California bill would ban police drone spying without warrant

Protecting the Constitution

• At last Democrats and Republicans working together to protect the Bill of Rights and our freedoms.

Drones may seem like a dream for law enforcement agencies wanting to put cameras in the sky for easy airborne surveillance, but a bill that sailed through the California legislature seeks to require a warrant for all but the most urgent spying reports Cnet.

Introduced by Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, the would-be law, known as the Unmanned Aircraft Systems bill, easily passed both houses of California's Democratic-majority legislature late last month. It is now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. Brown has until the end of September to make a decision.

Although the bill addresses and permits many non-law enforcement uses by government agencies of drones -- which it refers to formally as "civil unmanned aircraft systems" -- the heart of the proposed law is geared toward ensuring that police obtain court-issued warrants before deploying the flying devices for most surveillance.

To many, that's key given that drones equipped with sophisticated camera equipment are increasingly able to hover quietly and for long periods of time at altitudes well below where helicopters, which police have long used for warrantless surveillance, can fly.

The legislation, AB 1327, would allow police free use of drones in "emergency situations" such as fires, hostage crises, chases, and search and rescue, as well as to help first responders, among other situations. But beyond that, the bill would require probable cause and a court-issued warrant.

"The [US] Federal Aviation Administration, by 2015, has been mandated by Congress to authorize drones to be integrated into our airspace, and so it's on our doorstep," said Sam Chung, Gorell's policy director. "Right around the corner, drones will be integrated into our airspace. So it's up to states to implement common sense privacy laws."

The FAA's mandate comes even as NASA has begun an effort to implement a traffic management program, much like that which oversees standard aircraft, for commercial drones.

Added Chung, "We wanted to put in privacy restrictions so the public is assured it's not going to be monitored" without a warrant.

For now, it's unclear what decision Brown will make. A spokesperson told CNET that the governor doesn't comment on pending legislation.

Read more at Cnet.com/news

Judge Napolitano:

"Government Violating 3rd/4th/5th/9th Amendments from 30,000 Ft. Above"

Vote for one candidate - several times: It could become legal in Santa Clarita elections

Reform Voting for State Offices Too

While we are at it we need to reform elections for the legislature

and restore democracy instead of rule by the Elites

who buy and sell legislators.

In the Los Angeles County city of Santa Clarita voters may become the first in California to elect city and community college officials by cumulative voting.

The little-used system would allow voters to cast multiple votes for the same candidate. For example, in a City Council election to fill three seats, a Santa Clarita voter could cast three votes for just one candidate, or distribute votes to two or three candidates.

After hearing arguments on Monday, Superior Court Judge Terry Green approved cumulative voting in Santa Clarita city and the Santa Clarita Community College District. The ruling could help resolve lawsuits claiming violations of the California Voting Rights Act, according to attorney Kevin Shenkman.

With cumulative voting, individuals who are part of a minority bloc of the population could amass their votes behind a single candidate and win a seat, Shenkman said. He represents two plaintiffs who had sued to eliminate the traditional at-large voting system used in Santa Clarita elections reports KPCC News.

The suit against the city, the college district and the William S. Hart Union High School District in Newhall alleged that Latinos, who make up 30 percent of the city's population, could not amass enough votes to win representation. The Hart high school district is in the process of dividing into voting districts for future elections.

But the city and community college boards wanted to avoid splitting their jurisdictions into districts. They reached a mediated resolution in January to use cumulative voting instead, Shenkman said. Monday's hearing was intended to confirm that cumulative voting is a legal remedy in California.

Santa Clarita makes no admission of a violation of the state voting rights laws in entering the settlement, said Brian Pierik, assistant city attorney.

The settlement also calls for city elections to move from April to coincide with state and federal elections in November of even-numbered years, he said.   That will be done either by consolidating city elections on the county ballot, or by the city holding its own elections on state and federal election days.

Non-Latino whites make up about 56 percent of the city population, with Asians representing 8.5 percent and African-Americans making up 3.5 percent. The city's lone Latino councilmember, Dante Acosta, was elected this year.

The California Voting Rights Act requires that cities, counties and other local governments abolish at-large voting systems if plaintiffs can show at trial that voting patterns are polarized along racial or ethnic lines.

