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It may be too much of a good thing. With all the focus in Sacramento on infrastructure funding and the prospect of billions of dollars pouring into Southern California to [...]

Despite a Republican governor and many contributors who dole out millions of dollars in national campaign contributions, California receives far less from Washington, D.C., in return for the taxes it [...]

It's the political tool of choice, the three-letter word that strikes fear in the hearts of developers--and spells opportunity for anyone trying to thwart their ambitions. The EIR has become [...]

Building a new administration, one person at a time. As Arnold Schwarzenegger gears up for his mid-November swearing in, the governor elect's transition team and advisers are spending these days [...]

It's shaping up to be one of the major battles between business and labor in Sacramento this year: a bill to allow workers in the so-called 'gig economy' to form [...]

Energy: Charges Against Power Industry Proven Right More Than Not As people's frustration rose during last month's rolling blackouts, there was consumer activist Harvey Rosenfield on the airwaves, blaming a [...]

Energy: Many Firms That Pushed Deregulation Have Escaped Its High Cost. Amid the screaming and finger-pointing over California's power crisis, major industrial companies -- the original force behind deregulation of [...]

The long-running battle between local card rooms and tribal gaming casinos has a new skirmish line: a change in an obscure state rule that could cost local card rooms, including [...]

The California Chamber of Commerce announced that it is opposing a likely November ballot measure to extend the income tax increase of Proposition 30 until 2031. The group said it [...]

Think California's just-enacted minimum-wage increase only applies to low-paid hourly workers? Think again. Under a little-noticed provision in state law, every time the minimum wage is increased, the exemption threshold [...]

California Power Exchange Corp., also known as the Power Exchange or PX, a five-month-old electricity trading market in Alhambra, CA, was able to provide stability in the state's electricity market during the summer heat wave of 1998. The PX, the biggest market of its kind in the US, was created to make the transition to a deregulated electricity market easier. The deregulation bill of 1996 compelled California's three biggest electricity providers, Edison International, Pacific Gas & Electric and Sempra Energy of San Diego, CA, to conduct their sale of electricity through the PX, a situation that reduced panic situations regarding the availability of electricity among the state's local utilities.

Business interests are once again playing defense in Sacramento as dozens of bills that could harm businesses have cleared a key deadline. Bills that would require businesses to provide or [...]

It's a double dose of bad news for California's economy. A recent study from a respected think tank has found that not only have the state's major industries all suffered [...]

This November's statewide ballot is shaping up to be one of the most crucial in years for business interests, Besides a stark choice for governor, the ballot will contain 13 [...]

Southern California ports, freeways, rail lines, water supplies and even affordable housing projects could get a boost from a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure bond now being crafted in Sacramento for June's statewide [...]

When Fabian Nunez became speaker of the Assembly two years ago, he surprised many by standing up to the star power of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, even as other Democrats [...]

Dan Sandel knows what it's like to have a business wiped out by a disaster. In 1994, the Northridge earthquake flattened Sandel's building where his manufacturing company, Sandel Medical Industries [...]

Yes, Hollywood has always drawn the headlines. But underneath the glitz, an army of engineers and inventors has been busy in garages, research labs and warehouses churning out an impressive [...]

Assemblywoman Karen Bass didn't start out with the intention of going to Sacramento. But now that she's there, Bass is among the Democratic legislators taking on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda [...]

Several statewide business groups have launched their attempt to loosen the state's daily overtime law, backing legislation that would allow employees to seek permission from their bosses for an alternative [...]

You see it on bumper stickers, at coffee klatches and in the recent screenings of Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11.' With about 90 days to go before the Nov. 2 election, [...]

As the nation's first paid family leave law takes effect on July 1, California employers are bracing for an expected surge in worker leave requests, while state officials are worried [...]

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won last year's recall election, state business leaders cheered because they figured the action hero would single-handedly face down an onslaught of anti-business legislation. Schwarzenegger, after [...]

