| The Buzz: California's population depends on who's counting |   |
How many Californians are there? It depends on who's doing the counting
As Californians celebrate the holidays, just how many of us are there? The number depends on who's counting.
After the 2000 census, a polite disagreement developed between the federal Census Bureau and California's state demographers that lasted for 10 years.
The Census Bureau saw California's population growing more slowly than the state did. By the end of the decade, the gap had grown to about 1 million.
The 2010 census officially settled the argument in the Census Bureau's favor.
Now two years later, a gap has emerged again. This time it's the Census Bureau that sees California's population growing faster than does the state Department of Finance's population unit.
Earlier this month, Finance pegged the state's population as of July 1 at 37.8 million, up 256,000 in a year. Last week, the Census Bureau put the July 1 number at just over 38 million, up 357,500.
The Census Bureau's growth estimate for California was the nation's second highest in raw numbers, behind Texas.
But the Golden State's annual growth rate of 0.9 percent, while higher than the nation's, was about half that of Texas, which clocked in at 1.7 percent.
BY THE NUMBERS
California's Legislature passed one-third of the nation's 81 most significant new laws this year, according to a list released Thursday by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The state's 27 measures included those that reform state pensions, let clergy refuse to perform same-sex marriages and restrict picketing at funerals. Illinois was second, with 26.
WORTH REPEATING
"These laws just don't make sense anymore. It's time for politicians to come out of the closet on this."
LT. GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM, telling the New York Times that though he does not smoke marijuana, he supports its legalization as he believes the laws against it are counterproductive and archaic
