Speaking at a Sacramento Press Club lunch yesterday, Assembly GOP leader Kristen Olsen (R- Modesto) discussed a package of good government bills currently on offer, including proposals to eliminate the gut-and-amend practice, increase oversight of state agencies and reduce the number of bills legislators can introduce by half. Melody Gutierrez has the story at SFGate:
“Assembly members are currently allowed to introduce 40 bills during the two-year session, but a resolution by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore (Riverside County), would reduce that to 20.
“The 80-member Assembly introduced 1,504 bills this year.
“’I think every Californian would agree that we don’t need that many new laws,’ Olsen said…”
Critics are slamming State Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) for a presumed conflict of interest regarding Atkins’ proposal for state-funded low income housing that some say would benefit her wife’s consulting firm.
Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times: “The speaker is married to Jennifer LeSar, who heads LeSar Development Consultants, a firm that specializes in affordable housing, among other areas… [Atkins] said the Office of Legislative Counsel assured her Thursday that her plan presented no conflict because it is a general funding proposal and not specific to any company or project. The written legal opinion is scheduled to be released Friday.
“In addition, Atkins said, the money would be distributed through a competitive bidding process in which she plays no part.
"’This does not directly necessarily benefit Jennifer at all,’ Atkins said. ‘She may advise developers, but she does not develop affordable housing.’"
As the drought continues to worsen, some Sacramento Valley rice farmers are set to make more money selling their water southern California Water districts than from their crops. Dale Kasler has the story at the Sacramento Bee:
“Nine irrigation districts, mainly serving rice growers along the Feather River basin, have made tentative deals to ship a portion of their water to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and several other water agencies later this summer….
“The deal also shows how severe the drought has become. A year ago, some of the same Sacramento Valley water districts shipped some of their water south at what seemed like an exorbitant price: $500 an acre-foot.
“This year’s transaction will make 2014 look like a steal. Metropolitan and the others are paying $700 an acre-foot. An acre-foot is 326,000 gallons, roughly a year’s supply for two Southern California households.”
In an article that likely has Allan Zaremberg pounding his head on his desk, Matthew Winkler of Bloomberg News calls California the best state for business.
“There are plenty of reasons to presume that California must be a bad place to do business. The Tax Foundation says the state's tax structure is the third worst for business in the U.S. Forbes ranks California's business costs fifth highest among the 50 states and its regulatory environment the eighth most burdensome.
“Why then does the market, where buyers and sellers determine relative value, show otherwise? California-based companies surpass their competitors in the U.S. by most measures of performance favored by investors.
“Since January 2011, when Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown Jr., became governor for the third time, the 63 publicly traded California companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 produced the best total return among the five states with the largest populations. California companies in the S&P 500 delivered returns of 134 percent; the closest big-state challenger was Florida, whose S&P companies had an 82 percent return, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Texas-based companies delivered 52 percent during the period…”
(As good journalists we have to point out what Winkler doesn’t: that what works for S&P 500 companies doesn’t necessarily work as well for the mom’n’pop down the street.) Still, good news is good news, and we’ll take it.
Happy belated birthday to the California Budget Project, which celebrated their 20th year last week with a new website and a name change. They are now The California Budget and Policy Center.
Also happy to note that the California Channel began broadcasting the new season of Capitol Weekly’s Politics on Tap this week, featuring new host John Myers. Myers sat down with Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Asm. Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside) to talk about the budget. This was filmed just before Chavez’ announcement for Senate, so you’ll have to see if you can pick up on any cues. Second half of the show featured Myers talking strategy with Democrat Robin Swanson and Republican Sabrina Lockhart.
It’s Friday, the day we announce the winner of our Singin’ the Golden State Blues award for crappiest week in California. Really not much of a contest this time with the announcement that Orange County Register/Freedom Publications owner Aaron Kushner was packing his bags and going home with his tail between his legs.
Kushner came in with guns blazing only three years ago, hailed by many as the savior of the newspaper industry. Determined to aggressively expand, Kushner and partners scooped up the OC Register and Riverside Press Enterprise, and started – then shuttered – The Los Angeles Register. “Expand” turned out to mean “expand and then clear cut the staff” and soon, the bad vibes emanating out of their offices could be felt halfway up I5.
All that came to a sudden end Tuesday as Kushner handed the keys to the CEO’s office to former casino executive Richard Mirman - which seems like a perfect irony given what a crapshoot this has all turned out to be. No word yet on Kushner’s plans. We’re assuming he won’t be heading back into the greeting card business - the only industry shrinking faster than print newspapers.
See you next week...
