Following 33 hours of negotiations held by federal negotiators, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) workers went on strike Friday, October 18, 2013, over pay and work rule changes. Currently, union workers’ average gross pay is $76,500. Although union and management reached agreement on changing worker pension contributions from zero to 4 percent, and increasing monthly… Continue Reading
Category Archives: California Politics
Governor Brown’s Decisions on Gun Control Laws
On October 11, California Governor Jerry Brown signed eleven gun control bills, while vetoing seven others. His veto of SB 374, which would have banned all semi-automatic rifles with detachable magazines, was met with support from the National Rifle Association, which had threatened to file a lawsuit if the bill became law. Senate Pro Tem… Continue Reading
California Raises Minimum Wage
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 September 12 in… Continue Reading
Colton Crossing: A Model for Public-Private Partnerships
By Jessica Jin ’16 First built in 1883, Colton Crossing historically is known as the site of one of the most heated railway construction conflicts of the 19th century, resulting in a personal confrontation between then California Governor Robert Waterman and the famed lawman Virgil Earp, an event that was later dubbed as “The Battle… Continue Reading
Unwinding Redevelopment Agencies
Written by Jessica Jin ’16 Over the past few decades, redevelopment agencies have operated as an influential and powerful conduit for California’s local governments to improve areas in need of economic growth. Originally authorized by the California State Legislature in 1945, redevelopment agencies were first conceived as a local tool to address regional economic issues.… Continue Reading
Tim Conlan Visits the Athenaeum
On February 21, the Rose Institute hosted Tim Conlan at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum for a lunch program. Tim Conlan is a professor at George Mason University who has authored numerous publications in the areas of federalism and public policy making. Conlan spoke on the subject of recent developments in federalism in the 21st… Continue Reading
Nov. 2012 Gay Marriage Ballot Initiatives
This November, there were four ballot initiatives across the United States concerning the legal legitimacy of same-sex marriage. The states that proposed these initiatives were Minnesota, Washington, Maryland, and Maine. The state of Minnesota currently bans same sex marriage, but voters recently chose to reject the the Marriage Amendment to the state constitution. This amendment… Continue Reading
Amazon.com Tax Dispute
More states, facing massive budget shortfalls, are reexamining their tax codes in an effort to collect sales taxes from online sellers. The move is generating the greatest response from Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer. For years, Amazon collected sales tax in only five states — Kansas, Kentucky, New York, North Dakota and Washington —… Continue Reading
City of Claremont vs. Golden State Water: Explained
Golden State Water Company, one of the largest privately-owned water companies in California and the primary supplier of water to a number of Southern California cities, and the City of Claremont have recently been engaged in heated discussion over rate increases. As a private company, Golden State Water (GSW) is permitted to submit an application… Continue Reading
John Chiang Visits the Athenaeum
On Monday, September 24th, the Rose Institute and the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum jointly sponsored a talk with California State Controller John Chiang. Chiang spoke of his time as Calfornia’s Chief Fiscal Officer during the late-2000s recession and the difficulties surrounding the handling of public dollars of the ninth-largest economy in the world. The collapse of Wall Street… Continue Reading