mark desaulnier

Members of a joint legislative committee will meet in Sacramento on Monday to discuss a package of bills intended to sweep away the state's current dysfunctional budget process, return a measure of self-determination to cities, counties and school districts, tame the out-of-control initiative industry and refocus the Legislature, at least a bit, on governmental performance and oversight. If lawmakers put the interests of Californians ahead of their own political ambitions, they will send the bills -- the p  

Today Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles), Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), and representatives of California Forward announced a major package of reforms to improve government effectiveness in California, stabilize state finances, increase accountability and enhance public oversight of government operations. For the past seven months, the Legislature has engaged in a bicameral conversation about reform through the hearings of the Senate and Assembly Select Committees

California Forward has presented a unique opportunity to begin changing our system   -Darrell Steinberg

 

Click here to view more photos from Stand Up For Schools events around East County. Some held rallies in the morning. Others waited until the afternoon.

You hear a lot of stories about the budget cuts and pink slips causing divisiveness between teachers and administrators, but not in the Oakley School District. We all understand that we’re in this together and we support each other. Administrations are supporting the teachers and teachers are supporting the administrators. We all recognize that this is a state problem and we need to work together to bring about some kind of change.   -Rick Rogers

 

The head of the state Senate's Labor Committee accused a workplace safety board Wednesday of being biased toward employers and ignoring a law that requires fines for failing to report on-the-job injuries. After a hearing, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said he might introduce legislation that could lead to criminal charges against board members if they continue to disregard the law that calls for a $5,000 fine for employers' failing to report accidents in a timely manner. The hearing came after a Ti

I'm concerned that it at least appears there may be a prejudice toward the employer   -Mark DeSaulnier

 

Throughout the year, local elected officials, business leaders and public safety officers pour time and energy into improving the community — that's simply the task they signed up for. Now, one Antioch church and its affiliated nonprofit group want to say "thank you." On Saturday, the Power for Living Ministries will do that with a brunch and community service awards ceremony at the Lone Tree Golf and Events Center.

Who doesn't want to be honored once in a while?   -Mary Rocha

 

California's governance reform movement is stumbling under a few body blows but its advocates remain solidly in the ring. "We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences," said Thad Kousser, a visiting scholar at Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West. "But there are a lot of bills and initiatives still out there, that if added together and they pass, would be a fundamental revision of the (st

We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences   -Thad Kousser

 

California's governance reform movement is stumbling under a few body blows but its advocates remain solidly in the ring. "We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences," said Thad Kousser, a visiting scholar at Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West. "But there are a lot of bills and initiatives still out there, that if added together and they pass, would be a fundamental revision of the (st

We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences   -Thad Kousser

 

It's OK for us to criticize us but it's not OK for outsiders to do it. The eight-page mailer and 30-second TV spot from a group calling itself Stop The Mega Casino features some of Richmond's most unseemly neighborhoods. The text paints a nightmare scenario, in which the opening of a Las Vegas-style Indian casino at Point Molate will render permanent the presence of drug dealers, loan sharks, poverty and crime.  

California prisons, courts, fleet managers and dozens of state agencies will be asked to justify the existence of every one of their programs. State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, chairman of the budget subcommittee that oversees the spending plans of more than 100 agencies, including the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, will send letters Friday requesting program-by-program data. "There is remarkably little oversight or analysis in Sacramento of whether programs actually work," said De

There is remarkably little oversight or analysis in Sacramento of whether programs actually work   -Mark DeSaulnier

 

California's governance reform movement is stumbling under a few body blows but its advocates remain solidly in the ring. "We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences," said Thad Kousser, a visiting scholar at Stanford's Bill Lane Center for the American West. "But there are a lot of bills and initiatives still out there, that if added together and they pass, would be a fundamental revision of the (st

We've seen the collapse of some of the most high-profile efforts, the ones that have captured the most attention because they swung for the fences   -Thad Kousser