By cutting a string of deals to close a $15 billion state budget gap, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has become California's latest governor to take up high-stakes gambling. The deals with [...]

The Sacramento Showdown is fast approaching. That's the annual exercise in June when the governor and legislative leaders in the Senate and Assembly get together to hammer out a state [...]

Despite encouraging signs earlier this year that the state budget deficit might be narrowing, the upcoming May revision will be worse than expected and could add another $2 billion to [...]

Jennifer Corbett-Shramo received a shock recently when she found out that rising unemployment insurance taxes would cost her janitorial firm $16,000 each month. 'We had just raised our rates because [...]

Can anything be done to control California gasoline prices, now projected to reach $3 a gallon in the coming months? In the near term, options are slim. There are longer-term [...]

Forget Tuesday's primary. In what's shaping up to be one of the highest-stakes initiative wars in recent years, business groups in California are already gearing up to spend upwards of [...]

It's the most vexing financial problem facing California today and has been at the heart of the recall effort: how to bring more money into state coffers and not be [...]

Sacramento's dysfunctional ways, so much a part of the recall campaign, could be put to more votes next year if a series of initiatives wind up on the ballot. 'It [...]

Despite its pie-in-the-sky image and eye-popping price tag, high-speed rail in California is an idea that just won't die. Five years ago the only project being seriously considered was a [...]

It's a refrain that's been heard over and over, first during the budget crisis and now in the recall campaign: California's political and government system is broken and in dire [...]

With a measure to recall Gov. Gray Davis now virtually certain to make the ballot either this November or next March, the stage is set for one of the most [...]

For Arnold Schwarzenegger, it could be a case of being careful what you wish for. His likely decision to announce his candidacy next month as a replacement for the embattled [...]

California officials are scrambling to avert what could be the biggest crisis yet to hit the troubled workers' compensation system: the closing off of new policies by the State Compensation [...]

Labor: Return to 8-Hour Workday May Create Paperwork Avalanche When Gov. Gray Davis signed the bill re-instating daily overtime pay in July, many employers thought it simply meant a return [...]

Governor hopes to put business supporters on IWC to nix requirement With the state Legislature's failure to repeal the state's daily overtime requirement, employer groups and the Wilson administration will [...]

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown says he doesn't expect the Legislature to consider further major changes to the state's workers' compensation system until 1995 at the earliest. The powerful San Francisco [...]

The business community's push to reform California's major environmental law has come up short in the state Legislature after running into intense opposition from environmentalists. As the Legislature reconvenes this [...]

Supreme Court might rule that landowners be allowed to seek compensation for regulatory limitations on development San Diego developers are closely watching a Supreme Court case that could affect the [...]

Lawmakers may soften law on workplace safety, SB 198 The outcry over California's Illness and Injury Prevention Program has been heard loud and clear in Sacramento. As a result, San [...]

Employers struggle to meet tough workplace safety bill All over the state, employers are scrambling to comply with SB 198, a far-reaching workplace safety bill that takes effect July 1. [...]

The state Air Resources Board approved a measure this month to require operators of some 4,000 commercial harbor craft in the state to reduce diesel and nitrogen oxide emissions by [...]

State officials have approved final regulations for the landmark sexual harassment training law and the biggest clarification: The law now applies to larger firms that hire contract workers. The final [...]

Employers have long chafed at a state regulation requiring they give meal and rest breaks to their employees after a certain number of hours worked each day. Employers complain that [...]

The state is cracking down on companies that evade or underpay unemployment taxes. Tax officials are using new state and federal laws to assess $159 million in unpaid unemployment taxes [...]

Here's how fed up small-business owners have gotten over the high cost of health care: a majority of them sampled in a new survey support a government-run program similar to [...]

With the likelihood that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will call a special statewide election for late next year to put a reform package before voters, the battle now begins among interest [...]

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is about to get on the housing bandwagon with a major initiative next year. Sunne Wright McPeak, Schwarzenegger's secretary for Business Transportation and Housing, said the governor [...]