Misprision

Noun: “The deliberate concealment of one’s knowledge of a treasonable act or a felony.” “Neglect or wrong performance of official duty.” “Seditious Conduct.”  Or: “Erroneous judgment particuarly of the value or identity of something.” 

Used in a Sentence: “Perhaps misprision is too strong a word, Assemblyman, but one hopes there’s a day job you can fall back on.”     Read more »

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Bill Restricting State Regulation of Internet Phone Service

 Silicon Valley companies, cable providers and phone companies are squaring off with consumer groups and labor unions over a bill that would restrict the ability of the California Public Utilities Commission to regulate Internet phone service – although the commission has not moved to do so and the federal government says they can’t even if they want to.    Read more »

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State-Imposed Fire Fees – A Bad Approach For All Californians

By Diane Dillon 

California’s rural county residents will soon be receiving bills from the State of California for fire services under a 2011 legislative scheme known as State Responsibility Area Fees. These new fees are unfair, costly and do not reflect that rural residents — much like urban dwellers — are already paying for local fire services.      Read more »

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“To Strive , To Seek, To Find And Not to Yield”

August 6 is the birthday of English poet Alfred Tennyson whose ending line from Ulysess, the favorite poem of California’s Capitol, won a competition last year in England called, “Winning Words.”

The phrase is engraved on a wall in Olympic Village.

Tennyson also provided President Harry Truman with his favorite poem, several stanzas of “Locksley Hall,” a handwritten copy of which Truman kept in his wallet from the time he graduated from high school.    Read more »

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Welcome to the Final Weeks of the Legislative Session: Please Send Money

Lawmakers return to Sacramento August 6 for a final 20 days to weigh the fate of hundreds of bills.

That’s the policy part. There’s also the politics.

On August 6, four legislative fundraisers are scheduled with a total tab of $4,300. On August 7, there are nine fundraisers scheduled in downtown at a cost of $10,800.    Read more »

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Facebook Floundering

On August 3, Facebook shares closed at $21.09.

Depending who you listen to, the projections anchoring the current state budget say in November Facebook stock will trade at $35 – Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance’s view — or $45, the Legislative Analyst says.

If those estimates are true then the state will pocket $1.2 billion according to the Department of Finance and $2.1 billion the way the Legislative Analyst sees it.    Read more »

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Happy Birthday Governor Johnson!

Although at times it can seem a more common occurrence, the “Know-Nothings” only held California’s statehouse form 1856 to 1858.

The Know-Nothings – officially the American Party — rose from the ashes of the Whigs and the growing division in the Democratic Party between what were known as the Lecomptons and Anti-Lecomptons after a proposed constitution for the new state of Kansas drafted in that city to allow slavery.    Read more »

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Culver City

This west Los Angeles city boasting the ‘smallest Main Street in the world” is named for its creator, Harry H. Culver, a Nebraska native who moved to California in 1910 after stints as a customs agent and reporter in the Philippines following enlisting in the Spanish-American War.

Culver took a job in real estate with developer Isaac Newton Van Nuys — yes, that Van Nuys —  then went out on his own.    Read more »

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BIll Lockyer for CSU Chancellor

California’s Capitol left this comment at the bottom of  a column by the Sacramento Bee’s Dan Morain about State Treasurer Bill Lockyer and his qualifications to be California State University Chancellor:

The 427,000 students and 44,000 faculty and staff of the California State University system would be terrifically lucky to have State Treasurer Bill Lockyer as their next chancellor.    Read more »

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Downward Trend of Facebook Is a Downer for the State

Facebook shares hit a new low July 31 — $21.71, 43 percent below its initial public offering.

This isn’t good new for the state, which hopes to bank a healthy chunk of tax receipts from stock sales the distribution of 240 million Restricted Stock Units to Facebook’s 3,000 employees as early as November.    Read more »

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