California lawmakers and other state officials arranged for donors, many with business at the Capitol, to contribute $28 million to nonprofit organizations, local museums and other favored causes during the first half of the year, according to the most recent filings with the Fair Political Practices Commission. So-called behested payments must be reported when a
The Workers’ Compensation Insurance Research Bureau’s 2015 State of the System Report summarizes the key components of the California workers’ compensation insurance system as of mid-2015. Principal findings include: Written premiums in California continue to grow at a double-digit annual rate due to higher premium rates and to growth in insured payroll resulting from economic
Even the greenest, most eco-friendly politicians rarely utter the words Gov. Jerry Brown spoke at the Vatican’s climate change symposium last week. To prevent the worst effects of global warming, one-third of the world’s known oil reserves must remain in the ground, Brown told the gathering of government officials from around the world. The same goes
It was mid-morning one day in May and somewhere deep inside a 25-story tower in Sacramento, an auction, cloaked in secrecy, was about to begin. State workers surrendered their cell phones and took positions monitoring computer screens inside the building that houses California’s environmental agencies. Across the world, traders logged in, poised to buy permits
Could the Democrats regain their supermajorities in the 2016 legislative elections? Not likely. Just one of the six Senate seats that will be vacated next year by term limits is held by a Republican, GOP floor leader Bob Huff, who is now running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. GOP leaders have recruited
Rejecting the pleas of California officials worried about water conservation, the state Supreme Court this week left intact a lower court ruling that makes it tougher for cities and water districts to impose punishing higher rates on water wasters. In its weekly closed-door conference, the Supreme Court refused to soften the statewide impact of an
Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal, July 15 The European Union announced plans to overhaul its weakened carbon-trading program and redesign its electricity market, in efforts to help the bloc meet its targets to curb greenhouse gas emissions. One of the key measures was a legislative proposal to remodel the region’s carbon-emissions trading system for
Enforcement agents from the California Fair Political Practices Commission are scrutinizing the president of the California Public Utilities Commission over tens of thousands of dollars he raised from labor groups and energy lawyers to pay for a gala dinner honoring his predecessor. Spokesman Jay Wierenga said “FPPC enforcement is looking into” donations solicited by utilities
Los Angeles County, the largest voting jurisdiction in the U.S., has hired IDEO, a design company with roots in Silicon Valley, to overhaul how it serves up democracy. IDEO has developed a touchscreen system that incorporates features familiar to voters used to scrolling and tapping. Election administrators across the country are closely watching the experiment.
It’s not as if any more proof were needed that California has some very rich people. Still, there’s fresh evidence: It turns out that the state includes 14 of the 20 most expensive ZIP codes in the country. But it doesn’t have No.1. That distinction belongs to Sagaponack, a village in the Hamptons on eastern