Following the passage of SB 89 in 2011, the four newly incorporated cities of Jurupa Valley, Menifee, Eastvale, and Wildomar in Riverside County faced drastic cuts in state funding. The vehicle license fee (VLF) revenue expected from the state was reallocated elsewhere, leaving considerable gaps in municipal budget plans. For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, these… Continue Reading
Facing $296 million of unfunded liabilities, a $45 million budget shortfall, and depleted general fund reserves, San Bernardino filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on August 1, 2012. The city sought protection from its creditors while it developed recovery plans in hope of achieving financial stability. In our Fall 2012 issue we examined the factors that… Continue Reading
California has a long tradition of direct democracy, allowing citizens to bypass their elected representatives, propose laws, place them on the ballot, and enact them at the polls. This November Californians will once again be given the responsibility of resolving a multitude of critical public policy issues. Voters will evaluate the merits of six different… Continue Reading
Written by Manav Kohli ’16 California’s prison population grew by a factor of seven between 1980 and 2006. State prison facilities, however, had not expanded to accommodate the inflow of inmates, and faced severe overcrowding. In 2011 the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Plata that California must reduce its prison population to 137.5% of… Continue Reading
Written by Ryan Driscoll ’16 Water management has historically been a source of contention and conflict in California. California’s water governance complexities have developed over the course of the state’s history to control water supply, water quality, and flood control. The two state agencies at the forefront of water management are the California Department of… Continue Reading
On November 8, 2013 the deputy state attorney general, on behalf of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, argued that Central Valley residents who sued the state over the planned construction of high-speed rail had no standing to sue. Instead, the state contends that it is the responsibility of the state legislature to determine whether the… Continue Reading
Privacy For All Students, a coalition of parents, students, non-profit and faith groups, announced on Sunday, November 9, 2013, that they had collected 620,000 signatures in an effort to repeal California’s transgender rights law, AB1266. Political strategist Frank Schubert, who led the Prop. 8 campaign and contributed to the effort to block of same-sex marriage… Continue Reading
This spring, California Governor Jerry Brown proposed a number of significant changes to K-12 funding in his 2013-2014 budget proposal. Brown’s proposal would provide marginal increases in per-pupil spending while implementing a new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). The formula offered two key changes from the status quo: It utilized a “need-based” metric for funding… Continue Reading
On Wednesday, October 9, 2013 Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill into law increasing the types of medical workers allowed to perform abortions in California. AB154, sponsored by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), permits physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse-midwives to carry out abortions during the first trimester. Non-physicians will have to undergo training… Continue Reading
On September 25, 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill to raise California’s minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2016. Assembly Bill 10 raises the current minimum wage of $8/hour in two $1 increments, the first by July 2014 and the second by January 2016. It passed on Sep. 12 in… Continue Reading