The vast majority of governments that have faced voting rights lawsuits in California have chosen to abandon at-large voting systems in favor of districts. Those include Whittier, Compton, Anaheim and numerous school districts.

Santa Clarita's tactic of cumulative voting might offer another option to city councils reluctant to face the horse-trading and turf battles that can come with elective districts. Cumulative voting is used in Peoria, Illinois, and in Port Chester, New York.

Steve Fox - The GOP's #1 Target

Democrat Steve Fox - #1 Target

• Democrat perennial candidate Steve Fox accidentally won a GOP held Assembly seat by only 145 votes in the 2012 Obama landslide.  This makes the district target #1 for the California Republican Party.

(Sacramento Bee)  -  Between terse responses, his asthmatic wheeze labors across the table. Wearing a dark suit with two pea-sized stains around the buttons, Steve Fox briefly makes eye contact before shuffling across his Capitol office and returning with a collection of campaign buttons.

A half dozen pins sit snugly in the frame – Fox for hospital trustee, for college board, for city council and, improbable as it sounded at the time, for the 36th Assembly District. Fox knows nobody expected him to make it to Sacramento. When he won his seat by 145 votes in 2012, the self-described conservative and former Republican became the first Democratic legislator to represent the Antelope Valley in 34 years.

Republicans will need his seat if they want to prevent Democrats from again controlling a supermajority in the Legislature’s lower chamber. That leaves the 61-year-old freshman as the most vulnerable incumbent in recent memory.

The district is 36.9% Democrat, 37.3% GOP
and 25.8% independent and smaller parties.

Unlike two years ago, when then-Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez said he was trying to win five target races and had the fortune of winning six, Democrats are all in for Fox. Party leaders have helped him land high-profile legislation, loaned him a stable of talented political operatives, coordinated a massive voter-registration drive in his district and directed a stream of contributions to his campaign account.

“We picked up this seat thanks to Mr. Fox, and we are going to help him keep it,” Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins said in a recent interview. “I know he comes off as a really nice, congenial, ‘thank you, Madam Speaker’ (guy). But he didn’t get elected in a district that no one thought we would take without having an underlying tenacity. He’s going to stick to it. Don’t underestimate him.”

Though Fox finished the primary 8 percentage points behind Republican Tom Lackey, the accidental assemblyman, as he’s sometimes called, has spent his life quieting skeptics. A janitor-turned-math teacher, Fox took the bar exam 28 times before opening his law firm.

“Nobody’s perfect,” he said through a nagging cough, the result of severe allergies. In the courtroom, clients say he reminds them of the disheveled but wily 1970s TV detective Columbo.

Fox estimates he’s stood for election more than 100 times going back to his youth. Asked if his wife of 33 years ever tires of the constant campaigns, he jokes that the running part she’s used to; it’s the winning that’s new. Fox was recalled 16 months after being elected to the Antelope Valley Hospital District. He ran to regain his seat and finished first among five contenders for three seats. He has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on his own campaigns.

“He is a hardworking individual who has gotten here only through his wit and ability to maneuver,” said Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian, D-Burbank. “For me, he’s the perfect example of don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/06/6684903/unlikely-assemblyman-steve-fox.html#storylink=cpy

Fox’s district is centered in Palmdale and Lancaster, rival Los Angeles County cities separated by what locals call the “cactus curtain.” Experts attributed Fox’s win to a trio of factors: shifting demographics that favor Democrats, increased voter turnout in a presidential election year and a relatively uninspired campaign run by Republican Ron Smith.

Democrats are laying the groundwork to rally potential voters in what is expected to be a low-turnout year. Nancy Bednar, a political science professor at Antelope Valley College and Democratic activist, said while the party will likely exceed its goal of registering 20,000 voters, she still expects the competition to be significantly more fierce.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/06/6684903/unlikely-assemblyman-steve-fox.html#storylink=cpy

Read the full article . . . .

