Two years ago, Treasurer Bill Lockyer called for an early warning system to detect signs of financial trouble in California local governments before they faced bankruptcy. By proactively identifying at-risk cities, the system could create an opening for local experts and external advisors to intervene before any given situation spun out of control. As the California Policy...

A Landmark Retail Workers ‘Bill of Rights’ Passes Unanimously In San Francisco By Dave Jamieson, November 25, 2014, Huffington Post Amid growing concern over erratic work schedules, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a first-of-its-kind law aimed at securing more stable hours for retail workers. Dubbed “the retail workers bill of rights,”...

Fairly or not, news media has recently brought negative public attention to the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, a $2.2 billion thermal solar power plant built under a union Project Labor Agreement in California’s Mojave Desert. Owners of Ivanpah (BrightSource Energy, NRG Energy, and Google) have applied for a $539 million tax credit to help...

Sometimes you win by losing. That’s precisely what occurred last week, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the motion by Rebecca Friedrichs’ attorneys to decide her case (Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association) on the basis of the pleadings, without a trial or additional oral arguments. The “loss” actually means that plaintiffs –...

The sharp rebuke to the Obama administration delivered by the mid-term elections should not be construed as an endorsement of the GOP, which remains as unpopular as ever. Rather, as has been the case in the last few election cycles, voter revolts have hinged on continued dissatisfaction with the strength of the economy and the...

Californians have abysmally low levels of civic engagement as evidenced by the recent election where voter turnout set an historic low.  And the widespread disengagement of California’s younger voters is even worse. True, in 2008 California’s youth turned out in large numbers to elect Barack Obama as President.  And in 2012 they turned out again...

Court Agrees With Labor Unions: Giant Inflatable Rats Are Protected Speech By Elizabeth Nolan Brown, November 17, 2014, Reason In case you were wondering, displaying giant inflateable rats is protected by the First Amendment. Apparently a balloon rodent known as Scabby the Rat has been a labor union protest symbol since the ’90s. But New...

“The bottom line is that claiming the unfunded liability cost as part of an officer’s compensation is grossly and deliberately misleading.” – LAPPL Board of Directors on 08/07/2014, in their post “Misuse of statistics behind erroneous LA police officer salary claims.” This assertion, one that is widely held among representatives of public employees, lies at the...

As the need for vouchers increases, the politics of school privatization gets interestinger and interestinger. “Some NYC teachers: ‘Don’t send your kids here!’” screamed the headline in a New York Post article last week. The damning story goes on to explain how over 80 percent of the teachers in eight public schools – including charters...