Dan Walters: Assembly Speaker Rivas promises to scrutinize how California’s new laws work

Dan Walters: Assembly Speaker Rivas promises to scrutinize how California’s new laws work

The California Legislature not only habitually passes legislation without considering downside risks, it also only rarely examines whether those new laws deliver the promised results. The latter is called “oversight,” and while legislators often tout its virtues, only rarely do they seriously implement it. What are termed “oversight hearings” are often merely exercises in self-congratulation or vehicles for grinding political axes, rather than o…