Commentary

The state agency that regulates California’s legal profession jumped out of the political frying pan this year, but is still feeling searing heat from two new conflicts. Bowing to pressure from critical legislators, the State Bar finally agreed to divide its two incompatible roles of licensing (and policing) attorneys and acting as a trade association […]

Efforts by Republicans to repeal California’s new gas taxes may be ill-considered, but they deserve a fair chance at persuading voters. Attorney General Xavier Becerra, however, is emulating the tendencies of his most recent predecessors, such as U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, by distorting the language of a repeal ballot measure. The initiative is the handiwork […]

There’s much political complaining in California these days over congressional plans to overhaul the nation’s tax system in a way that would cost many Californians, particularly those in high tax brackets, more money. The federal plans are still being finalized – if they can be – and are aimed at raising enough money to pay […]

It should be evident by now that the Capitol’s sexual harassment issue isn’t going to fade away. In the past, accusations of harassment by a political figure either were covered up or attracted only momentary public and media attention. But those days are over. An open letter signed by dozens, and then hundreds, of women […]

California’s top politicians and interest groups celebrated a few months ago when the Legislature passed a package of taxes and fees to pay for long-neglected improvements to the state’s transportation systems. The heart of the $5-plus billion per year revenue package is a 12-cent-a-gallon hike in gasoline taxes that took effect this month, just as […]

Jerry Brown, like most of humankind, is a mixture of positive and negative tendencies, and sometimes they run together. The governor is a very smart man with a remarkable and admirable ability to soak up information and synthesize it into political policy, but sometimes it morphs into an air of intellectual and moral superiority and […]

Three recent and seemingly discrete events neatly frame California’s political and legal war over whether the state’s six million K-12 students are being adequately educated. The conflict pits the state’s education establishment against a coalition of civil rights groups, education reformers and charter school advocates over the “achievement gap” that separates poor children, particularly Latinos […]

Ernest Callenbach’s 1975 novel “Ecotopia” described a mythical nation carved out of the Pacific Northwest region of the United States – Washington, Oregon and Northern California – on the premise of environmental stewardship. As summarized in Wikipedia, “The book is set in 1999…and consists of diary entries and reports of journalist William Weston, who is […]

It’s doubtful whether more than a relative handful of Californians have heard of the Unemployment Insurance Fund. It is, however, one of state government’s largest activities – and a case study in political mismanagement. Currently, California employers pay about $6 billion in payroll taxes into the UIF each year. And currently, the state Employment Development […]

Eric Bauman, the state Democratic Party’s newly elected chairman, made an appearance before the Sacramento Press Club last week and, of course, the blowup over sexual harassment in and around the Capitol was a hot topic for questioning journalists. Bauman made some news during the joint event with his Republican counterpart, Jim Brulte, by suggesting […]