Construction on the Ruby Street apartments, funded by the No Place Like Home bond, in Castro Valley in 2024. Having served for four years as California’s controller and chief fiscal officer, I had a front-row seat to see how billions of taxpayer dollars move — or fail to move — through our state’s agencies and programs. I’ve seen firsthand how good intentions and well-designed policies can get lost in a maze of bureaucracy. Simply put, Californians have too little visibility

Prop 41 delivers more accountability, transparency and better results for California taxpayers Sacramento, CA - Californians are fed up with how their taxes are being spent, with a new survey showing that 84% of voters think state politicians are not spending tax dollars efficiently. Nearly three quarters of voters think that policymakers are failing in their efforts to address homelessness and sixty-three percent think that the state government will only fix wasteful spendi

The most hotly debated initiative on the November ballot is Proposition 40, which would impose a 5% tax on the wealth of California billionaires. As this Editorial Board opined in our opposition, the union-created Billionaire Tax Act would send a dangerous message to current and future entrepreneurs, and “have a chilling effect on investment.” But two closely related measures, Propositions 41 and 42, have received much less attention — partly because they’re so complicated. B

75% Believe It’s Very Important to Have Independent Public Audits of Spending Before Voters Are Asked to Approve New Taxes Nearly two-thirds of voters say that state government will only fix wasteful spending if independent oversight and public reporting are required by law. Sacramento, CA - According to a new statewide survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies in partnership with FM3, voters across California are very concerned with how taxpayer dollars are being spent o

Líderes de CHIRLA dialogan con legisladores en el Capitolio de California, en Sacramento. Crédito: Rich Pedroncelli | AP Llamamos a los votantes de California a votar a favor de la Proposición 41 En las elecciones generales a realizarse el 3 de noviembre los votantes de California decidirán tanto candidaturas personales como proposiciones electorales —14 de ellas— y enmiendas constitucionales que, de recibir suficientes votos, se convertirán en leyes estatales. La Proposici

TL;DR Los Angeles has poured billions into homelessness programs —Prop HHH, Measure ULA, Inside Safe, LAHSA—and a federal audit found the city “doesn’t know how much it is paying, and for what,” with nearly zero financial oversight anywhere in the chain. Now homelessness in the city is rising again, and the pattern underneath every failure is the same: money moves, programs run, and no one’s job ever depends on whether people actually get off the street. For two years, Mayor

Sacramento, Calif. – California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. announced that an initiative became eligible for the November 3, 2026, General Election ballot on June 23, 2026. In order to become eligible for the ballot, the initiative needed 874,641 valid petition signatures, which is equal to eight percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2022 General Election. A measure can become eligible via random sampling of petition signatures if the

Sacramento, CA - The Transparency Act Campaign - a coalition of good government groups, small businesses, community advocates, accountants and auditing experts - announced they will submit the necessary number of signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot later this week. The “Improving Transparency, Effectiveness and Efficiency in California Government Act” - also known as the Transparency Act - will help put an end to wasteful government spending and en