[Before you read this, understand that in 2011 the total compensation for an Orange County Firefighter was $237,000.]

Guess what — another disappointing win for a public employee union and loss for taxpayers — here in Orange County. The Orange County Fire Authority has approved a new contract with its firefighters. Early on in this article is says that firefighters are now paying 100% of their retirement. Of course, that isn’t even close to true. They are now technically paying their required share of their retirement — still a fraction of the total cost. That would be a step in the right direction EXCEPT…

Read the fine print of this article in the OC Register, “Employees will receive pay increases of 2.75 percent, 2.5 percent and 3 percent over the three years of the agreement.”… Read More

Here’s how deceiving our unemployment figures can be: 1. The California unemployment rate in December dropped a dramatic .2% in one month — from 7.2% to 7.0%. That is an IMPRESSIVE improvement. Except . . . 2. Number of net jobs added in California that month — a state with over 38,800,000 people: 700. No, I didn’t leave out a zero or two — SEVEN HUNDRED. Yes, a statistically insignificant 700 net jobs added, yet our state unemployment rate dropped a full two-tenths of a percent. How can this be?

You know the answer by now: Our lower unemployment rate for December is almost 100% due to people no longer looking for work, leaving the state, or retiring (a.k.a. the lower “labor force participation rate”) — even after counting the young adults entering the CA work force marketplace.

Here’s another unnerving aspect to consider: Our CA jobs grew by 700. But the jobs gained too often were low paying service jobs, while the… Read More

Opponents of assisted dying warn that significant numbers of seriously ill people, as well as the disabled, the mentally ill, and even those who are depressed, could end up being swept up in the new law, prioritizing cost effectiveness, over higher costs of ongoing care.

“Assisted suicide proponents frequently appeal to free choice and self-determination. But in reality, legalized assisted suicide actually diminishes individual choice, control, and self-determination,” warns the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.

This week, Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and Sen. Bill Monning, D-Carmel, introduced the End of Life Option Act, a bill to authorize medical aid-in-dying in California.

Senate Bill 128, is modeled on… Read More

Two governors shined at the Republican National Committee’s 2015 winter meeting, as RNC ChairmanReince Priebus was easilyreelected to a third term.

It’s been more than two decades since a chairman has served as long as Priebus. And he celebrated his victory by enjoying a few cigars with San Diego’s stellar crew of GOP activists, led by SD GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric.

There weren’t any major controversies at the GOP’s first meeting of the new year. Co-Chair Sharon Day, who… Read More

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency paid the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles to conduct experiments on children, to determine whether exposure to diesel exhaust harms humans. These experiments are illegal under the Nuremberg Code, California state law, and federal regulations, concerning the protection of human subjects in medical research, according to Energy and Environmental Legal Institute attorney David Schnare.

The EPA along with the USC and UCLA, illegally used children in diesel exhaust experiments 2003 through 2010, after the EPA and the California Air Resources Board had concluded inhaling diesel exhaust can cause death within hours.

According to Schnare, this is still going on, even though Schnare sued the EPA to… Read More

So why is it that while other states are now enjoying gas prices of less than $2 per gallon, California is still paying higher prices?

Due to high taxes and costly regulations, our state’s gas prices are higher than other states. It’s been that way for years.

But what’s new is that the gap between California’s and other states’ gas prices has grown.

To get a sense of the change, compare California gas prices with those of the nation as a whole. According to GasBuddy.com, even while overall prices have fallen, the gap has grown from about 32 cents per gallon just a month ago to as much as 47 cents this January.

That’s a 15 cent increase in just one month!

The likely culprit is a new “hidden gas tax” that took effect January 1. The new regulation expands the state’s cap-and-trade program to include transportation fuels. The expansion is the latest in a series of sweeping and costly regulations developed by the California Air Resources Board as it implements the California Global Warming Solutions Act.

Luckily for the Governor and his Air Board appointees, gas prices barely budged when the new rule kicked in; in fact,… Read More

Whenever there is a shortage of police personnel in a California city, a common reason cited is inadequate pay. When officers at a particular agency are paid less than their counterparts at some other agency, so the theory goes, they quit in order to start working where they can make more. This seems to be sound logic. But is it supported by facts?

According to a new study “Analysis of the Reasons for San Diego Police Department Employee Departures,” released last weekby the California Policy Center, the answer to that question is a resounding “no.” Authored by Robert Fellner, research director for theTransparent Californiaproject, the study’s findings contradicted the conventional wisdom. They were:

Claims that SDPD officers were leaving to join other departments misrepresented the data on attrition, by focusing on the 10% who left to join other departments, instead of the 60% who retired. These claims also misrepresented the overall data regarding staffing and … Read More

[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from Rep. Darrell Issa.]

If you are new to the FlashReport, please check out the main site and the acclaimed FlashReport Weblog… Read More