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While lawmakers in Sacramento debate over competing plans on how to reduce prison crowding in California, there is a Republican lawmaker who took a stand and presented common sense amendments to the early release of thousands of inmates.

Kudos to Senator Jim Nielsen in the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

The Senator, who served on the California Board of Prison Terms from 1990 to 2007, put forward four amendments to improve Assembly Bill 84 and protect Californians from criminals being released into our neighborhoods.

Nielsen presented all four amendments to improve a flawed prison plan put forth by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg. While Steinberg’s bill allows substance abusers out of prison for promising to attend rehab it provides no penalty for failing to attend or accountability to track them.

Nielsen’s first amendment adds teeth by requiring the state to return these non-compliant repeat offenders to incarceration after they miss more than three attempts to go to rehab.

The second amendment allows crime victims’ voices to be heard during sentencing. Victims need to be represented more in court and especially… Read More

[Publisher’s Note: We are pleased to feature this column from conservative Pat Maciariello, who has recently announced his candidacy for Congress in CA-45 (Orange County) – Flash]

I am excited to announce that I am a candidate for Congress in California’s 45th District, running to succeed a principled and respected conservative leader, John Campbell.

The United States is a truly exceptional nation and we carry an important responsibility to lead the world economically, militarily, and morally. But as I look at my two daughters and consider how the prospects of their generation have changed – just in… Read More

Publisher’s Note – Yesterday longtime FlashReport friend Igor Birman announces his candidacy for California’s 7th Congressional District today. This competitive Sacramento-area seat is currently represented by freshman Democrat Ami Beri. Below are the prepared remarks to be delivered by Birman at his announcement, and below that is a link to a video that the Birman campaign provided to us. Enjoy! Jon Fleischman

Good morning.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much it means to see all of you here. I know some of you traveled a very long way this morning, and I am truly humbled by your friendship and even… Read More

Let me state from the outset that foreign policy is not my strong suit — it is not a topic about which I have an extreme passion. I’m much more focused on state and local politics more so than so the politics of the nation. It is not a coincidence that I started a website on the politics and policy of (a rather large) state. I throw this out there for two reasons. The first is to highlight that it is a rare occasion indeed when I take the time to opine on a matter of international affairs. The second is that the way that I present my thoughts in this column will probably sound less sophisticated and articulate than a similar column written by someone who is totally plugged into worldly matters. But I’m okay with that!

The fact that America is now embroiled into a real-life discussion about whether or not to engage our military capabilities in a civil war in Syria is mind boggling.

What a remarkably dumb idea.

Rewind to the administration of the last President — George W. Bush (I could go back further, but this will suffice). America plunged into a full scale war with Iraq, to go after Saddam Hussein on the basis that this scumbag and… Read More

An initiative that will permit public employees to not only opt-out of paying full membership fees, but actually allow them to opt-out of paying anything whatsoever to unions has been filed in Oregon. While public sector union membership is supposedly voluntary in most states that permit unionization of their public servants, the unions nearly always are able to still collect the lion’s share of the dues via the so-called “agency fee,” or “fair share” fee. Typically equal to about 75% of normal dues, this is the portion of dues the unions claim is necessary to fund collective bargaining. If a worker benefits from collective bargaining, so the argument goes, they have to pay the costs for bargaining, even if they aren’t members.

Here is the text of “Initiative Petition 9,” and here is the pendingtitle and summary. The initiative is currently before the Oregon Supreme Court, facing a challenge by the unions to language used by their attorney general in the title and summary. Once released, proponents will have until July 2014 to gather the… Read More

In 1996, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association ran a successful statewide campaign winning passage of Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act. Prop 218 gave California homeowners the right to approve or reject a host of property related fees and taxes.

Not wanting to cede political power to the unwashed masses, local government officials and their political allies fought hard against Prop 218. But one tactic caught us by surprise – the use of seemingly public funds by municipal “associations” such as the League of California Cities (League).

In the weeks before the 1996 election, we noticed in the official Secretary of State campaign finance reports that the League had contributed $50,000 to oppose Prop 218. This was odd as government entities are strictly prohibited from using public… Read More

I was reminded this morning of an unsettling (to put it mildly!) unemployment figure that crossed my desk early last month from a reputable source. This report slipped between the digital cracks in my computer, but now I’m getting it out there.

Here’s a salient excerpt summarizing this news, from a Forbes article:

“Over the last six months, of the net job creation,97 percentof that is part-time work,”said Keith Hall, a senior researcher at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center and one-time Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the most recent Bush Administration. “That is really remarkable.” ***

As the Forbes article below reports, other studies claim that it’s “only” 77%. Even with that lower figure, this largely explains why the nation’s unemployment numbers are improving while the economy — not so much. Remember, if you work only ONE hour a week, you are no longer designated “unemployed.”… Read More

I added this new item to my always-upbeat “CA vs. the Other States” fact sheet. www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states “California has the 2nd highest total annual cost of owning a car — $3,966. That’s $765 higher than national average.” http://www.bankrate.com/finance/auto/car-ownership-costs-by-state.aspx … Read More