Molly Munger, a wealthy civil rights attorney, talks with reporters in Sacramento about the tax measure she’s backing.(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Wyatt Buchanan
Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Sacramento –Supporters of two ballot initiatives that would raise taxes to fund public education and other services said on Monday they will not back down from those efforts, upending Gov. Jerry Brown’s crusade to clear the November ballot of any competing tax measures.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Gov. Jerry Brown’s campaign to balance the state budget with new income and sales taxes took a double hit Monday.

Brown has been describing his temporary sales and income tax increases as necessary to protect schools and public safety. But a new report on school finance from the Legislature’s budget analyst, Mac Taylor, makes it clear that even were Brown’s taxes to be increased, his budget would continue to reduce California’s per-pupil spending. Virtually all of the school money in the package would just pay schools what the state already owes them.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
February 6, 2012 | 5:36 pm

A proposal by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) probably won’t make her many friends among her colleagues. She wants to reduce the Legislature to part-time status and cut its pay from $95,000 annually to $1,500 a month.

Read the rest of this entry »

Carter

By Jim Sanders and Phillip Reese
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 – 7:10 am

With California billions behind on its budget and public services shrinking, the Assembly collectively tightened its belt last year – but not all of its members did.

Records released under court order show that Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez boosted the budgets of six members by tens of thousands of dollars apiece despite the fiscal emergency.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Peter Hecht
phecht@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Feb. 6, 2012 – 7:18 am

A proposed ballot initiative aimed for the November elections begs a key question looming over California’s medical marijuana industry: Can stricter state regulation keep the federal government from shutting it down?

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature settled on a hastily revised state budget last June – after Brown had vetoed legislators’ first version – and pronounced it to be balanced and timely.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
February 3, 2012 | 11:28 am

Gov. Jerry Brown has courted a coalition of business and labor groups to back his November initiative that would raise taxes on sales and upper incomes. Now, some on the left are lashing out at the governor’s plan, and his early donors, reaffirming their intent to place a competing tax measure on the ballot this fall.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
February 3, 2012 | 2:46 pm

A veteran attorney for the state’s political watchdog agency has been named acting executive director, addressing concern by some good-government activists that the position had long been vacant.

John W. Wallace, who has been the state Fair Political Practices Commission’s assistant general counsel, was approved by the panel to serve as its top staffer on an interim basis without any increase in pay.

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By Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Created: 02/02/2012 05:36:15 PM PST

Fundraising data for Rep. David Dreier, D-San Dimas, from the last quarter of last year suggests he’s likely to retire this year, according to local political experts.

The Federal Election Commission database reports Dreier collected only $10,160 in campaign contributions in the period from October to December. The figure is paltry compared with the $207,450 received in the same period in 2003, and the $137,600 in 2009.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Many years of partisan wrangling over the state budget reached a climax in 2010 when public employee unions and Democratic politicians persuaded voters to pass Proposition 25, eliminating the two-thirds vote for budgets.

It gave the Legislature’s majority Democrats the power to pass budgets without having to garner Republican votes. But that’s not all it did.

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By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 6B

By lowering its investment forecast by another quarter point, CalSTRS made a bow toward economic reality – but also may have complicated efforts to shore up its finances.

The teachers’ retirement board agreed Thursday to reduce CalSTRS’ official investment forecast to 7.5 percent, down from 7.75 percent. It was the second cut in 14 months, after the $144 billion fund left the forecast untouched for 15 years.

In a volatile investment climate, following a year in which CalSTRS’ portfolio earned just 2.3 percent, board members took their consultants’ advice and went with the lower number.

“I think it’s best that we be conservative,” said Terry McGuire, representing board member and state Controller John Chiang.

The board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System voted 9-1 to reduce the forecast. The lone dissent came from Pedro Reyes of the Department of Finance. The higher forecast “is not unreasonable,” he argued. “Let’s stay where we are right now, (and) visit this in another year.”

By cutting investment projections, the board instantly ballooned CalSTRS’ funding gap – the estimated shortfall of assets available to meet the pension fund’s long-term needs. The gap will grow by nearly $6 billion, or roughly 10 percent.

That could create problems in the Legislature, which must OK changes in how CalSTRS is funded.

CalSTRS gets around $5.6 billion a year from the state, school districts and teachers. The pension fund had already calculated that it needed another $4 billion a year to eventually get healthy. With the lower investment forecast, those needs grow by another $500 million a year.

