Fighting Corporate Welfare
Corporate Welfare: Projects advertised as benefiting the general welfare that offer a disproportionate amount of value to large corporations, and often in uncompetitive or anti-competitive ways.
If…
Analyzing Government Financial Health by Using Financial Statements
There are several types of financial disclosure that will offer valuable financial information about government agencies. They include:
Budgets (sometimes including Capital Plans)
Comprehensive…
Citizen’s Initiatives May Transform Oxnard Politics
What's happening in Oxnard provides another example of what citizen activists can accomplish. Led by Aaron Starr, a local executive with a financial background including a CPA, a small group of volunteers…
Resisting the Union Assault on Charter Schools
In an April 2019 report in the respected website CalMatters entitled "Charter-mageddon: Lawmakers advance a raft of union-backed charter school curbs," the ongoing battle between charter school advocates…
A New Approach to Pension Reform – How to Prepare
Between 1999 and 2007, most city and county governments enacted retroactive pension benefit increases that more than doubled their pension costs with no end in sight. Cities and counties have been fighting…
Reforms IF Court Rules Pensions can be Changed for Future Service
In December of 2018, the California Supreme Court will hear arguments in what is generally referred to as the Cal Fire pension case. The ruling could potentially overturn what is commonly referred to as…