Government Performance & Accountability

CEQA Reform in California: Is it time?
 150 150 Cheryl Getuiza
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Environmentalists say CEQA is a necessary defense against development and urban sprawl that would harm the ecosystem. On the other hand, developers and business leaders often see the law as excessive red tape and regulations that cause delays and increase construction costs. Is it time to reform the 42 year old law?

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Vallejo residents directly decide how to spend sales tax revenue
 150 150 Alexandra Bjerg
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How would you spend $3.2 million to improve your city? The city of Vallejo is asking residents to decide that very question.

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Voting tech: We’ve come a long way since hanging chads
 150 150 Alexandra Bjerg
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This year, as in every other important election year, there has been quite a bit of discussion about the status of the nation’s elections process and the potential for voting system failure. The good news is that, according to a new report by the Caltech-MIT Voting Technology Project, voting technology has come along way since the infamous “hanging chads” fiasco of 2000.

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California elected leaders—not always open and transparent about their voting record
 150 150 Cheryl Getuiza
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The Associated Press, this week, reported exclusively that it had analyzed every vote cast during the 2012 session and discovered California Assembly members changed and added their votes to legislation more than 5,000 times.

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San Francisco getting on Open Data bandwagon
 150 150 Cheryl Getuiza
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A government at your fingertips. That’s what leaders in the city and county of San Francisco hope with new legislation to strengthen the city by the bay’s landmark Open Data initiatives.

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Santa Ana bolsters transparency efforts by approving Sunshine Ordinance
 150 150 Alexandra Bjerg
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Earlier this week, the City of Santa Ana agreed to let the sunshine in. On Monday the city council approved the community driven “Sunshine Ordinance” designed to bring transparency to City Hall.

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Flexing their political muscles: Latinos and Asian Americans in California Congressional races
 150 150 Cheryl Getuiza
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Thanks in part to newly drawn districts and the top two primary system, voters will see some changes on their ballots. One positive change through the eyes of their respective communities is the number of Latino and Asian Americans running for office.

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California gas prices: what happened and what’s next?
 150 150 Christopher Nelson
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With the Legislature out of session and the general election still a few weeks away, the airwaves have been dominated by talk of sky-high prices at the pump. We do a mini round-up so you have an idea as to what’s happening and where we go from here.

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