California spending on its prison system has steadily increased over the past 30 years, corresponding to a similar decline in spending on higher education, according to a study by the non-profit organization California Common Sense (CACS). The result is that California now spends slightly more on its correctional institutions than it does on the state’s three pillars of higher education―the University of California, California State University and community colleges.   read more

While debate rages over how to reign in spiraling public pension costs without stomping on workers’ rights and eviscerating lawful contracts, most everyone agrees that a good place to start is curbing a practice commonly known as pension spiking. State Controller John Chiang doesn’t think the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) has done nearly enough to stop it.   read more

A securities industry watchdog not particularly known for its bark or bite may find itself on a tighter leash in California after an appellate court ruling made it easier for securities brokers to expunge their past records. Until the California First District Court of Appeal’s unanimously ruling last week, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) would pretty much only remove information from its extensive database of bad broker behavior if the data was shown to be wrong.   read more

Governor Jerry Brown and key lawmakers reached a deal on pension reform Tuesday that the governor says “will take public retiree benefits back to below where they were when I was governor the last time.” The Legislature is expected to vote on a finished bill by the end of the week that is expected to save between $18 billion and $30 billion over 30 years.   read more

In what may be the state’s final arguments to an administrative judge deciding Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) responsibility for the San Bruno gas explosion, a top California Public Utility Commission (PUC) official blamed the company’s bias toward shareholder interests over safety for a voluminous list of violations that contributed to the disaster.   read more

When lawmakers stripped the California Judicial Council of its authority in June to spend any more money on a failed, half-built billion-dollar computer system without legislative approval, it dealt a heavy blow to the state judiciary’s central bureaucracy.   read more

Accidents happen. The Senior Care Action Network (SCAN), a health plan that serves 127,000 Medicare Advantage patients in California, voluntarily kicked back $327 million to the state after an audit by the state Controller’s office uncovered overpayments to the HMO that stretched back years. The Long Beach-based organization settled with the state, but admitted no wrongdoing. In fact, it had not actually been accused of any wrongdoing.   read more

Seven months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court told California to butt out when it comes to regulating slaughterhouses. Justices unanimously ruled in National Meat Association v. Harris that a state law, which attempted to keep out of the food supply animals that couldn’t walk, was pre-empted by federal law that wasn’t as strict.   read more

A vote on California’s ground-breaking Proposition 37, which would require the labeling of genetically modified products, is months away, but Monsanto’s toxin-spliced sweet corn may be on your dinner table this summer courtesy of Walmart.   read more

The biggest pesticide and biotechnology companies in the world, led by Monsanto, have already spent $25 million to defeat California’s groundbreaking Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) labeling initiative on November’s ballot. Most of the money has been contributed in the past month.   read more

The state Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) warned the governor and lawmakers months ago that it wouldn’t be easy to wrest billions of dollars in redevelopment funds from cities after killing the local agencies in February. The LAO was right. The governor expected to have collected $129 million for budget-strapped state coffers by now; it only has $6.7 million.   read more

California schools haven’t had a healthy, stable funding base since Proposition 13 eviscerated property tax revenues in 1978. To maintain infrastructure and build new schools, districts often issue bonds that are repaid over long periods of time using whatever tax money they can lay their hands on.   read more

Proposition 36 on November’s ballot―which would revise California’s three-strike law to only apply to felonies that are serious or violent―is wildly popular, according to a recent California Business Roundtable survey. But even if the initiative passed and all 4,000 prisoners affected were instantly released (they won’t be) the state still wouldn’t avoid what the Los Angeles Times says is inevitable failure at making court-ordered deadlines for reducing its prison population.   read more

Fish and Game Commission President Daniel Richards—hunter, sportsman and 30-year veteran of the real estate industry—became the focus of intense scrutiny after he went cougar hunting in Idaho last January, bagged a big cat and sent a picture of himself posing with his dead prey to an online publication.   read more

Two months after filing a lawsuit alleging that more than 600 California Walgreen stores have been dumping hazardous waste in landfills for six years, district attorneys from 35 counties have asked a judge to stop the company from continuing the practice while the case is litigated.   read more

A week after finding $54 million stashed in two Department of Parks and Recreation accounts, the discovery of a suspect accounting “honor system” in the rest of the government’s 500+ special funds held out the possibility that billions more might be just a keystroke away. On Friday, the administration announced its findings and initial news reports were confusing.   read more