While CalSTRS is pushing for more money, many Republicans want to erase funding shortfalls for public pensions by reducing benefits. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown wants to give newly hired employees a combination traditional pension and a 401(k)-style program.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/03/4235828/calstrs-gap-rises-as-return-forecast.html#mi_rss=Business#storylink=cpy

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
February 2, 2012

A “millionaires tax” initiative spearheaded by the California Federation of Teachers and the Courage Campaign received petition language today, as well as backing from the powerful California Nurses Association.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jon Ortiz
jortiz@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Gov. Jerry Brown laid out a detailed plan to alter California’s state and local public retirement systems on Thursday – and immediately drew fire from his core labor constituency.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012 – 6:42 am

State government payroll increased by half a billion dollars last year, even as California cut thousands of state worker jobs, according to a Bee analysis of new data from the Controller’s Office.

The payroll increase added about $140 million in wages to the Sacramento economy in 2011, contributing to a budding recovery.

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BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 31 January 2012 05:44 PM

Candidates for contested Inland House seats raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash at the end of 2011 as they jockeyed for position heading into the current election year.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 31, 2012 | 11:59 am

California is running out of cash, the state controller warned in a letter to lawmakers Tuesday.

Controller John Chiang said lawmakers need to scrape together $3.3 billion by March — assuming the state’s financial situation doesn’t get any worse.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A

Gov. Jerry Brown is raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for his tax campaign from California Indian tribes at the same time many tribes are seeking to renegotiate lucrative gambling compacts with him.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Gov. Jerry Brown is scaling back the state’s highly controversial bullet train project to keep it alive.

Just three months ago, his administration unveiled – with great fanfare – a revised “business plan” for building the north-south bullet train system to answer the embryonic project’s many critics.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 31, 2012

Rural and urban school districts in California that make heavy use of buses appear safe — for now.

State lawmakers are fast-tracking legislation that would transform a $248 million midyear school bus cut into a general-purpose reduction that hits each K-12 district evenly. The Assembly Budget Committee passed Senate Bill 81 with bipartisan support Tuesday, while an aide to Gov. Jerry Brown testified that the governor supports the proposal.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 31, 2012 | 3:30 pm

A bill requiring more prominent disclosure of political donors stalled in the California Assembly on Tuesday.

Under the proposal, television advertisements would include three seconds of a black screen listing the top donors supporting the message. Similar disclosure would be required on print advertisements or campaign mailers.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Dale Kasler
dkasler@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 6B

CalSTRS is thinking of cutting its investment forecast for the second time in barely a year, a move that acknowledges the increased financial strain on the pension fund.

The teachers’ retirement board on Thursday will consider a recommendation from its actuarial consultant to cut the forecast by a quarter point, to 7.5 percent.

Read the rest of this entry »

By PE Politics
January 30, 2012 3:08 PM

The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near San Bernardino has hired back its longtime Sacramento lobbyist, Frank Molina, with whom it parted ways last March amid an investigation by the state’s political ethics agency.

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By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Would it be churlish to say that the much-ballyhooed Think Long Committee for California fell short on fortitude?

Or merely accurate?

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 30, 2012 | 3:31 pm

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye lost a round over Judicial Council power

The state’s top judge lost a political battle Monday when the state Assembly voted to shift key budget decisions from the state Judicial Council that she heads to local trial courts, some of which have complained about the panel’s handling of money.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 30, 2012 | 7:09 pm

A state senator who is running for secretary of state is urging Gov. Jerry Brown to take over California’s beleaguered online campaign finance database, which was down for most of last month.

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Understaffed, overwhelmed, Riverside and San Bernardino county officials say the verdict is few options on further cuts

RICHARD K. De ATLEY/Staff

RICHARD K. De ATLEY
STAFF WRITER
rdeatley@pe.com

Published: 29 January 2012 07:33 PM

Like passengers on a plane with half the engines snuffed, Inland court officials can only wait and watch as Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget for next year fiscal year moves through the state’s political turbulence.

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Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, second from left, earned a aisle seat to greet President Barack Obama before the State of the Union speech./AP

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 29 January 2012 06:51 PM

They don’t call him “Working Joe” for nothing.