2

California State Assembly elections, 2012
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ron Smith	15,097	35.1%
	Democratic	Steve Fox	14,160	32.9%
	Republican	Tom Lackey	13,795	32.0%
Totals			43,052	100.0%
General election
	Democratic	Steve Fox	66,005	50.1%
	Republican	Ron Smith	65,860	49.9%
Totals			131,865	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

2010

High Desert of the Antelope Valley
The 36th Assembly District is located in the Antelope Valley.  The district includes communities in both Los Angeles and Kern Counties. 
.
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi and the San Gabriel Mountains. The valley was named for the pronghorns that are said to have roamed there until being eliminated by hunters and bad weather in the 1880s. The principal cities in the Antelope Valley are Palmdale and Lancaster.

 

10% of California workers are illegal aliens - Black Americans are shafted

Black Americans sold out by Democrats.

Racist Democrats: "Fuck You" to Blacks

• Democrats have decided to totally screw over African-American citizens of the United States in favor of their brand new favorite ethnic group: illegal alien Hispanics.
• Unemployment rate:  5.3% for whites, 7.5% for Hispanics and Black unemployment has increased from 10.7% to 11.4%.  (CNS News)
• Democrats insist that illegal aliens be given jobs, free education, free medical care and free lawyers to fight deportation while Black American citizens go without.

A report released Wednesday by researchers at USC found that illegal aliens here in the People's Republic of California make up nearly 10% of the state's workforce.

The study, which was conducted in conjunction with the California Immigrant Policy Center, was based on census data and other statistics, including data from the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security reports the Los Angeles Times.

USC sociology professor Manuel Pastor, who worked on the report, said it shows how integrated immigrants are into daily life in California.

 

"It's a population deeply embedded in the labor market, neighborhoods and social fabric of the state," said Pastor, who is a co-director of USC's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

Advocates for more inclusive immigration policy say the economic contributions of immigrants are another reason they should be allowed to stay.

“Every one of California’s immigrants helps shape our state’s economic and civic vitality,” said Reshma Shamasunder, director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. She said President Obama should take immediate action to limit deportations and “honor these contributions and advance economic prosperity.”

But those who call for stricter enforcement of existing immigration laws say assessments of immigrants' share of the GDP does not account for the large cost governments incur in providing schools and other services to illegal aliens here illegally.

Steven Camarot, of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors stricter restrictions on immigration, also said that bigger economies are not necessarily better.

"A bigger economy doesn't mean the people are richer," he said.

It found that of the 4.4 million immigrants living in the greater Los Angeles region, 1.1 million are here without permission.

California lost Tesla factory to Nevada

Nevada Wins More Jobs

Jerry Brown comes up short yet again.

California’s campaign to land Tesla Motors Inc.’s 6,500-employee battery factory has failed, with northern Nevada emerging Wednesday as the apparent destination.

The Associated Press and other media, quoting anonymous sources, said Tesla has chosen a site near Reno for its much-coveted $5 billion “Gigafactory,” capping a multi-state beauty contest that dragged on for months.

Governor Brian Sandoval
Republican, Nevada

Tesla and Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval confirmed that a “major economic development announcement” would be made Thursday at the state Capitol in Carson City. “We continue to work with the state of Nevada and we look forward to joining the governor and legislative leaders (Thursday) in Carson City,” Tesla spokeswoman Liz Jarvis-Shean said in an email to The Sacramento Bee.

The disclosure came a little more than a month after Tesla acknowledged that it broke ground earlier this summer at an industrial park a few miles east of Reno. The developer of the park, Lance Gilman, told The Bee in an email that he plans to attend the announcement in Carson City.

Tesla insisted a month ago that it hadn’t finalized a decision regarding the Reno site. Elon Musk, chief executive of the Palo Alto electric-car manufacturer, said then that the company would continue to evaluate other locations and might break ground at multiple spots before reaching a conclusion.

An anonymous source told AP on Wednesday that Tesla still plans to prepare another site for construction – either as a backup in case Nevada falls through, or as a second factory. Jarvis-Shean told The Bee that “discussions with other states in the process are ongoing.”

Officials in the Reno area were careful not to start celebrating. “There’s no news until the press conference,” said Mike Kazmierski of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada. “Other than that, I think everybody’s pretty excited.”

