According to the annual economic disclosure reports, California legislators accepted over $810,000 in gifts in 2018. Many of these gifts such as tickets to concerts and professional sporting events came from powerful interest groups lobbying the state. Some of the legislators reported accepting travel expenses for trips to countries such as China, Chile, India, Israel, […]

Last month, an online financial website called WalletHub released a study that looked at which of the 50 states gave taxpayers the biggest return on their investment (ROI). In the study, taxpayer dollars are seen as an investment into the state and it turns out that California is nowhere near the top of the list. […]

California’s campaign watchdog agency, the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), is proposing to expand its powers so it can act when district attorneys fail to act. Members of the FPPC believe that local prosecutors have failed to file charges in dozens of cases where officials have allegedly used public funds for political purposes. The FPPC […]

Last month, state Sen. John Moorlach offered an alternative to the proposed bullet train that could potentially help with getting from Northern California to Southern California, and vice versa, much faster. Sen. Moorlach proposed Senate Bill 319 (SB 319), which would allow California to create its own version of the German Autobahn by adding two […]

On Monday, a ballot measure to repeal California’s recently enacted gas taxes and registration fees officially qualified for the November ballot. Gov. Jerry Brown said the following in a statement shortly after the Secretary of State’s Office announced the measure had qualified for the ballot, I will do everything in my power to defeat any […]

According to an analysis conducted by the Economic Roundtable, housing alone will not solve Los Angeles County’s homelessness problem. The report recommends that a more strategic effort aimed at early intervention is needed to prevent people from becoming homeless or remaining homeless. The report looks at 26 sets of data to better understand the characteristics […]

U.S. News & World Report released a study ranking the best states in the nation and the rankings weren’t too kind to California, especially when it comes to the quality of life in the state. The Best States ranking is part of an annual study that scores all 50 states on the following eight categories: […]

According to a study released in August, the number of people living on the streets in San Diego County may be 50 percent higher than thought. That means the annual count of homeless people overall could be much greater than numbers the federal government uses to fund housing programs. The study was led by University […]

According to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) study released in August, Los Angeles and New York City top the list of U.S. cities with the most amounts of poor people laboring under heavy rent burdens, living in substandard housing, or both. Surprisingly, more than half of Los Angeles’ 1 million very […]

A new report from Apartment List claims that service workers have been the hardest hit by rent increases in San Diego over the last decade. Money left after paying rent by San Diego service workers such as waiters, healthcare supporters, and retail workers dropped by 8.6 percent from 2005 to 2015. That’s a larger drop […]