsidizing ritzy golf courses, many California officials prefer the latter. That’s become painfully clear in the past few weeks as Golden State politicians have fiercely opposed Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to shave $1.7 billion from the state’s budget deficit by shuttering California’s ...
Governor exposes his hypocrisy by denying Californians a vote
Republican efforts to trade a tax vote for a fiscal reform vote are going nowhere fast, as Gov. Jerry Brown continues to prove that he is the best $30 million investment that the state’s public employee unions ever could have made. That’s the amount of independent expenditures the unions spent ...
California’s three-step recovery
As conflicts rage across the Midwest between state governments intent on solving their budget crises and public-sector unions trying to protect the status quo, there has been a worrisome calmness in Sacramento. This is a sure sign that California leaders are refusing to make hard decisions, in a state whose ...
Analyze This: Unelected Regulatory Zealots Don’t Need More Power
California’s Legislative Analyst (LAO) is a nonpartisan body “providing fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature for more than 70 years,” according to its website. Some of its recent advice is seriously misguided, such as a proposal to expand the power of an unelected body, headed by regulatory zealots, that ...
The Fed needs to free the market
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission issued its finding that the devastating economic events of the past few years were “preventable.” The FCIC heaped the blame on many parties, but drew the wrong conclusion when it faulted the government and Federal Reserve for lax oversight. On the ...
Obama should abandon energy fables and deal with facts
After a bruising battle over cap and trade last year, President Obama has set his sights on another target — oil and natural gas companies. Vilifying “big oil” might be good politics, but it’s bad policy. If we’re going to get serious about energy solutions, we first need to separate ...
