Every piece of legislation that comes up for a vote in the legislature is analyzed by consultants on both the Republican and Democrat sides of the isle. This review and summary of a bill help legislators to sort out the good from the bad.
Well, it is no wonder why Republicans are distancing themselves from Assembly Bill 523, by LA Democrat Carol Liu, that would allow the Coast Community College District to sell their television station (KOCE) to KOCE’s Foundation for millions under top market value. Current law prohibits that, but now the district, helped by Liu (who isn’t even from Orange County) are working an end-run around the law, by trying to ‘sneak through’ legislation that, literally, only applies to this one instance, and would specifically allow the station to be sold at less than market value.
Well, the experienced analysts for Senate Republicans looked at this bill and they have some very serious concerns that this bill could in fact allow for a "gift of public funds" by allowing a government asset to specifically be sold at less than market value, and therefore the proposed law if enacted could very well be a violation of Section 6 or Article XVI of the state Constitution. The analysis warns that passing this bill could lead to a lot of legal expenses being occurred by the state. I have attached a copy of this analysis below for your own perusal.
Assembly Bill 523, the recipient of the 2006 FlashReport Golden Trash Can Award, continues to smell more and more. We urge all responsible legislators to distance themselves from this bill, and this scheme to bilk taxpayers to pay for a television station.
August 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Chris Anderson still isn’t playing straight with the facts, Jon.
Despite what Anderson wrote you, KOCE is planning a move into the OC Register space. Ever notice how many OC Register reporters and columnists appear regularly on KOCE’s “Real Orange.”
It’s a sweetheart deal and if you take another look, neither the OC Register (other than Steve Greenhut’s last minute editorial that was only in response to your editorials) or the OC Business Journal (where Rick Grieff has a conflict since he hosts his own KOCE show) have addressed the plain facts: AB523 is a rotten backroom deal.
Sell KOCE and let the highest bidder come forward!