The problems with the state controller's antiquated computer system, a well-documented issue over the years, took a new turn when a Senate panel reported the controller wasn't forthright with lawmakers about the extent of the problem.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian: "The report is critical of the state controller's office, which was responsible for the project, and said officials withheld evidence of problems from lawmakers."
"The upgrade, known as the 21st Century Project, was halted in February, and the contractor, SAP Public Services, was fired after testing revealed serious problems. The state had already spent $254 million on the project, and it was five years overdue."
"The project suffered from lapses in due diligence, a failure to resolve core issues raised early and often, chronic turnover in leadership and what may have been unrealistic expectations," the report said."
Speaking of the controller, California's tax revenues came in below projections in July.
From the Sacramento Business Journal's Christopher Arns: "The state of California’s cash flow took a hit in July, according to numbers released Monday by the State Controller’s Office."
"The government’s revenue last month was 6 percent lower than forecast by the budget, which predicted July tax receipts would bring $5.1 billion into state coffers. Instead, revenue totaled $4.8 billion."
"A drop in personal income taxes created the roughly $300 million shortfall. Personal income taxes were off 7 percent, dipping $273 million below the budget’s estimates. On the other hand, corporate levies were 4.9 percent above expectations, bringing in $10.1 million in extra revenue, and sales tax receipts were up $7.1 million for an increase of 0.9 million above original estimates."
They may have been loud and irritating, but those alerts that went out to cell phones across California recently played a critical role in a major case.
From the Bee's Laura Rosenhall: "California emergency officials and the leader of the state Assembly are urging Californians not to disable emergency alerts from their cell phones, saying the rescue over the weekend of 16-year-old Hannah Anderson proves how useful the text messages can be."
"An FBI agent rescued the teen from a remote wooded area of Idaho on Saturday and killed her abductor after officials had issued Amber Alerts with information about the car they believed the suspect was driving. The text alert went out on cell phones across California last Monday night, accompanied by a blaring buzz on many phone models."
"The message prompted complaints from some consumers - that it was noisy, invasive, repeated too many times or hard to make sense of because the text disappeared quickly. Media reports described some people saying they would disable the alerts from their phones."
The lineup in the race for the Assembly's 16th District includes the prominent consultant who captained Jerry Brown's gubernatorial campaign and who is in a major tiff with organized labor.
From Capitol Weekly's Nik Bonovich: "Heading east from San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley through the Caldecott tunnel are the sundrenched suburban communities of the East Bay. The 16th Assembly District lies here, which has been represented by Democrat Joan Buchanan. Buchanan was able to wrestle this district from Republicans in 2008, giving Democrats control of every single Legislative and Congressional District in the Bay Area."
"It's no surprise this was the last district to fall to Democrats. The San Ramon Valley, which includes the communities of Danville, San Ramon and Alamo still remains the most conservative area in the Bay Area, but overall voters in the district are decidedly moderate."
"This race has intrigued the Capitol because a major Democratic contender is Steve Glazer, the veteran political consultant who engineered Gov. Brown’s 2010 election victory but has since run into serious trouble with organized labor for his work on a pro-business PAC."
Hillary Clinton made a well-attended visit to San Francisco, raising the inevitable questions about her presidential aspirations.
From the Chronicle's Carla Marinucci: "In a move that appears to edge her closer to a 2016 presidential run, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that she will make a series of addresses around the nation to explore key issues - kicking off the effort in San Francisco, where she made a strong appeal to protect the voting rights that she called "the heart of America's democratic experiment."
"Clinton urged her audience at the American Bar Association's convention in San Francisco to join the fight for protection of voting rights, arguing that in last year's election there was "a sweeping effort to construct new obstacles to voting," sparked by what she called "phantom" claims of widespread voter fraud."
"Anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention," said Clinton, adding that this year "more than 80 bills restricting voter rights have been introduced in 31 states."