When it comes to carrying out the death penalty for convicted murders, the California Legislature finds the lethal drug cocktails “cruel and unusual punishment,” which they say is a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Yet lawmakers were more than willing to approve a lethal drug cocktail to allow sick people to kill themselves.

After months of contentious and difficult wrangling, the California Legislature has finally passed the controversial physician assisted suicide bill, which now awaits Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature or veto. But many argue that passage of legalized physician-assisted suicide would provide perverse incentives for insurance carriers to choose the… Read More

In 2003, an Agricultural Labor Relations Board administrative judge identified Jessica Arciniega as “UFW staff member” at its Oxnard office. ALRB administrative law judge Nancy Smith even called her a “union agent.”

Today, Arciniega is one of the ALRB’s top staff attorneys. And with the recent shakeups in the ALRB general counsel’s office that resulted in the sackings and sudden resignations of top lawyers, people are wondering why Arciniega remains on the job.

The lawyer has come a long way since getting her law degree as an “apprentice” of longtime UFW lawyer Barbara Macri-Ortiz, who in fact calls Arciniega “my apprentice.”

State law requires all ALRB personnel to be worker advocates with no partiality for or against either employers or unions. Arciniega is anything but objective. Her title at the UFW was “lead organizer.” The Militant, published by the Socialist Workers Party, reports Arciniega being a UFW boycott leader as far back as 2000.

In Oxnard more than a decade ago, the Los Angeles Times profiled Arciniega under the headline, “… Read More

It’s been a long year in the Capitol for those of us who advocate against higher taxes, crushing regulations and wasteful government spending. The good news is that California taxpayers have prevailed in virtually all the major tax fights this year. The bad news is that, because the legislature convenes for two year sessions, this is only halftime. On January 4, 2016 – less than 4 months from now – the same cast of characters will reconvene and we will have to fight many of the same battles yet again. Still, it is helpful to assess how homeowners and working Californians fared in the legislative process this year.

For Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, there is no higher priority than defending Proposition 13 against attacks. As a constitutional amendment, Prop 13 cannot be amended by the Legislature directly. But that doesn’t mean the politicians can’t inflict harm. Indeed, with a two-thirds vote of each house, the California Legislature can place proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. And if an anti-Prop 13 measure is sufficiently enticing or deceptive, voters might unwittingly take away some of their own rights as taxpayers.

This past… Read More

Early Saturdaymorning, after midnight, the California legislature ended its regular session, and two special sessions. Despite an immense amount of pressure on them from the Governor, their Democrat colleagues, and powerful special interests – Republicans held the line and successfully stopped billions of dollars in proposed tax increases from being enacted.

I spoke with California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, who was very pleased with this outcome, saying, “All of our Republican legislators, unified, stopped tens of billions of dollars in tax increases introduced by the other party dead in their tracks. I’m proud of our legislators, and their commitment to protecting the people of California from excessive taxation.”

As well he should be. Last year, arguably on the verge of political irrelevance, California Republicans rallied – belied expectations – and clawed their way out of “super minority” status. The practical effect of this was that there are now enough GOP legislators, just barely, to block a tax increase, which takes a two-thirds vote of both the State Senate and State Assembly. In a remarkable show of teamwork and… Read More

Hate speech has never really been defined, except by Democrats. There is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment.

But this isn’t really about hate speech.

This is another story from the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” file: California Senate Democrats voted to adopt a resolution condemning Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, and calling for the state to “divest from Donald Trump, The Trump Organization, and any affiliated entities,” due to his “racist” remarks about immigrants. And then they urged the state to divest from his “private businesses, and called on individuals throughout California to end all business ties with Donald Trump.”

As Eugene Volokh… Read More

One type of business has a special affinity for California — Asian businesses. They have substantial ethnic communities built up, and are comfortable being on a Pacific Rim state.

But oddly enough, these Asian business people seem to have an interest in maximizing profits — or at least staying in business. Of course, all California businessmen have the same desires, but not all have the bonding ties to their local ethnic communities that is common among Koreans, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Chinese and Japanese.

Retail businesses do not move easily, as they have an established customer base that won’t move with them. But other businesses that MAKE things don’t have that problem, and now other states are beckoning.

The oddest state is also perhaps the most economically attractive — Texas. Asians probably don’t relish moving to that stereotypically redneck state, far from their established roots in CA. But closer inspection reveals significant Asian populations scattered around the state.

CONSIDER THIS: Per capita, and adjusted for the cost of living, CA ranks 37th in GDP of the 50 states. Only 13 states are… Read More

Think this title evokes a strange comparison? It is no stranger than Gov. Jerry Brown’s press conference Wednesday with legislative leaders admitting defeat of a measure where they sought to cut your gas usage by half. Judge for yourself – here’s the actual quote:

“We look at the Middle East and see the desperate migrants trying to escape the hell of the Middle East wars, and are now inundating Europe,” Brown said. “We will get a foretaste of what climate change will mean, not just to Europe, but to California… mass migrations, untold suffering, rising sea levels, extreme events. Now I know that’s big, it’s not insiderism, it’s not tomorrow, but it’s… Read More

They don’t come any better than Peter Hannaford.

This week the Republican Party lost one of its giants. Peter Hannaford, a man whose long list of accomplishments included serving as a senior adviser to Ronald Reagan both in Sacramento and in Washington, has passed away.

When I decided to run for Lt. Governor of California last year, one of my first calls was to Peter Hannaford to ask him to serve as Chairman of the campaign. During the nine month undertaking, Peter demonstrated the kind of keen insight and cool strategic thinking that served him so well over the course of his career.

Born in… Read More