Less entry level jobs, more mechanization and outsourcing = $8.00 per hour minimum wage by Jan 1 2008. [$7.50 by Jan 1 2007]… Read More

AB 1634 (McCarthy) that I wrote about yesterday (it’s the legislation that would reimburse counties for their costs incurred in last year’s special election) passed out of the Senate! Now it goes over to the Assembly where hopefully, in between passing onerous regulations on every facet of California business, the Democrats over there will schedule it for a vote and pass it!… Read More

After 30 or so Floor speeches on the points of AB 32, the result is in: 46 aye votes and 31 goingno, largely party line.… Read More

No two issues show the Governor’s inconsistency better than global warming and illegal immigration. Some political observers will say who cares as long as his polls numbers are high etc… If power is your only goal than so be it. But let’s look at these issues. The Governor makes a deal with Democrats on“greenhouse gases”. Clearly this is a national or a world issue. The Governor even talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair about it. His deal will cost consumers money and cost California businesses jobs, but to the Governor that isn’t a problem. When speaking about illegal immigration, the governor always says the federal government isn’t doing their job and the federal government needs to solve the problem. Arnold of course makes the problem worse by wanting to provide health care and education to millions of illegals at taxpayer expense. (I know he has so far vetoed the license bill and … Read More

Well, the first thing I can say is that I am proud of our Senate Republicans — though AB 523 did pass out of the State Senate last night, it was not an easy process for this ‘kidney stone’ to pass out of that body. In the end, bill proponents were playing musical chairs trying to find someone to even be the ‘floor jockey’ on the legislation — but in the late hours of last night, the bill passed on a party line vote — with 21 Democrats voting yes, and even four Democrats declined to vote for the bill. A special ‘shout out’ to Orange County State Senate Republicans Dick Ackerman, Tom Harman, Bob Margett and Bill Morrow, none of who cast an aye vote for this ‘gifting of public funds’ for a television station.

So, now the question is what will happen to this bad bill as it comes up in the State Assembly today?

I have now had a chance to review the Assembly Republican Caucus analysis on the bill – and it is even more direct than that prepared by their State Senate counterparts. It is attached for your review, but I think the "Fiscal Impact" section of it speaks volumes: … Read More

AB 2987 passes, 64-5.This is a big telecommunications bill that took a lot of work to get consensus. The PUC will be the authority for authorizing cable and video providers.… Read More

The future the California economy will be in limbo for decades should AB 32 be signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger. The effort to save us from global warming (an unfortunate name that conveys images of the holidays and family sitting around a ‘warm’ toasty fireplace) the Democratic-led legislature and Democratic-led Governor’s office will seriously damage California’s chance to be competitive in the global economy.

The goal: reduce green-house gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020

Today’s LA Times article gives some good background of the bill. Often quoted Claremont McKenna College government professor Jack Pitney claims that Schwarzenegger has effectively taken yet another issue away from Angelides with this move. No argument there from me. But at what cost? Think about how many voters have held their nose and supported this Republican Governor solely because he has worked to make CA more hospitable to jobs. They not only have a diminished reason to do so now, but more to the point, they may not… Read More

For the last couple of years, I have served as a member of the California Boating and Waterways Commission. It’s been a great experience, and I have enjoyed volunteering my time for a worthy cause. That said, because I have started my new business, I have to scale back some of my ‘extra-curricular’ activities. So rather than spending less time on the FlashReport or volunteering as Reserve Orange County Deputy Sheriff, I have decided to step down from the commission. I’m posting this note up on the site because I wanted to emphasize that this action is not related to any policy or political issues, period. If it were, I would tell you. I will, however, close this brief post by expressing my gratitude and appreciation to Governor Schwarzenegger for nominating me for this position, and my appreciation to former State Senator Ross Johnson for going point on my Senate confirmation back in 2004. Finally, I would like to express my admiration… Read More