As 2014 nears to a close, a number of finance and fiscal reports are being released in anticipation of the Governor’s announcement of his January 2015-16 proposed budget. In general, the economy is reflecting recovery and revenues are looking better than previous years...

With the end of the 2013-2014 legislative session and with the November election just around the corner, it is worth taking the time to remark on the changes to legislative leadership. In the Senate, Senator Darrell Steinberg, who served in the legislature for 14 years...

Every four years, the Secretary of State’s Office releases data reflecting voter registration trends 60 days prior to the November general election. The most recent of these reports shows that the number of voters who register with no party preference continues to tren...

Now that the August 31 legislative deadline to pass items off the Floor has come and gone, the focus is on the Governor’s Office and its attendant veto power. With a constitutional deadline of September 30 to sign or veto all bills passed by the Legislature and in the...

We are pleased to announce the opening of the law firm of Maguire & Pank on the Warner & Pank blog.  As lobbyists for Warner & Pank, we often encounter complicated legal problems and issues involving the courts in the Capitol.  Indeed, much of our work involv...

In 2011, California underwent a monumental change in criminal justice policies as the result of the enactment of Assembly Bill 109 and AB 117, a companion bill, which enacted the Public Safety Realignment Act. Realignment was borne through the confluence of a number st...

Background: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

In 2010, the United States Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) 558 U.S. 310 held that spending laws seeking to limit contributions for political causes by corporations, associa...

On Monday, August 4, the California Legislature reconvened after a month-long summer recess. Today marks the end of the first week of their 28-day sprint toward the August 31 finish line, the constitutional deadline to conclude legislative business of the 2013-14 sessi...