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<p>SACRAMENTO - In the wake of the botched Oracle contract, Gov. Gray Davis on Monday approved legislation cracking down on conflicts of interest in state technology purchases.</p> <p>The measure (AB 1467) is designed to close a loophole in California law. Currently, most companies that have a state consulting contract are barred from bidding for services that contract recommends. The new law puts technology contracts under the same restrictions.</p>

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<p>The awarding of lucrative contracts for public works projects in Hawai'i often appears to hinge directly on money that politicians demand for their election campaigns, according to a Honolulu architect who testified yesterday before an investigative grand jury probing city contracting and campaign donations to Mayor Jeremy Harris.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - A special team of investigators has found that poor oversight of state contracts contributed to abuse in the system and called Monday for revamping the process that came under severe scrutiny during this year's Oracle scandal.</p> <p>After three months of review, a draft report prepared for a special governor's task force called for new oversight of computer projects and red flagging high-risk contracts for special scrutiny. But it did not embrace elimination of the disputed no-bid system that allows billions of state dollars to be spent with little oversight.</p>

<p>Two of the Honolulu companies whose officials have been subpoenaed to testify before an O'ahu grand jury next month were awarded numerous non-bid city design contracts worth millions of dollars during Mayor Jeremy Harris' tenure, city purchasing records show.</p> <p>R.M. Towill Corp. and Park Engineering/Paren Inc. employees and their relatives also donated a total of more than $120,000 to Harris' 2000 re-election campaign, state Campaign Spending Commission records show, and the agency has long been investigating whether those donations were improper.</p>

<p>The Davis administration's much-ballyhooed effort to update the state's Internet presence has become the focus of an internal investigation into contracting irregularities on state information technology projects.</p> <p>Gov. Gray Davis has summoned top administration lawyers, including former Sacramento County District Attorney Steve White, to lead the inquiry. White, whom Davis appointed inspector general of the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency in 1999, has been assigned to the governor's secretary of legal affairs for the investigation.</p>

<p>Oracle dispute, a top aide said Friday.</p> <p>At the same time, state lawmakers scrutinizing the Oracle deal plan to ask the state auditor next week to take a broader look at the controversial practice that also was used to hire companies to revamp the state's $5 million Web portal.</p>

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - At a time when Oracle Corp. was already grappling with slumping sales, a key executive departure and a stock price hovering near three-year lows, the No. 2 software maker has now become embroiled in a controversy over a deal with the state of California. Analysts said that while it is not clear whether Oracle did anything wrong, the controversy surrounding the $95 million deal has brought the company's selling -- and discounting -- practices under public scrutiny, an unwelcome distraction as Oracle heads into the last weeks of its fourth quarter, when it traditionally...

<p>LOS ANGELES -- A California state senator will file a lawsuit Wednesday to void all the state's long-term electricity contracts based on an energy consultant's alleged conflict of interest, said a spokesman for Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.</p> <p>The lawsuit, which will be filed in state superior court in Pasadena, will claim that Vikram Budhraja violated California's government code when he helped negotiate on behalf of the government $43 billion in power contracts last year while being paid a consulting retainer by Edison International (EIX), McClintock spokesman John Stoos said Tuesday.</p>

Israelis may be excluded from Pentagon contracts SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Monday, March 11, 2002 WASHINGTON #151; Israeli nationals could be banned from participating in U.S. defense contracts under new regulations that seek to keep foreigners out of sensitive projects. U.S. officials said the Defense Department plans to reduce access by foreign nationals to military programs. They said this would include the use of foreign nationals in contracts relating to unclassified information used by the Pentagon. Israeli nationals are said to be included in information technology-related contracts with the Pentagon, according to Middle East Newsline. This includes the sale of...