Rumor abound around the capitol that revenue is falling short of projections in last year’s budget. The May revise, coming soon, is said to be gloomy, although no one has said so publicly yet. Capitol bean counters have an interesting method for determining what receipts from income taxes will be. If you will recall on your tax form, you send your return to one address if you owe money, to another if you get a refund. By counting the trucks going to each address, the estimators know, within a couple of million dollars, exactly how much the state is going to receive.

That being said, it appears that the state is on the verge of another budget crisis.

I survived two such crises during my fourteen years in the Legislature. The first began in 1991 and ended in 1994, after several years of increased spending, an average of 11 percent per year in the late 1980s. Governor Deukmejian tried to stave off the crisis by returning surpluses to the taxpayers, as he did in 1986, with the billion dollar rebate. The CTA responded with Proposition 98, which required any surpluses to be spent on education, and put all education spending on autopilot. The… Read More

Welcome to Anaheim, California. As you read this column, there are professional signature gatherers who have been hired by a coalition headed up by the Walt Disney Corporation to qualify a ballot measure in this central Orange County city. No, the measure is not to name Mickey the official mouse of the Anaheim (I would be surprised if that wasn’t the case already!). Actually, the measure they are circulating is a very bad one — which actually is the reason for me spending some time on this local issue.

The measure, in a nutshell, would institute an extreme form of what is called ‘ballot-box zoning’ in this city of well over 300,000 residents. Specifically, Disney is pushing a measure that would set into stone the current city zoning ordinances (the ones that dictate the ‘acceptable uses’ on property) in the Disney Resort Area around the Magic Kingdom. It would do so by requiring that ANY changes (like if you own a coffee shop and want to convert the use into an apartment building) would have to go through a citywide vote for approval at the next regularly scheduled municipal election. Normally you would pursue this… Read More

Welcome to Anaheim, California. As you read this column, there are professional signature gatherers who have been hired by a coalition headed up by the Walt Disney Corporation to qualify a ballot measure in this central Orange County city. No, the measure is not to name Mickey the official mouse of the Anaheim (I would be surprised if that wasn’t the case already!). Actually, the measure they are circulating is a very bad one — which actually is the reason for me spending some time on this local issue.

The measure, in a nutshell, would institute an extreme form of what is called ‘ballot-box zoning’ in this city of well over 300,000 residents. Specifically, Disney is pushing a measure that would set into stone the current city zoning ordinances (the ones that dictate the ‘acceptable uses’ on property) in the Disney Resort Area around the Magic Kingdom. It would do so by requiring that ANY changes (like if you own a coffee shop and want to convert the use into an apartment building) would have to go through a citywide vote for approval at the next regularly scheduled municipal election. Normally you would persue this… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

Freedom Fighter

Ward Connerly is on a roll. Less than six months after leading a successful effort to abolish race and gender preferences in government contracting and college admissions in Michigan, the former University of California regent is taking his cause on the road again. This week he announced he will promote anti-quota ballot measures in Colorado, Missouri, Arizona and Oklahoma in the November 2008 elections.

"We’re calling it the Super Tuesday of Equality," says Valery Pech Orr, who is spearheading the fight in Colorado. The measures are… Read More

SB 850 by Republican Abel Maldonado and Democrat Lou Correa was a simple bill. The bill would allow mothers to request a "certificate of birth resulting from stillbirth". This seems simple enough. Women who feel the need to recognize their child would have that option. This seems like a compassionate bi-partisan bill. And it was until Sheila Kuehl and the lobbyists at Planned Parenthood got hold of it in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite Maldonado’s attempt to have an up and down vote, the committee added language that "(j) (1) Through its courts, statutes, and under its Constitution, California protects a woman’s right to reproductive privacy. California reaffirms these protections and specifically its Supreme Court decision in People v. Belous (1969) 71 Cal.2d 954, 966-68..” … Read More

The flurry of thousands of pieces of legislation flying around the State Capitol this time of year (hold on to your wallets and purses!) continues to allow the FlashReport to bring our readers into the building to take a closer look at individual pieces of legislation.

Today we’re taking a moment to look at Senate Bill 1000, introduced by Republican State Senator Tom Harman of Orange County.

PROPERTY RIGHTS Before I delve into the specifics of this legislation, let’s have a short little primer on property rights. This has been a big issue lately, especially since the United States Supreme Court in their (terrible) Kelo v. New London decision cleared the way for government to come in and take someone’s private property through eminent domain if the government deems that a different use for that property would further ‘economic development’ in the area. This has lead to a national trend of local measures to protect… Read More

Today the California Republican Party has has re-launched its website, www.cagop.org, and it is definately worth a visit!

As you can see from the graphic to the left, the new website has a great look, and a main page that will allow you to easily navigate the site (don’t worry, you won’t actually have to see Senator Harry Reid’s face every time you go to the site).

Things to see on the site:

Below is a capture of the page of the site that allows you to easily drill-down to your own County GOP leadership, with contact information and a map on how to get to your local GOP County HQ. You actually just click on the graphic of the county that you are from, and up comes the information! CRP Chairman Ron Nehring is blogging over there, so you’ll want to check out the California Republican Blog. The CRP is posting its latest releases and statements in an online Newsroom. A calendar of events to let you know what is going … Read More

Atthe annual CRA Convention,delegates to vote in a "straw poll" for president. Thompson won, Hunter and Romney ties for second. Just a note a candidate needs two-thirds at our endorsing convention in order to win a CRA endorsement. The results:

Fred Thompson (25%) Duncan Hunter (19%) Mitt Romney (19%) Ron Paul (12%) Tom Tancredo (8%) Newt Gingrich (7%) Rudy Guiliani (7%) Sam Brownbeck (3%) Mike Huckabee (0%) Tommy Thompson (0%)

[Publisher’s announcement: The ever-humble Mr. Spence neglects to tell readers that he was re-elected to yet another two-year term as President of the CRA! Congratulations!! Publisher’s Question: I presume McCain also got no votes? Publisher’s note: Giuliani is probably the big winner of this survey. If the CRA can’t solidify behind a single conservative in the primary, the socially moderate former New York Mayor gets a walk… Flash]… Read More