For at least the fourth consecutive year, U.S. Rep. Joe Baca outmaneuvered a host of his Democratic colleagues and worked himself into a coveted center aisle seat at last week’s State of the Union address. Baca, who was already in position several hours before the speech, again nabbed a primo spot and fought through the scrum of lawmakers to greet President Barack Obama on his way to the podium.

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Wendy Leung, Staff Writer
Created: 01/28/2012 06:11:04 AM PST

Hoping to restore jail funding to San Bernardino County, an Inland Empire assemblyman introduced a bill on Friday that could potentially bring $16 million to county coffers.

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By Howard Mintz hmintz@mercurynews.com
Posted: 01/30/2012 06:56:26 AM PST
Updated: 01/30/2012 07:31:17 AM PST

With a crucial vote looming Monday, a conflict that has shaken California’s judiciary reaches a critical stage when the Assembly considers legislation that would strip control of most of the court system’s purse strings from a central bureaucracy and turn it over to the Legislature and local trial judges.

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Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 29, 2012

The California Teachers Association officially agreed Sunday to back Gov. Jerry Brown’s multibillion-dollar tax plan, which should provide the governor hefty financial support for his fall campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Steven Harmon
Bay Area News Group

Posted: 01/29/2012 06:59:19 PM PST
Updated: 01/30/2012 03:20:06 AM PST

SACRAMENTO — The raging battle over the political and economic clout of labor unions is headed west to California.

The state’s powerful labor groups have anxiously witnessed union rights and benefits being gutted in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana. Now, unions in California are girding for an all-out war over a ballot initiative that would curb their ability to raise political cash.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

When a political party achieves dominance of any government, one expects that it would use its hegemony to enact its public policy agenda.

That’s the way democracy is supposed to work.

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Monday, January 30, 2012
By Ed Mendel

The nation’s two largest public pension funds last week reported slim annual investment earnings, CalPERS 1.1 percent and CalSTRS 2.3 percent, as experts continue to say hitting their long-term earnings target, 7.75 percent, will be difficult.

While CalPERS reported weak earnings in 2011, a prominent private-sector investment manager, Robert Arnott of Research Affiliates, told the board last week he thinks the most they can expect from stocks and bonds next decade is 4 percent.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 – 6:57 am

Jon Fleischman, the conservative blogger, was brooding the other day on Facebook, underwhelmed by the presidential candidates he has left to choose from.

Read the rest of this entry »

Norma Torres

Assemblywoman Norma J. Torres
Created: 01/28/2012 06:06:11 AM PST

The state Supreme Court’s ruling which eliminated redevelopment agencies has created uncertainty for cities and counties engaged in redevelopment activities. Redevelopment has been used as a tool by many cities and counties to successfully revitalize communities. The court’s decision throws into question how cities and counties will pay for infrastructure, housing and retail projects in blighted communities.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sandra Emerson, Staff Writer
Created: 01/28/2012 06:06:01 AM PST

UPLAND – The City Council has not made a formal request for the League of California Cities’ assistance in the medical marijuana case pending in the state Supreme Court, but some inquiries have been made.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The big news in Stanislaus County these days is that a big Internet retailer – almost certainly Amazon – will establish a huge distribution center in Patterson that would employ at least 1,500 workers.

Meanwhile, California new car sales reached nearly 1.3 million vehicles last year, a 9.9 percent improvement over 2010, and the state’s unemployment rate dipped in December to 11.1 percent, down 1.4 percentage points from the previous December, with at least a quarter-million more working.

Read the rest of this entry »

Toni Momberger, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/27/2012 06:48:38 PM PST

REDLANDS – The latest Redlands resident to announce candidacy for the newly drawn 31st Congressional District wants to be clear that he does not live in a manicured part of town.

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By Jim Sanders
jsanders@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

A California Supreme Court ruling Friday significantly raised Democratic Party prospects of gaining the supermajority needed in the state Senate to pass tax or fee increases.

The high court decided that Senate maps drawn recently by a 14-member citizens commission will be used for this year’s legislative elections, even if a pending referendum qualifies for the ballot.

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Gov. Jerry Brown pledges to cut spiraling costs, but key parts of his rollback plan apply mainly to future workers. Activists want quicker action.

By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
January 28, 2012

Reporting from Sacramento— Gilbert Robles retired as a state parole agent at age 53, able to collect a $101,195 annual pension — 94% of his final salary. Last year, six months after he retired, the Arcadia resident accepted a political appointment with the same agency that pays an additional six figures.

