In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

In a brazen attempt to yank to the hard-left the discussions about how to deal with the fact that many Californians do not carry health care insurance, Senator Don Perata, the liberal President of the California State Senate predictably rolled out yesterday a massive government intervention into the healthcare marketplace. Perata is proposing that a hefty lien (tax, fee, or whatever you want to call it) on California employers to ‘provide’ health insurance for those Californian’s who are employed, but do not have coverage. Of course the impact of such a proposal will be exactly counter to what discussions are trying to achieve. If the goal is to reduce the number of Californians who are not currently buying health insurance, then putting Californians out of work, increasing the state’s unemployment numbers, and reducing income to the state of California but stifling tax-producing businesses, is not the way to go. The path towards seeing the number of uninsured Californians reduced is two-fold. The first is working to increase the income to these folks — through better jobs. Secondly there is the need to bring… Read More

Over at the San Diego Union Tribune’s America’s Finest Opinion Blog, FR friend Chris Reed has penned his own critique of Senator Perata’s expansion of government’s role in California healthcare. You should read it here.… Read More

State Senate President Don Perata has introduced (and I know this will shock you) a health care proposal that would create a massive new government healthcare bureaucracy in California.

He uses some of the modeling and rhetoric of the plan enacted in Massachusetts. I have news for everyone — that plan is bad news.

We need an action plan that moves government away from the healthcare arena. It is a vibrant economy with more jobs that pay more money that will allow Californians to purchase health insurance. Don Perata is basically offering up a welfare plan, that is a total left-wing proposal. I guess Perata is a shrewd negotiator, starting out with a radical, liberal concept like this. It’s scary.

Here’s what the CATO Institute has to say in a preamble to an insightful study they did on the Massachusetts plan:

Massachusetts has enacted one of the most far-reaching state health insurance reform packages in recent decades.… Read More

Calpeek is one of the "must subscribe" political newsletters in California. Dick Rosengarten is always a credible source and has a stable of consultants and political leaders on both sides of the aisle. You can find out more here.

Calpeek’sDecember 11,2006 edition has the following article about the CRP turnout operation and what others think. This echo’s what I hear almost daily from consultants, candidates, party activists, and GOPcounty chairs. May won’t speak up for fear of the Governor’s political operation. (You’ll know it isn’t my writing bcause the grammar and speliing is pretty good).

One part of the story isn’t correct. We still don’t have a full accounting!

DOUBTS STILL LINGER ABOUT $20 MILLION CALIF. REPUBLICAN PARTY GOTV EFFORT THAT FLOPPED

Today, Assembly member Spitzer commented on the problem of prison overcrowding in California. A number of stories in a number of papers talked about Judge Karlton’s decision, but missed one very important point. Judge Karlton attributed the overcrowding to "Governor Schwarzenegger’s support of the three strikes law."

Judge Karlton is wrong. Dangerously wrong.

Three Strikes has done more to relieve prison overcrowding than any other single law in recent history. More important, Californians are safer today because of three strikes than they were in the 1970’s when Jerry Brown (our soon to be Attorney General) and his judges (more particularly Rose Bird) were letting bad guys go to relieve prison overcrowding.

In the two years following the passage of the three strikes law, California’s crime rate dropped 45 per cent. Despite the stories of pizza and underwear thieves being sentenced to life, people in the state got it. They figured out that two serious or violent felonies were enough. If a criminal was stupid enough to commit a third felony, that crimimalwas likely to continue to be a threat to the safety of… Read More

I opened my newspaper today (yes, I actually do still read them) to find an article stating that no less than15 bills had been introduced already for the upcoming legislative session responding to the governor’s call on health care. Fifteen – wow – and that’s just the beginning of the liberal storm brewing.

As the Democrats compete with each other to prove who can be the most "comprehensive" (translation: cover the most people – even if they already have insurance – and don’t need the government to be in more control of their lives), and who can be the most "compassionate" (translation: spend the most tax dollars); we will see more bills.

Two things that stood out in the article I read were:

(1) that the new Chairman of Assembly Health has already started pushing tax increases to pay for what could cost $12 Billion (I believe that is a lowball number to be sure). "Who pays?" Chairman Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton) asked. "If you put out a comprehensive… Read More

Today I am pleased to announce that the FlashReport is welcoming its first contributor from the California State Senate with addition of Senator Jim Battin to this weblog! We really couldn’t be more pleased that Senator Battin will be joining our two Assemblymen/Bloggers Doug LaMalfa and Anthony Adams. A conservative Republican, Jim Battin understands policy, politics and the importance of emerging communication technologies such as the internet and weblogs to help enhance and guide the discussions that take place about what is happening in Sacramento. I have known Battin for a long time, and have always been impressed with his ability to cut-through to the essence of issues, and of course we all admire anyone engaged in the serious business of legislating who can also inject humor into the debate. Senator Battin’s first post appears below this one, and you can click the little "i" that appears next to his name on his post (or on the blog roll on the left sidebar of the… Read More