Dan Walters

Each year, the California Chamber of Commerce issues a list of "job killers" - bills the business community dislikes the most - and their fate is a guide to the Legislature's ideological orientation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom portrays California's latest job numbers as proof of a vigorous economic recovery, but as usual the facts tell a more nuanced story.

California politicians are falling all over themselves to send cash to car owners and/or taxpayers to offset a sharp increase in gasoline prices but it might take months for a final plan to be adopted.

"Tax expenditures" are a backdoor way for the state to spend money via targeted tax breaks, but they don't get the same scrutiny as other forms of spending.

California's judicial hierarchy wasted millions of dollars on an inoperable data system and on a futile public records case.

The likelihood of a $2.2 billion federal loan increases the possibility that the Sites Reservoir, a vital step in protecting California's water supply, will be constructed.

The culture of California's Capitol has changed much over the last few decades, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

California's courthouse construction program is insolvent and the state may take over management from the court system as it provides a bailout.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators moved quickly to overturn a court decision affecting enrollment at the University of California, but in doing so exposed several bad tendencies.

California's dominant Democratic Party is taking heat from both progressives and more conservative unions.