CAL MATTERS By Dan Walters, June 11, 2020 Advocates of governmental transparency have scored two recent wins in their perpetual battles with California’s political officials. One victory, a May 28 state Supreme Court ruling, is especially timely since it stemmed from the fatal police shootings of two unarmed black men in 2014, Michael Brown in Ferguson, […]

Fox&Hound By T Keith Gurnee Former Mayor of Chicago and former Chief of Staff to Pres. Obama, Rahm Emanuel, once said “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” By exploiting the chaos presented by the coronavirus crisis, our state legislature is doubling down on that statement. Legislators are pushing a flurry of wrongheaded housing bills […]

‘You can’t keep this sort of thing away from the public’ By Evan Symon, June 11, 2020 9:43 pm On Wednesday, the Assembly passed a bill allowing for remote voting or proxy voting by lawmakers during state emergencies. ACA passes Assembly, on way to Senate Under Assembly Constitutional Amendment 25, written by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-San Mateo), […]

CAL MATTERS By Dan Walters, June 4, 2020 Four years ago, despite fierce opposition from Democratic politicians, California voters passed Proposition 54, a constitutional amendment requiring the Legislature to be more transparent. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s voters backed Proposition 54, which requires final versions of legislative bills to be in print and online at least […]

SACRAMENTO — The Assembly Rules Committee today removed changes to Proposition 54, the voter-approved California Legislature Transparency Act, from proposed constitutional amendment ACA 25. Following a written statement of opposition submitted by Proposition 54 Co-Proponents Dr. Charles T. Munger, Jr. and Senator Sam Blakeslee (ret.), the bill’s author proposed amendments that leave the provisions of […]