Scott Hallabrin took retirement as the top attorney for the state’s ethics agency on June 29, 2009. The next day, he went back to the same post, as he prepared to watch his pension checks roll in on top of a salary.

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PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 27, 2012 | 10:19 am

A correction has been added to this post. See below for details.

The California Supreme Court, faced with a possible ballot measure to scrap newly drawn election districts, decided Friday to leave the boundaries in place for this year’s state Senate races.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Mary Bono Mack

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 26 January 2012 11:52 AM

WASHINGTON — Newt Gingrich is an “erratic” thinker who “abandoned his conservative principals” before leaving Congress, Inland Rep. Mary Bono Mack said Thursday on behalf of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cities hoping for extra life for redevelopment agencies are told to focus on a future without them as a Feb. 1 deadline nears

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.co

Published: 26 January 2012 09:04 PM

SACRAMENTO — Legislation to extend the life of redevelopment agencies beyond Feb. 1 seemed all but dead Thursday despite a last-ditch push by local officials and other groups.

The California Supreme Court last month upheld a state law ending redevelopment, which for decades has helped local governments pay to revitalize downtowns and build new streets and also been criticized as a taxpayer subsidy for politically connected developers. Inland Southern California has some of the most active agencies in the state.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Curt Hagman

Assemblyman Curt Hagman
Created: 01/26/2012 11:31:48 AM PST

California’s Legislature has a full plate this year: crafting a responsible budget, protecting our schools, encouraging job creation, reforming public pensions and much more. Gov. Brown has just proposed a 7 percent increase in his 2012-13 budget and again asking voters for more tax increases when the state’s economy remains stalled by already high taxes and slow growth. Yet in my time in the state Assembly, it never ceases to amaze me when liberal politicians introduce unnecessary legislation that has nothing to do with the priorities of California’s citizens.

Read the rest of this entry »

Will Bigham, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Created: 01/26/2012 10:42:20 AM PST

A committee of the Cal State University Board of Trustees is set to begin the search for a new president at Cal State San Bernardino. President Albert Karnig is retiring at the end of the school year.

Read the rest of this entry »

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 26, 2012 | 8:12 pm

Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday urged 1,500 Los Angeles political and business leaders to back his proposal for higher taxes and implored them to pressure lawmakers in Sacramento to overhaul the state’s pension system this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Friday, Jan. 27, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Last Tuesday, the Public Policy Institute of California issued a new poll that found, among other things, just 17 percent of the state’s voters like the Legislature’s performance.

Simultaneously, the Legislature’s top leaders provided another reason for Californians to harbor such scorn.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye

January 26, 2012

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye today urged the defeat of Assembly legislation that would undermine the authority of the Judicial Council, and give courts in as few as two counties authority to veto any statewide judicial project.

Cantil-Sakauye, who became chief justice in 2010, is showing herself to be a tough fighter as she lobbies to kill legislation by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, himself the consummate inside player.

Read the rest of this entry »

POLITICS

By Shane Goldmacher
Updated: January 26, 2012 | 5:34 p.m.
January 25, 2012 | 9:30 p.m.

A sleepy race for a California Legislature seat is turning into a fractious family feud that pits a former top staffer to Buck McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, against the congressman’s wife.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most of his appointments in the first year went to people who live in Northern California, but 20 Inland residents got posts

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 25 January 2012 09:45 PM

SACRAMENTO — As Gov. Jerry Brown put his stamp on California government in the past year, his appointments leaned heavily toward the state’s less-populated northern half.

Since taking office in January 2011, Brown had made almost 580 appointments to administration jobs and state boards and commissions through last week. Of those, two-thirds listed residences in 10 Northern California counties, with a third, 194, from Sacramento County alone. Almost 70 percent are Democrats.

Read the rest of this entry »

California Gov. Jerry Brown presents his proposed state budget, which needs tax hikes to balance. (Lezlie Sterling / MCT / January 5, 2012)

By Marc Lifsher
January 25, 2012, 10:43 a.m.

California’s combination of business, sales, income and other taxes ranks it close to the bottom of the 50 states for being business-friendly, according to an index put out by a conservative Washington think tank.

