Don’t believe the hysteria: There are other ways for public workers to get benefits
Don’t believe the hysteria: There are other ways for public workers to get benefits
Sacramento The media coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Janus decision, striking down all mandatory union dues-collections as an infringement of the First Amendment, has been met with weeping and gnashing of teeth from union leaders. In their view, the conservative majority’s ruling is an assault on the ability of union members to negotiate...
By Steven Greenhut
How to Make California’s Southland Water Independent for $30 Billion
How to Make California’s Southland Water Independent for $30 Billion
The megapolis on California’s southern coast stretches from Ventura County on the northern end, through Los Angeles County, Orange County, down to San Diego County on the border with Mexico. It also includes the western portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Altogether these six counties have a population of 20.5 million residents. According to...
By Edward Ring
When is a political campaign neither political nor a campaign?
When is a political campaign neither political nor a campaign?
California law prohibits government officials from using taxpayer dollars “for the purpose of urging the support or defeat of any ballot measure.” But on February 13, in the meeting room of the Santa Ana Unified School District, school officials revealed a political campaign that began with shaping public opinion and will end in November with a district-wide vote on a bond measure that will cost residents hundreds of millions of dollars.
By Kelly McGee
In rebuking San Diego’s pension initiative, state high court slams our basic voting rights
In rebuking San Diego’s pension initiative, state high court slams our basic voting rights
A recent California Supreme Court decision, striking down a San Diego initiative that rolled back pension benefits for new public employees, has rightly been portrayed as a win for public-sector unions – and something that could cost San Diego taxpayers more money as a lower court hashes out a remedy. But the decision is more...
By Steven Greenhut
How Much California Water Bond Money is for Storage?
How Much California Water Bond Money is for Storage?
Californians have approved two water bonds in recent years, with another facing voters this November. In 2014 voters approved Prop. 1, allocating $7.1 billion for water projects. This June, voters approved Prop. 68, allocating another $4.0 billion for water projects. And this November, voters are being asked to approve Prop. 3, allocating another $8.9 billion...
By Edward Ring
School officials want you thinking how to spend millions, but not how they’ll get it
School officials want you thinking how to spend millions, but not how they’ll get it
Survey says? Whatever they want it to say. Under the guise of measuring public opinion, Santa Ana school officials are trying to shape it – and they’re using taxpayer dollars to pay for it. In April and May, Santa Ana Unified School District officials papered the city with mail that looks like a poll. The...
By Kelly McGee
AFSCME’s push for rent control proves the importance of the Janus union-dues ruling
AFSCME’s push for rent control proves the importance of the Janus union-dues ruling
Sacramento What do the following two things have in common: The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision allowing government workers to opt out of paying union dues and an effort by liberal activists to pass a rent-control initiative in November? On the surface, both issues directly involve the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees....
By Steven Greenhut
How the Los Angeles Unified School District spent its summer vacation
How the Los Angeles Unified School District spent its summer vacation
LAUSD schools open in two weeks after having had the July from Hell. The Los Angeles Unified School District is heading into the new school year after something less than a whiz-bang summer. The follies began with a report revealing that the predicted 2017 graduation rate of 80 percent didn’t quite hit the mark. In...
By Larry Sand
California’s Transportation Future, Part Four – The Common Road
California’s Transportation Future, Part Four – The Common Road
With light rail, high speed rail, and possibly passenger drones and hyperloop pods just around the corner, it’s easy to forget that the most versatile mode of transportation remains the common road. Able to accommodate anything with wheels, from bicycles and wheelchairs to articulated buses and 80 ton trucks, and ranging from dirt tracks to...
By Edward Ring
The SAUSD Song Remains the Same
The SAUSD Song Remains the Same
1999: Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson, Beyonce Knowles and LeToya Luckett, of Destiny’s Child, perform at the Woodlands Pavilion at Jump Jam. Santa Ana Unified was asking taxpayers to pay its unplayable bills. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Steve Campbell) It’s 1999, and Bill Clinton is one year removed from his affair with Monica Lewinsky becoming public. Destiny’s...
By Kelly McGee
The dust has cleared, so it’s time to analyze Janus based on reality rather than rhetoric
The dust has cleared, so it’s time to analyze Janus based on reality rather than rhetoric
Sacramento The dust still is clearing from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision, which declared that government employees are no longer required to pay union dues even for collective-bargaining purposes. Virtually everyone – from conservative reformers to union activists – agrees that the decision was momentous. But recent predictions about its real-world import vary widely,...
By Steven Greenhut
Before they called their schools ‘deteriorating,’ Santa Ana officials called them ‘exemplary’
Before they called their schools ‘deteriorating,’ Santa Ana officials called them ‘exemplary’
Call it a tale of two school districts: The Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD) is sending out conflicting messages regarding the status of its schools: their facilities are amazingly good — unless they’re amazingly bad. According to the School Accountability Report Cards (SARCs) posted on the SAUSD website, all of the district’s high schools...
By Kelly McGee
Water Rationing Laws Exemplify the Malthusian Mentality of California’s Legislators
Water Rationing Laws Exemplify the Malthusian Mentality of California’s Legislators
As reported in the Sacramento Bee and elsewhere, on May 31st Gov. Jerry Brown “signed a pair of bills Thursday to set permanent overall targets for indoor and outdoor water consumption.” After pressure from the Association of California Water Agencies and others, the final form of these bills, Assembly Bill 1668 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale,...
By Edward Ring
Formerly bankrupt Stockton is fiscally healthy again, but offers warning to others
Formerly bankrupt Stockton is fiscally healthy again, but offers warning to others
Sacramento Two mid-sized California cities, Irvine and Stockton, have topped a national list of financially healthy governments compiled by an influential watchdog group. Irvine’s top ranking shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that the affluent Orange County city has long been a model for prudence, despite some high-profile spending miscues over the years. But the second-place ranking...
By Steven Greenhut