School Cut Hurts Minority, Low-Income Students

Some 2.7 million school children — hardest hit being Latino, African-American, English language learners — will lose $400 million in per-pupil spending unless Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs legislation to prevent the cut.

The reduction was part of the public school cuts approved by lawmakers in July to help balance the budget. Read more »

9.29.2009

Well Put

“Getting Domed.” The phenomenon,as described by one freshman lawmaker, of former local officials coming to Sacramento, passing beneath the dome and forgetting everything they previously knew. (Editor’s Note: Is that anything like being domed down?) “Getting Domed.” The phenomenon, as described by one freshman lawmaker, of former local officials coming to Sacramento, passing beneath the Capitol dome and forgetting everything they previously knew. Read more »

9.29.2009

Republican Leadership Comes at a Very High Price

9.28.2009

High Time To Celebrate California Archives Month

October is California Archives Month, a celebration of one of the Golden State’s great treasures.

The archives, which once were shoehorned into a Roseville warehouse, now are housed mainly at the California History Museum on 10th and O Streets in Sacramento. Many of the exhibits in the museum are items from the archives, which contains far more than just records of the official acts of the Legislature and the executive branch. Read more »

9.25.2009

Lobbyist Brings Relief to Mexican Hurricane Victims

(Editor’s Note: Rick Lehman is a Sacramento lobbyist. He is a former member of Congress and the state Assembly who represented Fresno. Recently, he helped facilitate the shipment of relief supplies to victims of Hurricane Jimena, which battered Baja California in early September. Lehman and others, particularly in the Bay Area, pulled together supplies and flew them to Loreto where Lehman has a vacation home. Read more »

9.24.2009

In Politics, Things Aren’t Always What They Seem

A lot of legislation in 2009 and previous years is aimed at protecting children and minors.

Among them, so it would appear, was an effort to make it harder for minors to buy liquor by banning the sale of alcoholic beverages from self-service check-stands.

The measure, AB 1060, was placed on the Senate Inactive File on September 11, the final day of the legislative session, according to the Senate webpage. Read more »

9.23.2009

Gubernatorial Campaign Deja Vu All Over Again

So there’s this new GOP candidate for governor, see.

She is encouraged to run by the same folks who encouraged the current occupant of the corner office to run six years ago.

Her message is that what Sacramento really needs is new leadership, leadership California can trust.

It is eerily similar to the same pitch the incumbent governor made in 2003. Read more »

9.23.2009

Helping the Cash-Starved Wannabe Organic Farmer

California would create its own program to help the state’s farmers transition to certified organic farming which takes three years and contains a variety of costs.

The program would be similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, created in 2002. The federal program gives $5 million to state organic programs in proportion to the number of organic producers and handlers within each state. Read more »

9.22.2009

Guest Post: Regulatory Costs to Small Business

Posted by Gino DiCaro, Vice President, Communications, California Manufacturers and Technology Association

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger released a study Sept. 22 on the cost of state regulations on California small businesses. The research, conducted by Sanjay Varshney, concluded that on average, each small business spent $134 thousand on regulations in 2007.

The report also concluded that the total cost of regulation to the state is $493 billion and 3.8 million jobs.?? Read more »

9.21.2009

Ignition Interlock Devices in Jeopardy

As if evidence of the state’s fiscal straits wasn’t stark enough, consider Assembly Bill 91, which would create pilot project in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties where persons convicted of drunk driving would be required to install an interlock device on their vehicles.

New Mexico, Texas, Washington, among other states, use the devices which the bill’s author, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, a Los Angeles Democrat, says can reduce DUI recidivism by as much as 95 percent. Read more »

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