Legislation
Legislative Update: 2.26.21
February 19 marked the passage of the deadline for legislators to introduce bills for the 2021 session. The Legislature struggled throughout 2020 to meet legislative deadlines. With only a few hearing rooms large enough to allow social distancing, legislators were forced to conduct their business with fewer hearings. Hundreds of bills failed to pass given…
Read MoreLegislative Update: 2.16.21
This week, proponents of the effort to recall Governor Newsom announced that they have surpassed the 1.5 million signatures required to qualify the recall election. They acknowledged, however, that more signatures are needed to ensure that there are enough verifiable signatures to qualify.
Read MoreLegislative Update: 1.29.21
Californians have had the right to recall elected officials for 110 years. In that time, 54 attempts to recall a California Governor have been launched. Only one of these has been successful. In October 2003, Californians voted to recall Governor Davis. When the recall effort got started in 2002, it was underfunded and easy to…
Read MoreLegislative Budget Update
Last week, Governor Newsom unveiled his proposed $227 billion 2021-2022 budget. As the Governor noted himself, the last 12 months have been a financial roller coaster for the state. Coming into 2020, the Governor enjoyed a large budget surplus and healthy reserves. Soon after the state’s response to the pandemic intensified in March, revenues were…
Read MoreLegislative Update: January 2021
With all eyes turned, understandably, to Congress this week, it would be easy to miss recent developments in Sacramento. Governor Newsom released his 2021-2022 proposed state budget today. We will report on the budget more thoroughly in a separate report when we have had a chance to review it in detail. The Governor was proud…
Read MoreLegislative Update: 12.18.20
The state’s financial distress, brought on by our response to COVID-19, was arguably the largest issue facing the California Legislature in 2020. With the Governor laser focused on the response to the pandemic, the Legislature was able to assert itself on budget issues in a way that it hasn’t in a decade. According to a recent budget…
Read MoreElection 2020 Update from EGRS
California experienced what appears to be record voter turnout, with high early votes from Democrats and high day-of voting by Republicans. In past elections, late-mailed ballots and provisional ballots trended to the Democrats. Through the morning of November 6 late ballots have trended towards Republicans. However, there are 4.5 million ballots remaining to be counted…
Read MoreElection 2020 Update: State Assembly
Background As noted in our State Senate election preview, California’s voter registration numbers show that there are almost twice as many registered Democrats versus Republicans and No-Party Preference (NPP) voters with 46 percent registered as Democrats and 24 percent registered as Republicans and NPP. These numbers explain the huge 62-17 advantage the Democrats have over the…
Read MoreLegislative Update: 2020 Election
The November 3 election is fast approaching and unlike past elections, due to COVID-19 ALL California voters will be mailed a ballot that can be returned to election officials by mail or dropped off at designated locations. California’s voter registration statistics show that a record-high 83 percent of those eligible are registered to vote and that number will…
Read MoreLegislative Update: A Summary of 2020 Propositions
The Governor is slowly working his way through the few hundred bills that made their way to his desk at the end of session. This week, he signed bills intended to provide relief for those who are working during COVID-19, specifically bills related to workers’ compensation, employee notifications related to infection, and an expansion of…
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