California Voices

Amid speculation as to why Jerry Brown has waited so long to make his fourth appointment to the California Supreme Court, the governor has said he does not want to rush. The decision will shape how future historians evaluate the Brown era.

As dozens of local governments ask their voters for tax increases this year, the laws governing tax elections are in a state of legal flux. A test case on the vote requirements for local taxes involves a tax for children's services approved by San Francisco voters in June.

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

Income inequality skyrockets as more of our nation’s gains go to an increasingly smaller group. Workers need a seat at the table. The future of work must not be determined by the wealthiest among us.

As Legislature nears adjournment for the year, two bills would counter federal tax reform's limit on deducting state and local taxes by granting converting some of them into charitable contributions. However, the Internal Revenue Service is warning that such work-arounds would not be allowed.

Proposition 6 would repeal a 12-cent per gallon gasoline tax. Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio calls it an unfair tax on working people. Skip Carter, a former Highway Patrol official, says it will make roads safer.

Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter and his wife have been indicted for misusing campaign funds, but his name will still be on the November ballot in the 50th Congressional District and he's still favored to win re-election. If Duncan resigns after winning, it would set up a special election.

The fast-track handling of a controversial bail proposal tests a California law. Passed as a ballot measure in 2016, that law requires a bill to be in print and on the Internet for 72 hours before legislators vote on it.

Bill Walzer, Berkeley California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker writes that the “current level of forest activities probably isn’t enough to supply biomass facilities with an economically viable flow of fuel from high-hazard areas and is insufficient to meet forest management needs within those same fire-prone regions.” Pessimism about using biomass from cleaning up […]

There's a "low-profile revolution" is underway in California's thousands of local governments as lawsuits force more of them to abandon "at-large" voting for members of their governing boards and elect them, instead, from districts. It's a result of a 2002 law, the California Voting Rights Act, that makes it easier to overturn at-large systems.