California placed 48th, ahead of only New York at 49th place and New Jersey at 50th, said a report released Wednesday by the Tax Foundation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 25, 2012

Less than a week after Gov. Jerry Brown claimed widespread business support for his ballot initiative to raise taxes – including donations from big healthcare and oil companies – the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and California chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business urged business groups this afternoon to resist any effort by Brown to “cajole” them.

Read the rest of this entry »

California Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris walked away from talks with the banks last year, saying not enough was being offered for California homeowners. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Alejandro Lazo

January 25, 2012, 2:57 p.m.

Calif. Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris’ office has called a proposed $25-billion settlement with the nation’s mortgage industry “inadequate.”

“We’ve reviewed the details of the latest settlement proposal from the banks, and we believe it is inadequate for California,” Shum Preston, a spokesman for Harris, said in a statement. “Our state has been clear about what any multistate settlement must contain: transparency, relief going to the most distressed homeowners and meaningful enforcement that ensures accountability. At this point, this deal does not suffice for California.”

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By Jim Steinberg Staff Writer
Posted: 01/24/2012 08:43:11 PM PST

The Fontana and Rialto city councils scrambled on Tuesday night to approve measures paving the way for a Feb. 1 deadline for the dissolution of their redevelopment agencies.

Meanwhile, because of the complexity of what needs to be accomplished in a short time frame, two bond-rating agencies have taken negative actions toward billions of dollars in California bonds secured by redevelopment tax increment revenue.

Read the rest of this entry »

Capitol Alert
The latest on California politics and government
January 24, 2012

California voters like Gov. Jerry Brown’s idea of making high earners pay more taxes, but otherwise are of mixed minds about solving the state’s chronic budget woes, according to the Public Policy Institute of California’s latest poll on the topic.

Here are a few findings from the poll, released today:

Read the rest of this entry »

California State Controller John Chiang

PolitiCal
On politics in the Golden State
January 24, 2012 | 1:51 pm

Democratic lawmakers sued state Controller John Chiang on Tuesday seeking limits on the controller’s right to withhold lawmakers’ pay during a budget stalemate.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

As the Legislature reconvened this month, California’s judges resumed their civil war over money and power.

It pits Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and the State Judicial Council, along with one faction of trial and appellate judges, against a rebellious faction, organized as the Alliance of California Judges, over how to allocate pain as the courts adjust to reduced financing.

Read the rest of this entry »

It falls short of the 7.75% average that actuaries say CalPERS needs to meet obligations. Calendar-year results are just indicators — the public pension fund’s fiscal year ends in June.

By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
January 24, 2012

Reporting from Sacramento— The nation’s largest public pension fund, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, posted a 1.1% return on its investment portfolio in 2011, Chief Investment Officer Joseph Dear told his board.

The 2011 performance was well below the estimated average annual return of 7.75% that the fund’s actuaries say is needed to meet current and future obligations to its members.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
dwalters@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

The state budget contains hundreds of specific provisions but none is bigger, more complicated, more politicized, more emotional – or more important – than the 30 or so billion dollars that it spends on K-12 education.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Nancy Pelosi needs a gain of 25 House seats.

Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Washington — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is predicting that Democrats will recapture the House in November, a move that could open the possibility of the San Francisco Democrat regaining the speakership and becoming the first politician to return to that office after a defeat since Texas Democrat Sam Rayburn in 1955.

Read the rest of this entry »

January 23rd, 2012, 9:20 pm
Posted by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

As the lights are fading to black for California’s 425 redevelopment agencies, their successors will inherit $29.8 billion in unpaid long-term debt, according to the latest figures from the state controller’s office.

And that doesn’t include the wild-eyed issuance of at least $700 million in new debt last year, when the agencies had a hunch they’d soon be dismantled.

Read the rest of this entry »

Looming retirements, especially of the Inland area’s Rep. Jerry Lewis, could leave the region without political heft for years

BY BEN GOAD
WASHINGTON BUREAU
bgoad@pe.com

Published: 22 January 2012 08:39 PM

WASHINGTON — When Inland Rep. Jerry Lewis leaves office at the end of the year, he’ll take with him one attribute that none of his potential successors can promise to replicate: seniority.

Read the rest of this entry »

Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley/The Press-Enterprise

THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Published: 22 January 2012 07:52 PM

Workin’ It

When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. visited Riverside last week, a lot of the discussion was about the jobs created by goods movement and related construction projects such as the Magnolia Avenue underpass.

