CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: August 3, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. November Ballot Rundown California’s ballot has evolved into an impressive — and daunting — laundry list of policy proposals, running the gamut of fiscal and social policy. While the 17 measures on the ballot are not a statewide record, many of the state’s hot-button political issues — including healthcare, guns, criminal justice, and environmental protection — will all be decided by voters this fall. Tax measures loom large this year, with ... August 3, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight, Propositions 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: June 21, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Budget and Election Watch This week, we’ll wrap up the primary election, and focus on what to watch in November. But we begin with the state budget, which was approved by lawmakers last week after quick agreement with Gov. Jerry Brown. The budget is another big win for Brown, who won support from Democrats to boost budget reserves by billions above the constitutionally guaranteed minimum. Brown did offer more money for ... June 21, 2016 Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: June 7, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. All Eyes on California The nation’s eyes will be on California this week, as voters here go to the polls in the final major presidential contest of the long primary season. We’ve seen a massive swell in new voter registration this year. State voter rolls grew by more than 646,000 voters in April and May alone, with more than three-fourths of those voters signing up as Democrats. It will be important ... June 7, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: May 10, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Budget Battles Begin For the last several years, the California budget has essentially been a non-story. Prop. 25, passed in 2010, changed the legislative vote requirement to pass a budget from two-thirds to a simple majority. In 2012, as the economy continued its incremental crawl out of the great recession, voters passed Prop. 30, which hiked the state’s upper-income tax brackets, providing state coffers with billions more in revenue to ... May 10, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: April 26, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. The Legislative Scramble Last week was a frantic one inside the Capitol as lawmakers faced a key deadline to pass bills out of policy committee. Measures that did not receive committee approval last week were shelved for the year. A number of major proposals lived to fight another day, but many efforts were left on the prominent pile of abandoned bill ideas that accumulates each and every year. Among those bills ... April 26, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: April 11, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. A Higher Wage (and Higher Tobacco Tax?) Gov. Jerry Brown continued to make history when he signed a $15/hour minimum wage into law. The governor, whose administration had publicly opposed calls for a higher wage, couched the increase in moral terms at a Los Angeles signing ceremony. What’s notable is that the higher wage will take effect statewide. Others had thought that more economically depressed areas of the state might ... April 12, 2016 Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: March 28, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Making the Ballot A deal was reached among Democratic leaders in Sacramento late last week on a plan to bring California’s minimum wage to $15 per hour — the highest in the nation and double the national minimum. The deal comes after years of wrestling in the legislature, and a statewide push that began years ago with a handful of public sector unions in Los Angeles. The accord avoids a fight ... March 28, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: February 29, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Rollercoaster of a Week It was a rollercoaster week for Gov. Jerry Brown and his effort to reform the state’s criminal justice system. A judge in Sacramento last week ruled the governor’s initiative violated a new state law regarding amendments to ballot measure proposals. By the end of the week, the state Supreme Court had stayed the ruling, allowing the measure to begin gathering signatures for the November ballot, but ... March 1, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: February 17, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Whirlwinds of Change The California Coastal Commission ousted executive director Charles Lester last week, setting off a political firestorm that reached all the way to the governor’s office. Lester’s critics on the commission characterized the issue as one of management, claiming they had tried for years to get him to be more responsive to commissioners and others with business before the commission. Lester’s backers took the effort to oust him ... February 17, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »
CMA Capitol Insight With Anthony York: February 1, 2016 CMA Capitol Insight is a biweekly column by veteran journalist Anthony York, reporting on the inner workings of the state Legislature. Crime and the Coast Gov. Jerry Brown announced plans for a major new ballot initiative this fall — but it wasn’t climate change or tax reform in the governor’s crosshairs. Instead, Brown will focus on criminal justice, seeking changes in the parole system to allow more flexibility to locals and to help alleviate the pressures of the jail and prison system caused by years of lock-em-up policies. Those policies, ironically ... February 1, 2016 CMA, Legislation Capitol Insight 0 0 Comment Read More »