Once upon a time we called them “public servants.” Today, most taxpayers struggle to keep a straight face when this term is used to describe the well-paid, elite who govern us.

In a state where the median per capita income is just over $30,000, Gov. Brown, legislators and other state elected officials will celebrate the holidays with a four percent pay raise. The California Citizens Compensation Commission, whose members are appointed by the governor, decided the improved economy and healthy state budget justified the raise. California lawmakers, who were already the most generously paid in all 50 states, will now receive $104,115, earning them $14,774 more per year than the next highest. Of course, this does not count the additional $176 per day in “walking around money,” living expenses lawmakers receive for every day the Legislature is in session, amounting to an average of $34,000.

The governor, too, is now the highest paid at $190,100 — Pennsylvania’s governor is actually slated to make $723 more, but Gov. Tom Wolf does not accept the salary.

Do Californians pay their governor, the top executive of a state government… Read More

By Gary Aminoff, Treasurer, The Republican Party of Los Angeles County

California is now a one-party state, with Democrats having a supermajority in both the State Assembly and Senate.

How is it that the GOP can’t adequately explain to California residents that our ideas are better? Why is it that Republicans can’t convince Californians that our solutionswill bring prosperity and a better life for everyone, Democrats included? The fact is that Republicans in California are poor marketers. We have a great product but don’t know how to sell it.

We need to learn how to market it. You can manufacture a great widget that will do incredible things, including saving people tons of money. But if you don’t know how to market it, you won’t make any sales, even if it is better than sliced bread.

The blame is not completely with the Republican Party. Selling our ideas is only one of the ways we can improve our standing with California voters. We have many obstacles in California. The populous cities of the State are predominantly filled with secular progressives who aren’t interested in limited government, lower taxes, and a… Read More

On November 8th, Californians approvedProp. 51, authorizing $9.0 billion in new borrowing for construction and upgrades of public schools. Also on November 8th, Californians approved 171 local bond measures, authorizing over $22 billion in additional financing for construction and upgrades of public schools.

This new borrowing is only to construct and upgrade K-12 and community college campuses.Total K-12 enrollmentin California has been stable at around 6.3 million students for over a decade.Community college enrollmentin California is about 2.1 million students. This means that this latest round of borrowing equates to $3,735 per student. And similar sums are thrown at California’s K-12 schools and community colleges for construction and upgrades every two years. What gives?

One of the most obvious problems with voter approved bonds in California is the preference given school bonds.… Read More

I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

– Thomas Jefferson

Hundreds of thousands of Northern Californians are seeking a return to a representative government that serves the citizens and not itself.

California’s northern most counties are suffering from a lack of representation in the state Legislature. Northern California… Read More

The conference report on the Water Resources Development Act is the product of many, many hours of good-faith negotiations between the House and Senate and between Republicans and Democrats. Like any compromise, I don’t like everything in it; but the net effect is an important step forward in protecting against the devastation of future droughts in California and catastrophic wildfire that threatens Lake Tahoe.

It provides for $335 million for desperately needed surface water storage. It opens a new era of hatcheries to provide for burgeoning populations of endangered fish species. It adds flexibility to management of New Melones Reservoir and water transfers to assure water can be more efficiently moved to where it is most needed. It adds strong protection to Northern California area of origin water rights. It expedites review and approval of new projects. It updates flood control management criteria to make better use of our existing reservoirs.

I particularly want to highlight the provisions related to Lake Tahoe. For many years, we’ve spent enormous resources to adjust drainage in the basin to improve water clarity at the lake.… Read More

Human beings prefer freedom to collectivism and tyranny. Only those in complete denial disregard the negative consequences of policies that suppress liberty. Consider North Korea versus South Korea. And recall that in Berlin during the Cold War era, people weren’t shot trying to go from West to East – not that anyone tried anyway. Finally, in the course of the last 55 years of the Castro regime, very few people jumped on rickety boats in Miami seeking a better life in Havana.

For those who follow what is happening in the United States – both in politics and with the economy – we can be grateful that even in the most oppressive economic environment – think your typical liberal city such as San Francisco or Portland – people remain remarkably free compared to citizens in many other parts of the world.

One of the freedoms that we Americans enjoy is the freedom to travel. A citizen’s ability to travel from state to state has been deemed by the United States Supreme Court to be a fundamental right that can only be restricted in the narrowest of circumstances. Part of this right is more than just going to another state or country and then returning. It… Read More

Four days ago I posted here the dramatic increase in the California per household debt imposed by underfunded state and local pension guarantees. Using the “market pension” earnings expected/required, this debt went from $77,700 per CA household in 2014 to $92,748 in 2015, making us easily the second worst state in the nation. http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2016/12/03/the-new-state-public-employee-pension-debt-figures-are-out-oh-dear/

Sadly, we just today got a more recent update — an estimate as of end of the last month (November, 2016). It’s gotten even worse. Incredibly, by a lot! See the chart below.

We’ve gone from $92,748 CA household debt at the end of 2015 to $106,848 as of last month. Egad!

The only good news is that since 1 December the stock market has rallied nicely (confounding progressives and their doomsday predictions). But since the end of the month the S&P 500 is currently up only 1.14% — not enough to offset the burgeoning pension debt obligation of California… Read More

When I joust with progressives about California taxes (especially vs. Texas), one favorite talking point that they raise is the lack of a California oil severance tax — a state tax on petroleum as it comes out of the ground.

They are inferring that the lack of a CA oil severance tax somehow justifies all the OTHER high CA state and local taxes. Of course, a little closer scrutiny shows this assertion is 99% bogus. Higher than 99%, actually. Mathematically higher!

Here’s the executive summary(data and sources below):

In 2015 Texas collected $4.179 billion in severance taxes from their oil and natural gas wells. If we levied the same severance taxes in California on our producing wells, in 2015, we would have raised $498million— because we produce a lot less oil and gas than Texas.

Contrast that amount with the expected individual income tax revenue projected in the 2016-17 California state budget — $83.841BILLION! And then there’s… Read More