Officials throughout California were left disappointed. Gov. Jerry Brown had made Tesla a priority, and the Legislature considered a package of regulatory and financial incentives for the battery factory. However, California lawmakers adjourned over Labor Day weekend without acting on the bill.

The bill’s co-author, Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, said legislators were considering a streamlining of the California Environmental Quality Act, plus assorted investment-tax and job-training tax credits.

Tesla, he said, was making additional demands “that I think were beyond what California could do.”

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/03/6676033/tesla-reportedly-chooses-nevada.html#storylink=cpy

According to the Gazette-Journal, the governor plans to call the Nevada Legislature into special session next week to vote on incentives for Tesla.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/03/6676033/tesla-reportedly-chooses-nevada.html#storylink=cpy

Read more . . . .

And the winner is . . .
Reno to get 6,500 new jobs.  Jerry Brown fails again, and the moronic Sheeple of the People's Republic will re-elect him in a landslide.

US TV series are being filmed outside of California

More Jobs Flood Out of California

• Moronic Democrats play the game of taxing businesses out of California.
• But trendy Leftist film makers prove they are more anti-tax that the more hardcore Libertarian by moving productions out of the People's Republic.

Hollywood’s big-budget blockbuster movies have often been filmed overseas, particularly in England because of the tax incentives offered. Now television is following suit and more US series than ever before are filming outside North America. Why?

US TV networks are increasingly drawn by accommodating tax breaks, the easy availability of professional crews and the novelty of fresh scenery and different landscapes. This combination has greatly increased the attraction of shooting their shows overseas.
 

Smaller nations such as Sri Lanka have begun offering tax incentives, and others such as New Zealand have improved their own production infrastructures to make them state-of-the-art. Iceland recently lured the HBO series Game of Thrones as well as the feature films Noah and Prometheus.

 

In Japan, government and film industry officials are considering an incentive programme that would bring them in line with the more than 30 foreign countries trying to lure US TV series reports the UK Telegraph.
 

Even shows which are specifically set in California, such as the Fox TV series Alcatraz, have gone abroad. Alcatraz, whose story begins in the infamous prison in the San Franciso Bay, is in fact filmed in Vancouver, where now-cancelled series such as The X-Files were filmed in the past.

Joe Chianese, executive VP at showbusiness payroll giant Entertainment Partners Financial Solutions, says: “The US manufacturing industry has basically been lost to overseas and now we’re looking at the same sort of situation with the TV and film industry.

"You can't blame film-makers for taking their business elsewhere. They're taking their work overseas for the same reasons manufacturers are: it's cheaper."

There are drawbacks to filming in locations far from Hollywood, however. Cast and crew members have to change their lives and relocate to foreign locales for months at a time. Writers and Los Angeles-based executives have to deal with unfamiliar time differences.

Parks and Recreation filmed several episodes in London for tax reasons.

Here are some of the American TV series which have recently, or are currently, filming abroad:
 
NORTHERN IRELAND
Game of Thrones has been shooting there for four years because of varied terrains – rolling hills, mountains, rocks and castles. And of course, UK tax incentives. 

CROATIA
Game of Thrones' Second Unit has been filming there regularly because of the scenery, medieval architecture and rebates. 

ICELAND
Game of Thrones is also filming some episodes in Iceland this year, primarily for the country’s dramatically rugged coastline and scenery. “We’re fortunate now to have rebates from the UK, Croatia and Iceland,” says the series executive producer Bernie Caulfield. “Productions on our scale need these incentives to survive.”

SPAIN
Game of Thrones will film portions of its new season there despite the fact the country offers no financial incentives. “But,” says Caulfield, “they have been great at working with us to find alternate avenues of cost cutting.”

Homeland. The new series of the popular espionage drama, which
stars Claire Danes, has relocated to South Africa.

ENGLAND
Parks and Recreation filmed several episodes in London for tax reasons and to give the storyline a boost, allowing the characters to meet a British lord and film outside Buckingham Palace. Elementary filmed episodes in England for a storyline in which Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller) and Joan (Lucy Liu) go to London to find missing Scotland Yard Inspector Lestrade. They also come in contact with MI6 and Sherlock meets up with his brother Mycroft who has moved into 221 B Baker Street. 24: Live Another Day. The entire series was filmed in London, accumulating rebates and giving a new location and twist to Jack Bauer’s adventures. 

