California Insider

BoiFromTroy has an interesting take on a little-noticed side effect of the legislative pay raise: it will require every candidate to file disclosure statements with the FPPC and thus discourage amateur candidates from taking a run at politics.

UPDATE: A legislative committee consultant adds some clarification:

Boi From Troy left out a small but important detail in stating that raising $1109 for a filing fee will trip the requirement to file campaign disclosures. Section 84101(d) of the Government Code (a portion of the Political Reform Act) states that in calculating whether $1,000 in contributions has been received, payments for a filing fee shall not be included if these payments have been made from the candidate's personal funds. So, if these citizen candidates will just kick in $110 of their own money toward their filing fee they're off the hook. But potential low-budget candidates shouldn't take legal advice from me or Boi From Troy -- they should call the FPPC or visit their excellent website.

Xiaochin Claire Yan says the UC should pressure K12 schools to do better by minorities rather than abandoning merit as part of the university's fabric.

Gavin Newsom takes a tentative first step toward trying to modernize San Francisco's civil service system.