Field Poll: Broad concern about wealth gap, disagreement on minimum wage

A majority of Californians don’t like the way income and wealth are distributed in the state, but they divide by political ideology and party affiliation and about how much government should do to reduce disparities between the wealthiest people and the rest of the population, according to a new Field Poll.

A majority of Democrats – 57 percent – say the state should raise the minimum wage more than it already is scheduled to go up, while 70 percent of Republicans say currently scheduled increases are adequate or already too much.

The poll’s release comes a day after the minimum wage in California rose to $9 an hour, and it offers rare insight into how immigrants in California view economic conditions here differently than Californians born in the United States. While adults born outside the United States are more likely than U.S.-born residents to be satisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in California, they are far more likely to say government should do more to reduce the disparity that exists, including increasing the minimum wage.

“Even though the U.S.-born residents see the problem more clearly ... they are more hesitant to have government do anything about it,” said Mark DiCamillo, director of the poll. “Politically, they’re a more conservative population overall than the immigrant population.”

Overall, 54 percent of California adults say they are dissatisfied with the way income and wealth are distributed in the state, while 38 percent say they are satisfied, according to the poll. Nearly 60 percent of residents say the gap between wealthy Californians and the rest of the population is larger than in the past, and about two-thirds of adults say government should do “some” or “a lot” to reduce the gap.

Forty-eight percent of adults say the minimum wage should be increased more, while 37 percent say current scheduled increases are adequate, according to the poll. Ten percent of California adults say the minimum wage already has been raised too much.

Legislation that raised the minimum wage to $9 an hour passed last year and will raise the hourly minimum to $10 in 2016. A California Assembly panel last week rejected a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage even higher.

Lisa Radoycis, a poll respondent from Rocklin, said the minimum wage is already more than enough and that government should concern itself with basic services, not disparities in wealth.

“I don’t think it’s a government thing,” said Radoycis, a school librarian who described herself as conservative. “I don’t think it’s for them to do.”

Tom Metry, a Republican from Fresno, disagreed. The retired math teacher said raising the minimum wage could help low earners improve their lives in a community where he said he knows many people who have to work two or more jobs.

“That’s the only way we’re going to level things out,” Metry said. “It’s got to be some type of fair equity.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/07/02/6527682/poll-shows-broad-concern-about.html#mi_rss=State%20Politics#storylink=cpy

California Republicans seek to redirect high-speed rail dollars

Saying California has betrayed the will of voters who approved a controversial high-speed rail project, Assembly Republicans on Thursday proposed giving those voters a redo.

"It's clear that the current high-speed rail project hardly resembles what the voters narrowly approved," said Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway of Tulare.

Under the plan announced by a group of Republicans, voters would be able to decide whether to channel $8.5 billion in bond money, endorsed by voters via a 2008 ballot initiative, towards local transportation infrastucture projects.

The plan reflects both Republican ire over Gov. Jerry Brown's embattled project and the train's tenuous financial position. A Sacramento Superior Court judge in November ordered the Brown administration to tear up its funding plan, saying it had strayed from the terms of Proposition 1A, which authorized the bond issue back in 2008.

The Brown administration has since prevailed upon the California Supreme Court, and the high court ordered the case to be sent back to a lower court for an expedited review.

In addition to redirecting the high-speed rail money, the Republican package of four bills would dedicate up to $2.5 billion of a newfound state surplus to paying off transportation loans; ensure billions in fuel tax money flows annually into local infrastructure projects, per the terms of Proposition 42; and compel the state to repay $2.5 billion in gasoline tax revenue diverted elsewhere during lean budget years.


PHOTO: Assemblywoman Connie Conway, joined by fellow Republicans, unveils the caucus' transportation package in the State Capitol on February 6, 2014. The Sacramento Bee/Jeremy B. White.


via: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2014/02/california-republicans-seek-to-redirect-high-speed-rail-dollars.html

Bill to let non-citizens work at California polls heads to governor Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/08/bill-allowing-non-citizens-to-be-poll-workers-heads-to-governor.html#storylink=cpy

A bill that would allow legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens to serve as poll workers is headed to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk after passing its final vote Thursday.

After some partisan discussions, the Assembly agreed to technical amendments made in the Senate toAssembly Bill 817 by Democrat Rob Bonta of Alameda.

AB 817 would allow an election official to appoint up to five people who are not U.S. citizens to serve as poll workers at each precinct. The non-citizens would have to be lawful permanent residents who meet all the other requirements for being eligible to vote except for citizenship.

Bonta said the measure would increase language access for voters.

"There are nearly 3 million citizens who are fully eligible to vote and not English proficient," Bonta said.

"We have a shortage of multilingual poll workers in the state of California," he added. "There has to be language access at the polls."

Republican Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen of Modesto said she didn't buy into that logic.

"Let's keep in mind what poll workers can and cannot do," Olsen told fellow Assembly members during floor debate. "Poll workers cannot go into a voting booth with a voter, cannot read the ballot to the voter, cannot help them understand what they are voting on."

Republicans have opposed the bill since it was first introduced. The bill originally passed the Assembly in May on a 49-23 vote. Last month, the Senate passed it 22-10. The bill returned to the Assembly on Thursday for concurrence on minor changes made in the Senate.

"If somebody is not registered to vote and they aren't a citizen and they can't vote, then why would they even want to sit at the poll?" asked Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point. "What could possibly entice them? Is this just another career path? I'm a bit confused."

Democrats focused their rebuttal on pointing out that legal residents who are not U.S. citizens can serve in the military but are not welcome to serve as poll workers.

"It's offensive to suggest that those people could go and put their lives on the line for their country and go off to war in Iraq or Afghanistan, but when they come back home, they are unfit to serve as a poll worker," said Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Watsonville. "That's offensive."

PHOTO: An elections assistant instructs a class of poll workers in this 1998 file photo. The Sacramento Bee / Owen Brewer.

Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2013/08/bill-allowing-non-citizens-to-be-poll-workers-heads-to-governor.html#storylink=cpy

New ethnic voters fortify California Democratic majorities

Democrats' overwhelming victory in California on election day was driven by Latino, Asian and African American voters, who made up a record 40% of the state’s electorate, according to exit poll data.

Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, said that despite the fact that non-Hispanic white voters favored GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney over President Obama by eight percentage points, Obama carried the state by 20 points, rooted in his strong support among the state’s ethnic voters.

Proposition 30, the tax-hike plan backed by Gov. Jerry Brown, also emerged victorious because of strong support from non-white voters. “White non-Hispanics divided their votes evenly ... [but] ethnic voters collectively supported it by 20 points, giving it its entire margin of victory,” DiCamillo said.

The data is an ominous sign for California Republicans, who hold no statewide elected offices and have seen their numbers fall below one-third in both the state Senate and Assembly.

Since 1994, the state has added about 3.5 million new voters. Roughly 2 million of those have been Latino and 1 million are Asian Americans, according to numbers from the Field Poll. Reaching those new voters will be a challenge for the state GOP as they lick their wounds from their latest electoral defeat.

These new voters seem to have a different view about the role of government in the lives of its citizens than many of their white counterparts.

While white voters were evenly divided about whether the government should do more to solve the nation’s problems, ethnic voters, by a 2-1 margin, believed that government should be doing more, network exit polling found.

ALSO:

Skelton: Gov. Jerry Brown is on a roll

Poll: Voters divided over easing state's environmental laws

Richard Bloom's small lead grows over Betsy Butler for Assembly

-- Anthony York in Sacramento

Photo: Voters cast their ballots in the 2012 election at the Sue B. Dance Company in Altadena. Credit: Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times

VIA LA TIMES