IRELAND
The horror romp Penny Dreadful films in Ireland for its second season, as does Vikings, now starting its third season. For both series the advantages are the scenery, crews and tax incentives. 

SOUTH AFRICA
Homeland. The new series of the popular espionage drama, which stars Claire Danes, has relocated to South Africa, which is standing in for Kabul and Islamabad. 

ISRAEL
The Middle East drama Tyrant, which is set in the fictional country of Abbudin, began filming in Israel which meant avoiding the need to re-create exotic locations from scratch. Producers estimate they saved at least £500,000 an episode by not having to build the lavish sets essential for the story. The series was eventually forced to move to Turkey because of political unrest. 

COLOMBIA
Narcos, the new series based on the life of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, is filming in his native country because the producers believe authenticity has to be on the screen. “We not going to make the life of Pablo Escobar anywhere but Colombia,” says producer Ted Sarandos. 

SCOTLAND
The new science-fiction/romance series Outlander is shooting in Scotland to capture the setting of the popular Outlander book series by Diana Gabaldon on which it is based, and also to reap the benefits of tax incentives. 

AUSTRALIA
Modern Family filmed an episode Down Under last season for a storyline involving jellyfish and a kangaroo.

The TNT show Falling Skies was filmed in British Columbia.

All sex is rape says California legislature

X-ray of a California legislator

Idiots on Parade

• Moron Democrats, with the support of ball-less and spineless Republicans, joined together to effectively make all sex illegal.
• In the mindless pandering for the votes of the Sheeple of California we will see endless numbers of men and women, gays and straights, accused of rape by jilted ex-lovers.

The California state senate unanimously approved a bill on Thursday that defines when “yes” means “yes” to sex.

Instead of “no means no” – the phrase commonly associated with sexual assault prevention – the law would require “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement” by each party to engage in sexual activity.

If Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs the bill into law – he has until the end of September – colleges and universities would have to adopt the so-called affirmative consent standard to continue receiving state funds for student financial aid reports the Washington Post.

The move comes as universities across the country are under pressure to improve how they handle sexual assault allegations. Several California colleges are on the Department of Education’s list of 55 institutions under investigation for allegedly mishandling sexual assault complaints.

The language of the bill is based on the recommendations of a White House student sexual assault task force.

Under the proposed standard, the fact that a person didn’t say “no” is no defense in a campus sexual assault investigation.

In addition to consenting up front, the bill requires affirmative consent to be “ongoing throughout the sexual activity,” meaning that sexual partners must agree to each step of a sexual encounter as it progresses and consent can be revoked at any time. The standard would apply to all sexual encounters regardless of whether the parties are having a one-night stand or are in a long-term relationship.

One thing the bill doesn’t say is that affirmative consent must be verbal. The bill’s original language warned “relying solely on nonverbal communication can lead to misunderstanding,” but that language was removed as was the requirement that consent be “unambiguous.”

 

Nonetheless, as Slate’s Amanda Hess pointed out, this fact was lost on commentators, some who lamented the standard would redefine most sex as rape and would require students to agree to a verbal or written contract before sex.

Students, too, were somewhat confused. “I feel like their hearts are in the right place, but the implementation is a little too excessive,” Henry Mu, a 24-year-old biology major at California State Long Beach told the Press-Telegram. “Are there guidelines? Are we supposed to check every five minutes?”



True Morons
The Democrat and GOP leaders of the California State Senate.

California Town Without Water As Wells Go Dry

No Water For People

But in the state legislature the battle to ban

plastic supermarket bags is a top priority.

EAST PORTERVILLE (CBS13) — Hundreds of people in a California town have no water after wells ran dry during the state’s drought.

The small town of East Porterville in Tulare County has about 7,300 residents, and at least 300 homes have been without water for weeks.

“We can’t shower. We’re wearing dirty clothes. My kids had to wear dirty clothes to school this morning,” said Elizabeth Baker. “I had to go across the street last night to get water for my kids from the fire department.”

