Politico Jeremy B. White, Politico, April 30, 2020 A debate over the California Legislature voting remotely in the coronavirus era isn’t just about public health — it also reflects a fear that voting from afar could lead to laws being invalidated. Both the Assembly and the Senate are poised to resume a stalled legislative session […]

Los Angeles Daily News Jon Coupal & Jay Obernolte, Opinion for Los Angeles Daily News, July 7, 2019 Just two weeks ago, this column exposed the abject lack of transparency in the state budget process. But the way the Legislature enacts its spending plan is just one of many ways Sacramento politicians attack transparency. In […]

CALmatters Dan Walters, CALmatters, March 10, 2019 Every year, governors and state legislators load up bills that supposedly implement the state budget with all sorts of extracurricular provisions benefiting those to whom they owe favors. They use these “trailer bills” because they can be, and often have been, passed very quickly after being drafted, thereby […]

CALmatters Dan Walters, CALmatters, August 27, 2018 Two years ago, nearly two-thirds of California voters supported a ballot measure to crack down on legislative trickery. For decades, state lawmakers had dodged the public by secretly drafting important bills and then quickly jamming them through both legislative houses. They became known as “mushroom bills” because they […]

CALmatters Dan Walters, CALmatters, June 20, 2018 As detailed in this space a few days ago, the Legislature is using a budget “trailer bill” to deprive voters of vital information about local government and school bond issues. The legislation, drafted without public hearings or other input, would suspend for two years a new law, which […]