Orange County has a track record of decades of corruption and needs to clean up its shop pronto, starting with the creation of an ethics watchdog.
From the Voice of OC's Tracy Wood: "The Orange County Grand Jury, citing the county’s 40-year history of political corruption, Monday recommended creation of an independent ethics commission to advise elected officials of ethical pitfalls and increase public confidence in government."
“Trust in government is dependent upon officials that place the public interest ahead of their own,” according to the 32-page report titled, A Call for Ethical Standards: Corruption in Orange County. “(W)e believe that there exists a direct correlation between ethical conduct and good governance.”
"The panel recommended the Board of Supervisors create an a blue ribbon commission to study government ethics programs within California and around the nation and, within a year, propose an Orange County ethics reform program that includes oversight."
Public pension contributions to Calpers may have to rise dramatically to cover the state system's shortages over time, according to a top Calpers fiscal official.
From Bloomberg's Mike Marois: "California taxpayers may see the municipal pension contributions they fund for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System rise as much as 50 percent under a plan to fill $87 billion in unfunded obligations."
"Alan Milligan, the fund’s chief actuary, recommends that the biggest U.S. pension stop spreading out losses and gains over 15 years and instead set rates based on how much is needed to reach 100 percent funding within 30 years."
"The Sacramento-based pension, known as Calpers, is about 26 percent short of meeting its long-term commitments. The state and cities contributed $7.8 billion in the last fiscal year, almost four times more than a decade earlier."
Reforming care for the aged is a worthy goal, but poor coordination between key agencies is a major problem.
From HealthyCal's Daniel Weintraub: "Amid all the recent worry about people lacking health insurance, one vulnerable group of Californians appears to be suffering from too much, not too little coverage."
"Low-income older adults qualify for both Medicare and Medi-Cal. That might sound like a good thing. But the lack of coordination between the federal program for seniors and the state-federal program for the poor may be hurting their health. It is also costing the taxpayers a ton of money."
"Now the state is trying to fix the problem by combining all of the services available to these people under one administrative roof. That will include not only their health care but social services too, such as in-home workers who bathe and feed patients who can’t take care of themselves but don’t need to be in a nursing home."
One thing about the Golden State, we have tax dodgers galore, especially in La La Land and Baghdad by the Bay. So sayeth the IRS.
From the LAT's Shan Li: "As procrastinators scramble Monday to file their federal income taxes, some who reside in the well-off enclaves of Los Angeles or San Francisco may be bracing for an audit by the Internal Revenue Service."
"That's according to a new study from the National Taxpayer Advocate, which scoured IRS data to pinpoint five metropolitan areas where small business owners are more prone to dodging taxes. Other top tax-cheating hubs are the District of Columbia, Houston and Atlanta."
"Communities near the five cities were called out as well. Newport Beach and Beverly Hills, for example, are named as potential havens for people who fibbed to Uncle Sam."
California farmers want a larger slice of China's growing market, but it is proving to be an uphill struggle.
From the Bee's David Siders: "Rue and representatives of California's berry, beef and dairy industries have been engaged for the past week in China in a campaign to expand their access to a growing market."
"Yet as Brown winds down his weeklong trade mission - speaking enthusiastically in city after city about California-Chinese trade - the work of Rue and a small, agriculture-based subgroup of Brown's party suggests how difficult certain elements of the relationship remain."
"Though China became a net importer of rice last year, it prohibits rice from the United States. California's delegation had a discussion with Chinese officials in Beijing last week about restrictions on rice and other crops."
