By Shane Goldmacher -
12:00 am
Assembly Speaker Karen Bass used hers to fund voter registration efforts to elect more Democrats. Former Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata used his to bolster his legal defense fund. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his to pay for his political operation for the last two years.
12:00 am
Legislators who know a proposal isn't going anywhere often like to announce they have "thrown down the gauntlet."
By Kevin Yamamura -
12:00 am
The state's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office confirmed Wednesday that California could run short of cash as soon as Feb. 1 unless lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger immediately cut spending and raise revenues.
By Cynthia Hubert -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:24 am
Nearly 800 advocates for California's "working families" gathered in downtown Sacramento on Tuesday, and they had plenty to talk about.
By Jim Sanders -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
The Assembly and Senate will not impose the mandatory furloughs required of most other state workers, but both legislative houses announced plans to cut spending Tuesday.
By Daniel Weintraub -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
Anybody who watches the California Legislature up close probably understands the voters' impulse to pass measures tying the hands of lawmakers when it comes to managing the budget. When the Legislature's approval rating hovers around 15 percent, the public isn't going to trust the politicians to make important decisions.
By Aurelio Rojas -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:24 am
A coalition of more than 50 labor unions Tuesday urged the California Supreme Court to overturn a ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in the state.
By Jim Sanders -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
Being a good Samaritan can land Californians in court and cost them plenty, perhaps.
By Dan Walters -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
One of the odder and more interesting aspects of the Capitol's budget stalemate has been a scheme by Democrats to increase revenue by billions of dollars without, or so they say, running afoul of the 31-year-old constitutional requirement that tax increases require two-thirds legislative votes.
By E.J. Schultz -
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
State Sen. Dean Florez is sticking up for a felon in the man's tussle with the state over his family's business a Bay Area card room that has donated to the senator's political campaigns.
Wednesday, January 14 2009 - 12:00 am
If you're running for office, it's never too early to grab endorsements before someone else does.
By Dan Walters -
Tuesday, January 13 2009 - 12:00 am
There was a time, a few decades ago, when "Valley Republican" had a special meaning in the state Capitol.
By Dan Walters -
Monday, January 12 2009 - 12:00 am
The old saying among Capitol insiders that "what goes around comes around" is especially applicable to the perennial battle over financing public schools, by far the largest single item of the state budget.
By Melissa Nix -
Sunday, January 11 2009 - 12:00 am
Under the governor's latest proposal to balance California's budget, school districts can shave five days off next school year to save money.
By Dan Walters -
Sunday, January 11 2009 - 12:00 am
Defense spending in the 1980s, high-tech startups in the 1990s and housing-fueled consumer spending in the 1990s all were California economic bubbles that burst spectacularly, leaving recession and government deficits in their wake.
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg -
Sunday, January 11 2009 - 12:00 am
Worried that Kaiser Permanente may be letting unlicensed staffers make medical decisions, the state is investigating the giant HMO's call centers and plans to demand documents that Kaiser has refused to surrender.
Saturday, January 10 2009 - 12:00 am
Agencies outside the governor's direct jurisdiction and exempt from furlough orders but subject to other budget cuts as approved by the Legislature and governor:
By Steve Wiegand -
Saturday, January 10 2009 - 12:00 am
The California Teachers Association has put together an initiative that would raise the state sales tax by a penny and dedicate all of the resulting revenue to education.
By Dan Walters -
Friday, January 9 2009 - 12:00 am
Five years ago, a newly inaugurated Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger beseeched California voters to pass a $15 billion bond issue to refinance the state's burgeoning budget deficit and "cut up the credit cards" with another measure that prohibited any budget that spends more than its revenues.
Friday, January 9 2009 - 12:00 am
Golden State golfers are mobilizing to fight the governor's proposal to slap the state sales tax on the game/sport/religion.
By Bobby Caina Calvan -
Friday, January 9 2009 - 12:00 am
In a decision with broad implications for health care consumers, the California Supreme Court has ruled that medically insured patients may not be billed for emergency care that their health plans refuse to pay.
By M.S. Enkoji -
Friday, January 9 2009 - 12:00 am
Jim Foutz doesn't drive much anymore at 87, but the license plate on his car tells his story: the North Highlands man survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
By Denny Walsh -
Friday, January 9 2009 - 12:00 am
For political expediency, the state is trying to weasel out of continued cooperation with a court-appointed receiver's effort to bring prison health care up to constitutional standards
Thursday, January 8 2009 - 12:00 am
Citing missed work deadlines and other problems, the state has terminated a $69 million contract with BearingPoint Inc. of McLean, Va.
By Tony Bizjak -
Thursday, January 8 2009 - 12:00 am
With the clock ticking toward insolvency, talks on fixing California's budget this week hit a bottleneck on Highway 50 in Rancho Cordova where officials are at odds over the state's iconic and controversial environmental protection law.
By Susan Ferriss -
Thursday, January 8 2009 - 12:00 am
State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said Wednesday that he had a commitment from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to nominate a labor representative to a long-vacant position on the three-person occupational safety appeals board.
Thursday, January 8 2009 - 12:00 am
Friday's court date could be delayed for the lawsuit brought by the California Association of Professional Scientists and Professional Engineers in California Government against the state employee furloughs ordered by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
By Jon Ortiz -
Thursday, January 8 2009 - 12:00 am
A crisis doesn't build relationships. It reveals them.
By Daniel Weintraub -
Wednesday, January 7 2009 - 12:00 am
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, sparring with legislators over the state's impending fiscal meltdown, has postponed his annual state-of-the-state address until Jan. 15, perhaps hoping that by then he can describe California's condition as anything but undeniably bleak.
Wednesday, January 7 2009 - 12:00 am
Nearly 700 subscribers whose policies were canceled by Blue Shield of California will be reinstated as part of a settlement reached with the California Department of Insurance, state officials announced Tuesday.
By Dan Walters -
Wednesday, January 7 2009 - 12:00 am
The ethnic, linguistic, aptitudinal, cultural and economic diversity of California's 6 million public school kids has expanded greatly over the past few decades, but the school system itself has become more centralized, more politicized and more rigid in its pedagogy.
By Phillip Reese -
Tuesday, January 6 2009 - 12:00 am
Any budget agreement between Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that skirts the state's two-thirds vote requirement for new taxes will almost certainly be challenged in the courts and there's a significant chance the state would lose, some legal experts said Monday.
By Dan Walters -
Tuesday, January 6 2009 - 12:00 am
A convoluted and highly questionable scheme to generate billions of dollars for the state via local redevelopment agencies is being revived as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders race with the calendar to close an enormous budget deficit.