Update: After much debate, the assembly passes AB 8 out on a party line vote of 47-32.

One of my favorite arguments against was by Assemblywoman Audra Strickland. When speaking of a government run plan [the same government that has prison health care in receivership and Medi-cal in a shambles] promising higher quality, speedier access and lower costs she referred to a workplace poster that said. "Low Cost, Quality, Speed…Pick Any Two." Also, she compared to a Las Vegas buffet where you can pick from mediocre food, thechoices made by someone else for you, while the good stuff is elsewhere in short supply [rationing]

The effort by government to further takeover your health care choices rolls on. The Senate earlier passed the Don Perata bill, SB 48, 23-16, while we are currently debating the Assembly counterpart, AB 8 by The Speaker. Republicans are articulating our market, free choice proposals through floor amendments and reminders of our 18 bill package that were stopped in Committee on party line votes.… Read More

AB 16 passed today 44-28. To answer the question of how many Republican voted for a bill opposed by CFRW, CYR, YRFC and many pro-family groups is still at two (Emmerson, Huff). One Democrat voted no (Parra). See previous post on issue here. The following GOP Legislators actually stood up and opposed the bill. Joel Anderson, Doug La Malfa, Alan Nakanishi, Ted Gaines, Martin Garrick and Bonnie Garcia. Garcia was previously a co-sponsor, but became an opponent after amendments were added that ceded legislative authority to an unelected government official.

Audra Strickland was out there whipping the caucus for no votes as well.… Read More

The California Term Limits Defense Fund, the committee formed by term limit advocates to oppose any possible ballot measures to weaken California’s existing term limits law, announced earlier in the week that they had hired veteran political organizer Bob Adney (pictured) as its Executive Director. Upon hearing the news, I reached out to Adney to welcome him to his new post, and see if we could have a little "on the record" chat about him and his new post. Here is a write up of our Q & A… FR: So Bob, welcome to California! Why don’t you take a moment and ‘introduce yourself’ to FlashReport readers, perhaps with some of your past political involvement, and maybe a little bit about you personally?

Adney: I started my involvement in politics while in High School. A teacher… Read More

GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE Last night’s GOP Presidential debate in New Hampshire is still residing, unwatched, on my Tivo. So I will be leaving it to others to opine as to who won and who lost. That said, we here at the FlashReport continue our commitment to provide outstanding post-debate coverage for our readers. Once again, on the main page we featured columns on behalf of the front-runner candidates, penned by prominent Californians — Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman for Mitt Romney, State Senator Jeff Denham for John McCain, and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle for Rudy Giuliani… Also, at the bottom of this Commentary are some video clips of these three candidates in action (provided by the campaigns)… MALDONADO’S "MISSING ANGELS" BILL HIJACKED On Monday the full Senate voted on SB 850, the "Missing Angels" act. This is a piece of legislation that will allow… Read More

GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE Last night’s GOP Presidential debate in New Hampshire is still residing, unwatched, on my Tivo. So I will be leaving it to others to opine as to who won and who lost. That said, we here at the FlashReport continue our commitment to provide outstanding post-debate coverage for our readers. Once again, on the main page we featured columns on behalf of the front-runner candidates, penned by prominent Californians — Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman for Mitt Romney, State Senator Jeff Denham for John McCain, and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle for Rudy Giuliani… Also, at the bottom of this Commentary are some video clips of these three candidates in action (provided by the campaigns)…

MALDONADO’S "MISSING ANGELS" BILL HIJACKED On Monday the full Senate voted on SB 850, the "Missing Angels" act. This is a piece of legislation that will allow families who have endured the… Read More

I just received this from State Senator Mark Wyland, with a request to post it ASAP. FR readers take heart in what he said, and act on it! ‘m posting from my PDA, so pardon the formatting…

“The United States Senate is considering legislation that would weaken our federal immigration system. California has borne the brunt of illegal immigration, along with its enormous costs. There are estimates as high as $10 billion annually for education, health care, and corrections costs for illegal residents of our state.

The bill would have such profound and disturbing effects on California and the nation that all efforts must be made to stop it. It cannot be “fixed” with any conceivable amendment. I suggest that the FlashReport and other like-minded websites – along with talk radio shows –post the major problems/provisions each day on their websites along with the contact information for U.S. Senators. Strategies to stop this bill and gain real border enforcement should be discussed each day. Most readers of the FlashReport know the problems with this bill and illegal immigration, but a short refresher is listed below.… Read More

Senate Immigration Bill: The White House and the Senate recently announced a deal on “comprehensive illegal immigration reform” legislation. Contrary to claims by the bill’s authors, it is nothing short of amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. The bill does not go far enough in strengthening our borders or enhancing our national security. In fact, it threatens to cause irreparable harm to our infrastructure and our homeland security for generations to come. As I have said, no bill is better than a bad one that may lead to even more illegal immigration. For that and many other reasons, I oppose this proposal.

Any immigration reform bill that I would consider supporting must address my concerns in the following areas:

No Amnesty. Illegal immigrants must forfeit citizenship forever. Under the current proposal, virtually all illegal immigrants who haven’t been convicted of three or more misdemeanors or a felony would be granted legal status and a work permit on the day they file for a “Z” visa. Moreover, the legislation does not require illegal immigrants to pay back taxes for the time they worked illegally in the United… Read More

Circa during the Reagan Administration, there was an understanding amongtrue conservative leaders and themovement in generalto support privatization of public services whenever possible. The idea was to let the private sector compete with public employee unions, who had a total lock on the labor market for public services.

But as a result of the "Reagan Revolution," thinking started to change. For example, companies such as Corrections Corporation of America sprung up to provide "brick and mortar" correctional services across America, for prison services. These private companies could contract with local government to accomplish the goals of local governmentwithout the taxpayers having to encumber themselves with pension liabilities or union issues by hiring "contract" personnel. And these "contract" providers could save the taxpayers a whole lot of money!

In fact, some localities, including the City of Laguna Niguel, which incorporated in the wake of the Reagan Administration, were leaders in the privatization movement, and gleefully availed themselves of "contract" city staff, to avoid large… Read More