Updated: Monday, November 9 2009 - 8:11 am
With the water package behind them, legislative committees will hold hearings around the state this week on everything from the efficiency of the 911 system to the initiative process.
By Dan Walters -
Published: Monday, November 9 2009 - 12:00 am
Last June, the Public Policy Institute of California released a highly critical report on California's "enterprise zone" program that provides big tax breaks to businesses for supposedly hiring workers in areas of high unemployment.
By Andy Furillo -
Published: Sunday, November 8 2009 - 12:00 am
California lobbyists have filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court to stop the vote on a ballot measure scheduled for the June primary election that would make them the guinea pig in an experiment on campaign finance.
By Dan Walters -
Published: Sunday, November 8 2009 - 12:00 am
Mike Genest, who announced recently that he's resigning as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget director, deserves a respite after four years of dealing with the state's chronic fiscal crisis.
By Phillip Reese -
Updated: 11:09 am
California State University officials may have followed federal guidelines in reporting that stimulus money saved an inordinate number of campus jobs, but someone in the university system should have objected to reporting the numbers because "they don't make sense," California's stimulus watchdog official said Friday.
By Jon Ortiz -
Published: Saturday, November 7 2009 - 12:00 am
A public pension group has refiled proposed ballot measures that would create a mandatory second-tier pension system for new public employees hired by the state, counties, cities and other non-federal government agencies in California.
Published: Saturday, November 7 2009 - 12:00 am
The head of the California Citizens Compensation Commission said Friday he's not bothered by the Legislature's legal challenge to his panel's spring decision to slash state lawmakers' pay and benefits by 18 percent. But Chairman Charles "Chuck" Murray said he still thinks the move is a bad idea, given the state's troubled finances. "It makes no sense whatsoever for them to be doing this," he said.
By Dale Kasler -
Published: Saturday, November 7 2009 - 12:54 pm
Top California officials, responding to media reports about possible outside influence on CalPERS' investment decisions, are formulating legislation to tighten controls on so-called placement agents and restrict their fees.
By Dan Smith -
Updated: Friday, November 6 2009 - 9:55 am
The Legislature's top administrators have asked Attorney General Jerry Brown to decide whether pending 18 percent cuts to lawmakers' pay and benefits were legally approved by the California Citizens Compensation Commission.
By Andrew McIntosh -
Updated: Friday, November 6 2009 - 6:01 pm
A CalPERS board member on Thursday produced a canceled check showing he paid $23,630 for a trip to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2006 after it was initially paid for by a Nevada businessman whose clients were seeking investments from California's giant public employee pension fund.
Published: Friday, November 6 2009 - 12:00 am
A batch of amendments to a massive water bond bill was submitted to the state Senate's clerical desk Monday, and one, as it turned out, had nothing to do with water.
By Kevin Yamamura -
Published: Friday, November 6 2009 - 12:00 am
The California High-Speed Rail Authority on Thursday awarded a $9 million contract to Ogilvy Public Relations to promote the multibillion-dollar transportation project through June 2014.
By Andrew McIntosh and Dale Kasler -
Updated: Thursday, November 5 2009 - 7:16 am
CalPERS board member Charles Valdes took a $15,000 trip to London, Dubai and Hong Kong in 2006 with pension fund placement agent Alfred Villalobos, who paid for the journey on a personal credit card, according to documents obtained by The Bee.
By Diana Lambert -
Updated: Thursday, November 5 2009 - 12:30 am
California may be gaining ground in its race to the top.
Updated: Thursday, November 5 2009 - 10:45 am
Between unpaid furlough days and paid holidays off, most California civil servants won't work a five-day week again until Jan. 29. What's the impact?
Updated: Wednesday, November 4 2009 - 8:08 am
Two Republican state lawmakers sent a letter Tuesday calling for an investigation into reports that Attorney General Jerry Brown's top spokesman recorded phone conversations with reporters without their consent.
Published: Wednesday, November 4 2009 - 12:10 pm
Here are components of the water package approved early this morning:
FINANCING
Borrows $11.14 billion to pay for dams, underground water banking, water recycling, Delta restoration and regional projects. Voters must approve the bond at the November 2010 election. It would cost the state about $800 million a year in debt service at its peak.
DELTA OVERSIGHT
Creates a seven-member council charged with adopting a long-range management plan for the environmentally troubled estuary by 2012. The plan would include strategies to boost the reliability of water exports while protecting the ecosystem.
CANAL
Does not authorize a long-envisioned canal to move water around the Delta southward. But the Delta council would incorporate the canal into its plans -- if it meets environmental standards.
CONSERVATION
Calls for a statewide per-capita urban water use reduction of 20 percent by 2020, but not every water district would have to meet that threshold. Agencies that don't meet targets would be ineligible for state grants and loans. Farm water suppliers would not face targets but would have to submit efficiency plans.
GROUNDWATER MONITORING
Requires agencies to report water levels in underground basins. Agencies that don't comply could lose grants.
WATER RIGHTS
Gives state water regulators more powers to police illegal water diversions, although specific penalties would have to be added later by the Legislature.