The fire fee is a bad tax, not just because of the unnecessary burden it places on taxpayers, but because it is horribly inefficient to collect. From the beginning, the process of collecting the Fire Prevention Fee has been lengthy and expensive, proving it is a poor method for funding CAL-FIRE’s fire prevention efforts.

Unfortunately, this month the third round of Fire Prevention Fee bills began going out with the new rate of $152.33 (or $117.33 for the 97% who live in a local fire protection district). This set of bills will be for the 2013-14 fiscal year. Approximately 10,000 bills will be sent each day in alphabetical order by county. This marks the first time the BOE has sent two billings in the same fiscal year.

Remember, in order to be eligible for a refund under the lawsuit against the fire fee, property owners must protest every billing by timely filing a new Petition for Redetermination.

You can find a copy of the billing schedule at calfirefee.com/billing-schedule.

Keep up with all the latest fire fee news by following Calfirefee.com on… Read More

Next month, the Sacramento Metropolitan FireDistrict is expected tomake a pitch that 220,000 Sacramento County property owners approve a large property tax assessment on their properties.

Annual assessments on single-family homes will range up to $50 per year if the proposal is approved by property owners, according to Craig Powell, president of Eye on Sacramento, a public policy watchdog. Commercial properties and apartment complexes will be significantly higher.

The Sacramento Beepublished a story Wednesday reporting about the State Controller’s most recent report on the 1,000 highest paid publicemployees in the Sacramento region, reporting payfrom 2012.

Six different California fire districts top the list of highest paid public employees:

On March 25, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will determine whether the federal government can force family business owners to violate their religious beliefs or pay heavy fines.

In the case before the high court, arts-and-crafts retail chain Hobby Lobby and cabinet maker Conestoga Wood Specialties argue that a federal mandate under the Affordable Care Act forcing them to provide health insurance for contraceptive services including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization that they oppose on religious grounds, or pay heavy fines, violates their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion and a 1993 law preserving that right. The Court’s ruling will impact businesses throughout California.

The core issue in this case is not about contraception or abortion. It is about religious freedom.

But “war on women” rhetoric is clouding the real issues in this case. False allegations are flying claiming that a win for the employers would limit women’s “access” to birth control.

The case is an attack on “freedom for women to access care,” U.S. Senator Patricia Murray (D-Wash.) recently charged on the Senate… Read More

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During a 1954 congressional hearing, U.S. Army counsel Joseph Welch famously asked Senator Joseph McCarthy, “Have you no sense of decency?” The same question may be asked of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT), which featured a splashy cover photo and story on its February/March magazine that celebrated the defeat of high-performing charter schools that serve low-income, mostly minority children.

Late last year, the school board in the Silicon Valley city of Morgan Hill voted against efforts by the Navigator and Rocketship charter-school organizations to establish charter schools in the district. Charter schools are independent public schools that are granted greater regulatory and personnel flexibility in exchange for greater accountability for performance. Both charter organizations appealed to the Santa Clara County Board of Education. Rocketship ended up withdrawing its appeal, while the county board eventually voted down Navigator’s appeal earlier this year. The CFT, which had sponsored anti-charter events in the district and helped pack board meetings with charter opponents, was ecstatic.

The union worried that the appeal of the charter… Read More

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The convention at the San Francisco airport Hyatt Regency was convivial, fun, optimistic and remarkably well run, considering the consensus among virtually all participating groups that the party is facing a battle for survival.

The awareness of this struggle has inspired each group to argue the key role it should play to “rebuild, renew and reclaim” the party (the convention theme). The forces jockeying for party dominance can be divided roughly into two groups: the far right and the middle (I saw no signs of a left and certainly no far left).

The far right’s views were expressed abundantly in the Tea Party California Caucus and the Conservative Republican meetings. I was frequently in agreement with the “far right” views, and I would argue to the middle and the left that a view is not in error simply by virtue of being far right. Candidates and speakers, self-identified either as conservative or Tea Party, spoke eloquently for positions that should be adopted by the entire party. These include opposition to NSA access to the private lives of Americans, which violates the 4th amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and opposition… Read More

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) liability is growing by $22 million per day, and California must act now before the shortfall becomes even more catastrophic. In response to this systemic deficit, I have introduced SB 984, new legislation that could appropriate up to $2 billion in emergency funding over the next two years to CalSTRS. In addition, the bill forms a working group to look at long-term solutions, as suggested by Governor Jerry Brown in his 2014-15 Budget proposal.

Yesterday, in a joint hearing of the Senate and Assembly PERS Committees, when asked if any appropriations this year might provide relief, CalSTRS Deputy CEO Ed Derman said that “anything is helpful.” California Teachers Association (CTA) representative, Jennifer Baker, added, “We support funding solutions for this year, and any long-term funding solutions.”

CalSTRS has a $71 billion unfunded retirement liability and so far no one has taken any meaningful action. The Governor and legislative Democrats have all publicly expressed concerns about finding a solution and that is a good start. The Legislature has held multiple informational hearings, but has… Read More

In a column today, Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee laments that SB 27, a campaign finance reform bill by Democrat State Senator Lou Correa, was unable to pass the Legislature, losing by one vote in the State Senate. The bill was intended to address disclosure of donors to out-of-state organizations that contribute to campaigns and ballot measures in this state. It would close a loop-hole (created and perpetuated by liberal Democrats over the years) in our campaign finance system that allows nonprofit organizations to make contributions to ballot measures but not disclose the source of their funds under certain circumstances. In 1998, Rob Reiner’s “Proposition 10” tobacco tax measure benefited from millions of dollars in such contributions from nonprofit organizations, including out-of-state organizations that failed to disclose – legally – the source of their funds.

In 1998, liberals raised no hue-and-cry about the non-disclosure where the underlying issue was taxing cigarettes, but when an out-of-state nonprofit made a record contribution to try to help defeat Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax hike “for the… Read More

I must admit that I spent a few sleepless nights after I made the commitment to run for office to represent California’s 45th Congressional District. Anyone who wouldn’t is either a fool or a career politician. All they worry about is getting elected. Obviously, career politicians don’t think much about solving problems. If they did we wouldn’t be in the position we are today, would we?

If you stop and think about the problems facing America you may just bury your head in your hands and give up. Yes, it’s really that bad, but it’s not beyond hope. Nothing is beyond hope for Americans. That’s one of the reasons I love being one of you and it’s that hope that allows me to sleep peacefully.

The current session of Congress doesn’t appear to be solving much of anything, does it? The House keeps passing legislation that Harry Reid won’t even allow to come to a vote in the Senate. And, if a bill were to sneak past him, President Obama is waiting in the West Wing with his veto pen in hand. Thus it appears that we’ll have to wait for the next session of Congress for any solutions.

What can the next… Read More