Add Laurence Parker to the job-creation list. Parker, waving an American flag and dressed as the Statue of Liberty, crashed Boxer’s presser to get a little attention for Liberty Tax Service, which has an office on Magnolia just north of the underpass. Usually he just stands in front of the office to draw the attention of drivers, much like a sign-spinner.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neil Nisperos and Benjamin Demers, Staff Writers
Created: 01/22/2012 06:22:41 PM PST

For two Rancho Cucamonga businessmen, the road to victory on Election Day in November got a tad easier in the wake of Rep. Jerry Lewis’ retirement earlier this month.

But before being able to represent the newly drawn 40th Assembly District, Republican Mike Morrell and Democrat Russ Warner will have to get past each other.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Walters

Published: Monday, Jan. 23, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Whenever someone suggests that California’s public employee pension systems need reform, civil service unions react dismissively, often with attacks on the credentials or even the morals of critics.

Read the rest of this entry »

George Skelton

By George Skelton, Capitol Journal
January 23, 2012

It’s the norm in January: After the governor proposes a new budget and delivers his State of the State address, legislators slide into hibernation until spring.

Oh, there’s some rustling around in the dens — a few committee hearings, brief floor sessions — but no strenuous activity, no risk taking until May, when deadlines sprout and the governor revises his budget proposal.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Ed Mendel
Monday, January 23, 2012

A new advisory panel, following a move by CalPERS last year, recommends that public pensions take a small step that touches on a big issue: What happens if pension fund earnings fall below the forecast?

Read the rest of this entry »

Derry

Saturday, January 21, 2012 – 06:15 p.m.

The highway funding arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation has cleared San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Neil Derry to resume voting on federally-funded expenditures in his duties as an elected official.

The Federal Highway Administration gave Derry the green light effective Friday.

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Regional transportation planners focus funding, planning on local connections, not bullet train to Nevada

BY DUG BEGLEY
STAFF WRITER
dbegley@pe.com

Published: 21 January 2012 05:24 PM

Transportation planners once dreamed that super-fast trains would whisk Southern Californians at more than 300 mph across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas.

But the idea of a magnetic levitation train didn’t stick around for long in regional transportation plans developed by the Southern California Association of Governments. Local planners instead are concentrating on connections within Southern California, so that when — and if — bullet trains ever come, conventional trains have a steady and direct route to get to them.

Read the rest of this entry »

By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A
Last Modified: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 9:59 am

“My father built the water plan. I want to complete it. So, whether it’s high-speed rail or water or education or public safety, I’m going to invest and build for the future, not steal from it.” GOV. JERRY BROWN, son of former Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown

Before leaving Southern California last week, after urging greater infrastructure spending in a “land of dreams,” Gov. Jerry Brown recalled how long he has made that case and how wary of his ideas people can be.

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Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sacramento –Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to finally fix California’s finances relies on several dubious assumptions, including that voters approve his proposal to raise taxes in November and that the revenue from those come in at the level the administration projects.

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Dan Walters

By Dan Walters
Published: Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 3A

Jerry Brown evidently does not want to join the nascent movement to overhaul – perhaps radically – California’s dysfunctional political structure.

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A state Assembly plan to continue revamping ex-military bases could be expanded to Inland sites

BY JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
jmiller@pe.com

Published: 19 January 2012 06:19 PM

SACRAMENTO — Redevelopment agencies focused on bringing new businesses and other projects to decommissioned military bases could keep operating if legislation taking shape in the Capitol becomes law.

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Bob Dutton, left. Gary Miller, right.

Neil Nisperos, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/19/2012 11:19:19 AM PST

The race for the 31st District got more interesting this week with state Sen. Bob Dutton officially tossing his hat in the ring.

Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, will face a field of contenders that includes Rep. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; Renea Wickman, the cofounder of a nonprofit aimed at helping juvenile offenders readjust to society; Justin Kim, an attorney from Loma Linda; and Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar.

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By David Siders
dsiders@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 – 12:00 am | Page 1A
Last Modified: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 – 12:13 am

SAN DIEGO – Gov. Jerry Brown, campaigning for higher taxes and infrastructure spending in the state’s more conservative reaches Thursday, claimed widespread business support for his tax plan and suggested dire consequences should it fail.

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