The county set up a 5,000-gallon water tank for residents to help with flushing toilets and irrigation, but now drinking water is the problem. They had to distribute more than 15,000 gallons of drinking water last week.

There are fears the problem could be even worse as people believe some people aren’t reporting their wells have gone dry out of fear their landlords will evict them, or their children will be taken away. In fact, the county didn’t know how dire the problem was until they were tipped off by a nonprofit group.

Donna Johnson has been delivering water to those in need for months. She’s even taken out a loan to pay for the water.

“It just became like a job. I’m delivering water, and I guess my head went get up and do this,” she said. “Sometimes i go home and cry because some of the situations are so sad right now.”

The county handed out 12 gallons of water per person in need, which is considered a three-week supply. It hopes the state reimburses the $30,000 they’ve spent on water.

(CBS 13 News)



Yet Another Day . . .
Yet another day goes by with the fools in the legislature wanting to spend billions on an idiotic high speed rail system instead of a string of desalination plants.

California officials delay massive Delta water tunnel project

A Short Delay Before Another Battle

• The unions and businesses that own the legislature have had to retreat from their plan to rape the Sacramento Delta and suck down the billions in tax money the construction project would generate.

Plans for two huge water diversion tunnels in the Delta are being delayed, state officials announced Wednesday, because the plans need more work.

Nancy Vogel, spokeswoman for the California Department of Water Resources, said the delay in the $25 billion Bay Delta Conservation Plan was triggered by public comments submitted on the draft environmental impact report. The comments revealed that certain areas of the plan need additional study, although she could not yet say specifically what areas reports the Sacramento Bee.

“We’re going through it and we’re going to revise and send it back out for public review,” Vogel said. “We continue to look for ways to reduce the impacts to Delta residents and landowners, and we’ll have a lot more information in six to eight weeks.”

The real plan is to suck the Delta into a dry dust bowl so
golf courses in Los Angeles can be watered and farmers
can grow crops in the desert. 

    

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/08/27/6658505/delta-water-tunnel-studies-delayed.html#storylink=cpy

Officials said the revised document will be re-released for public comment “in early 2015.” They originally intended to approve the current plan near the start of the new year. Together with more time for public comment on the revised document, the delay will amount to several months.

Translation  -  The public was screaming their lungs out at the rape of the Delta.  So let's going into hiding and hope the peasants go away.

The Bay Delta Conservation Plan has been in the works for more than seven years. It focuses on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where water is diverted to serve 25 million Californians and 3 million acres of farmland. The plan aims to stabilize water diversions and repair ecological health in the estuary, the largest on the West Coast of the Americas.

The most controversial element of the plan is a massive pair of tunnels, 40 feet in diameter and 30 miles long, that would divert a portion of the Sacramento River’s flow at three intakes proposed near Courtland. Read More

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2014/08/27/6658505/delta-water-tunnel-studies-delayed.html#storylink=cpy

$125.6 million spent on lawsuits by 10 California school districts

Lawyers. They are always there to "help" you.

California: of, by and for the Lawyers

• The so-called "justice" system is a fraud.  The courts exists to suck people dry and line the pockets of the lawyers.

(San Jose Mercury News)  -  Ten large California school districts, including San Jose Unified, together spent $125.6 million on lawsuits over three years, according to a report by a tort-reform group.

 

The report released this week by California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse looked at the costs of verdicts, settlements and outside counsel -- but not in-house attorneys -- for 10 large school districts from 2010-2011 through 2012-2013.

In those three years, San Jose Unified spent $2.24 million on outside counsel; it did not have any verdict or settlement costs. Superintendent Vincent Matthews noted that the district spent less than 1 percent of the general-fund budget on legal costs, while not laying off employees or cutting instructional programs in those years.

The report noted that "Litigation costs place an enormous burden on school district budgets." Of the 10 districts' $125.6 million in legal spending, about 83 percent paid for outside lawyers.

To reduce the costs of litigation, the report said, some districts employ aggressive risk-management programs and some fight questionable claims rather than offering quick settlements.

To read the report, go to http://www.cala.com/, click on "Is Litigation Costing You Your Kid's Education?"