Dan Walters

With a strong economy, California has a very tight labor market with many jobs going unfilled. A low "workforce participation rate" and high housing costs that discourage migration exacerbate the worker shortage and could slow the state's economic growth.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Lt. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Dianne Feinstein look like winners in a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, while the ballot's two highest-profile measures look like losers.

An initiative that would remove Proposition 13's property tax assessment protections from hotels, warehouses, office buildings and other commercial property has qualified for the 2020 ballot. However, the chief organizer of the proposal hopes for an agreement on tax changes that would remove the measure from the ballot.

California officials are straddling a fine legal line as they use public funds to persuade voters to approve billions of dollars in taxes, fees and bonds.

Tying political contributions to legislation is illegal bribery that could land dealmakers in prison, but such pay-to-play tactics are perfectly legal when it comes to ballot measures.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Kevin de León needed to get aggressive in his only joint appearance with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who he wants to defeat on Nov. 6. But de León was very subdued and didn't change the campaign's dynamics.

Despite very strong growth in property taxes, hundreds of local governments are asking voters to approve additional taxes. They are reluctant, however, to tell voters that rising pension costs are the major reason.

Jerry Brown has never been interested in management of the state bureaucracy and as he prepares to retire from the governorship he probably will leave behind a managerial debacle in the state Department of Motor Vehicles.