Free Republic

The nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission meets today to hear testimony about public pensions, aiming to dispassionately analyze the impact of retirement costs on governments and then, if needed, suggest changes. Heaven knows we need a dose of level-headed analysis, given the wide-open rhetoric that "pension reform" provokes. Unions see such efforts as a call to arms, "an attack on public employees," union lobbyist Dave Low once told The State Worker. Last year when it looked like an initiative might make the ballot to cut benefits for future government hires, Low warned it would provoke a "nuclear response" from labor. Context...

California should establish an independent panel to reform its prisons and the state's haphazard sentencing laws, a government watchdog panel said Thursday. The sentencing changes should take effect automatically unless the governor or a majority of the state Legislature reject them, the Little Hoover Commission said in its report. That appears to be the only way to move urgently to fix the prison system before it is taken over by federal judges, commission members said in unusually blunt comments. "If you guys aren't man enough to handle it yourself, you ought to turn it over to somebody else," commission Vice...

Despite California's history of disasters, state government is underprepared for a catastrophic earthquake, flood, pandemic or terrorist attack, an independent agency warns. Sweeping changes in the bureaucracy are needed to bolster readiness, the Little Hoover Commission said in a report that was sharply critical of the leadership in Sacramento. "Prevention and mitigation efforts are lacking, California's response plans are inadequate and the state has no recovery plans to guide rebuilding," concluded the commission, an independent state agency that helps make state government more effective. But Eric Lamoureux, spokesman for the state Office of Emergency Services, said the state is already...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - The state Senate on Thursday rejected Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to reorganize California's energy agencies. On a 26-12 vote, lawmakers opposed the governor's plan to consolidate four state agencies under a new Cabinet-level secretary of energy. Schwarzenegger said the plan would centralize decision-making and improve accountability. Democrats in the Senate said it violated the state Constitution. "Nobody here is disputing that we need a comprehensive energy policy," said Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Norwalk. "You cannot transfer duties from the PUC to an executive body ... You have to follow a process." In June, the Legislature's lawyers said such...

SACRAMENTO — A bipartisan citizens' panel Thursday recommended that the Legislature reject Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to create a state Department of Energy, dealing a blow to his plan to reorganize the state's tangled energy bureaucracy. Members of the Little Hoover Commission, which analyzes all state government reorganization plans, said they favored the idea behind the governor's proposal to centralize California's energy policy under a cabinet-level energy czar. The committee, however, voted 7 to 1 against the plan after lawyers from both the Legislature and the attorney general's office questioned the constitutionality of provisions that would transfer some rate-making functions...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday triggered an up-or-down vote on his plan to reorganize the state's troubled $7 billion-a-year prison system, as a state senator began her own effort to rein in the Department of Correction's chronic overspending. Schwarzenegger submitted his plan to the Legislature a day before the watchdog Little Hoover Commission votes whether to support the proposal and makes recommendations for improvements. But legislators can now make no changes to the governor's plan, no matter the merits of the commission's critique. Under state law, the plan takes effect automatically unless a majority in either the...

The Little Hoover Commission published its much-anticipated report on the California Performance Review today. The 38-page document contains a mix of strong support for the concept of government reform and skepticism over the execution of proposed changes. The CPR report, a 2,500-page publication that was initiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in February, contains recommendations on how the state can become more efficient, responsive, streamlined, and effective. The final document, released in August after a spate of public hearings, proved controversial as members of the CPR commission recommended the elimination of numerous boards and commissions. Then there was the matter of...

An elderly woman’s tragic death has resulted in a lawsuit and sensational headlines, both of which only hide the real story. by Nicholas Stix “Granny taken up to roof?” “Insider Says Understaffing Killed Grandmother.” So blared the newspaper headlines in the Daily News and The Wave, respectively, in reporting on the tragic death of nursing home patient Lillie Gardner in Queens, New York.Lillie Gardner was born in Richmond, Virginia, and came north to New York as a teenager, where she married Lloyd Gardner. While living in Corona, Queens, the devout Christian gave birth to and raised five sons and one...