Justice delayed is justice denied.

That’s what Californians are learning as courtrooms and courthouses up and down the state are shuttered due to budget cuts and a history of underfunding our judicial system’s core services.

San Bernardino County suffers from the largest shortage of judges in the state thanks in part to an outdated funding formula that doesn’t take the County’s vast size, population growth or caseload increases into account. According to the most recent judicial needs study conducted by the Judicial Council, San Bernardino County should have 156 judges to handle the workload, yet the state only allots the County 91 positions and only funds 86 of those spots.

The state has closed courtrooms and courthouses in the County, and three more courthouses are on the chopping block. These court closures will force crime victims, witnesses, law enforcement… Read More

Like it or not, Californians must work 114 days this year to pay federal, state and local taxes—that’s four more days than last year.

Although the average American celebrates Tax Freedom Day on April 18, Californians must wait nearly a week longer—until April 24—to join the celebration.

Tax Freedom Day, calculated annually by the Tax Foundation, is the day Americans have earned enough money to pay their annual tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels. This year’s national Tax Freedom Day is five days later than last year.

California’s Tax Freedom Day is four days later than last year and eight days later than two years ago. Compared to other states, our Tax Freedom Day is now the sixth latest in the nation, up from eleventh last year. Only Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois have later dates.

As bad as California’s rank is this year, the Legislature seems intent on making it even worse. It’s churning out so many new taxes and fees it’s hard for the experts to keep up, let alone the average California taxpayer.

Although the Tax Foundation considered the impact of Propositions 30 and 39,… Read More

Ding dong! Could CARB be dead?

The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit yesterday against the California Air Resources Board challenging California’s cap and trade regulation.

The cap and trade program was created by CARB ostensibly as part of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

“The regulation creates a quarterly auction program requiring many California employers to bid significant amounts of money for the privilege of continuing to emit carbon dioxide — or be faced with closing their doors in California, laying off their employees, and moving their businesses to other states,” the PLF explained in a press statement.

The PLF said the lawsuit challenges the auction process “as an unconstitutional state tax because it was not enacted by two-thirds majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, as required for new taxes by the California Constitution (Proposition 13 and Proposition 26).”

“The California Constitution is crystal clear that new state taxes require at least two-thirds approval… Read More

One of the greatest comedies of all time is the film Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray who plays TV weatherman Phil Conners, sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to see whether the groundhog comes out and sees his own shadow or not. In the movie, Conners keeps reliving February 1st over and over again. If you haven’t seen the movie, I strongly encourage you to check it out. Hillarious.

As I write (yet) another column about (yet) another effort by liberals in the California State Legislature to ban plastic bags at grocery and retail stores, it kind of reminds me of the Groundhog Day movie. It’s a new legislative session, and yet… Read More

Morton Blackwell, a long time leader of the conservative movement, observes that “the winner of a political contest, over time, is determined by the number and the effectiveness of the activists and leaders on each side.”

It is for this reason that the California Republican Party needs a strong California Republican Assembly.

During my decade on the Board of the California Republican Party I saw the CRA shrink from a dominant political force within the party to a shadow of its former self. Nature abhors a vacuum, and others who are less concerned about ideas moved in and filled the void.

There are some within the party who are no doubt cheering the CRA’s diminished numbers and influence. These are the people who think the party is bogged down by conservative activists, and if it could only free itself of these troglodytes, it would ascend to power.

This is a fantasy.

Every Republican candidate depends upon volunteers to contact, persuade, and mobilize voters. And those volunteers are overwhelmingly motivated by their commitment to ideas: lower taxes, limited… Read More

Professor Barnhardt: “So it was only when your world was threatened with destruction that you became what you are now?”Klaatu: “Yes.”Professor Barnhardt: “Well that’s where we are. You say we’re on the brink of destruction and you’re right. But it’s only on the brink that people find the will to change. Only at the precipice do we evolve.” -The Day the Earth Stood Still, 2008

One might paraphrase Professor Barnhardt’s plea, excerpted from the 2008 movie potboiler “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” to suggest that pension plans will evolve once it is clear to a sufficient number of participants that they are truly on the precipice.

In the private sector, where fewer laws shield employers and their workers from financial reality, evolution is well under way. And what has emerged is is a mutation of the Defined Benefit Plan that preserves many of its virtues, while avoiding most of the financial risks. Being pioneered by the east coast actuarial consulting firm,Cheiron, Adjustable Pension Plans can be structured in various ways, but all of them share certain… Read More

Better late than never, California lawmakers seem to be waking up to the reality that the illegal “Fire Prevention Fee” they enacted nearly two years ago is a complete fiasco. Even so, they are refusing to repeal it. Instead they are scheming up ways to replace the tax with yet another tax that’s even bigger than the first.

Where else but Sacramento would someone think the answer to a bad tax is to replace it with one even worse?

Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, who represents many rural taxpayers on California’s North Coast, is leading the charge to reinvent and expand the fire fee. His proposal (AB 468) would replace the fire fee with a 4.8 percent “surcharge” on all insured homeowners and businesses in the State of California, regardless of location.

A similar concept was proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2009 but was rejected by the Legislature.

These payments, averaging $48 per policy and totaling an estimated $480 million per year, would find their way to a “Disaster Management, Preparedness, and Assistance Fund.” The fund would benefit bureaucracies, like Cal Fire, that are involved in the state’s disaster preparedness… Read More

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Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has fallen out of touch with the economic interests and responsibilities of taxpayers and current NBA players. The impending relocation of the of the Sacramento Kings to Seattle led to the former professional basketball player to assist in the drafting of a new arena proposal in hopes of keeping the team in within the Golden State. Unfortunately, the proposal calls for the city to contribute $258 million in taxpayer dollars that they essentially do not have. Not only does Sacramento not have the money, but taxpayers voted against a similar proposal just a few short years ago.

Mayor Johnson is desperately trying to keep the Kings in California despite the fact that the city’s taxpayers don’t want to spend public funds to finance a vacuum project and the players are susceptible to the highest tax rates in the U.S. And that’s all before paying “jock taxes” on income earned for away-games and other various expenses.

As a former three time NBA All-Star, one would think Mayor Johnson would better understand the tax burden… Read More