What is a “death spiral state”? If you live in the largest state on the West Coast, I think you know the answer. The Forbes article below uses objective criteria to establish rankings — with the idea of suggesting that folks should not buy homes or municipal bonds in the declining states. The comparison uses two criteria. One is the standard mish-mash of economic factors we have all come to expect — factors covered in my dreary “Breaking Bad” fact sheet comparing CA with the other states.“[It]is a scorecard of state credit-worthiness done by Conning & Co., a money manager known for its measures of risk in insurance company portfolios. Conning’s analysisfocuses more on dollars than body counts.Its formula downgrades states for large debts, an uncompetitive business climate, weak home prices and bad trends in employment. But the other criterion is more interesting. It’s a ratio of takers to payers.It … Read More

FlashReport readers share my world of politics and policies and we come to rely on those who are always there to speak out, to volunteer, and to be supportive. These challenges bond like minded people together tighter than blood. That is the way I feel about my friend, colleague, and staffer Barbara Alby. We lost Barbara on Sunday suddenly with no notice. Because she finished strong and was active up to her untimely death many of us talked to her recently and have very fresh fond memories.

I knew Barbara as a fiery conservative legislator who spoke with a refreshing directness on social issues. But also a legislator who had great legislative success with Megan’s Law adopted by liberals and conservatives alike. I knew Barbara as my Chief of Staff at the Board of Equalization whose sympathy for taxpayers was obvious to all. She also had that great (women’s) intuition to know the difference between taxpayers under duress and those few cases of con artists who came before the Board. I knew Barbara as my wife Sherry’s business partner in travel agency and event planning and saw her great business negotiating skills. Sherry and I had the pleasure of… Read More

I was stunned when I got a text message from a friend earlier today, informing me that Barbara Alby had passed away at the relatively young age of 66. Most FlashReport readers will not know Barbara, but many of you did. I first met Barbara back in 1988. There was a group of us that decided to focus our GOP efforts back in that time, as Reagan left office, on building up the California Republican Assembly, the state’s oldest Republican grassroots organization. Barbara was fresh off of the Pat Robertson bandwagon, and I had been a supporter of Jack Kemp, but first through the CRA, and through the California conservative movement, we began a friendship which has been one of the most impactful on my life.

On one level, many saw Barbara as a very successful politico. After all, she served for many years as an influential Vice President of the California Republican Assembly. She went on to serve for six years in the California State Assembly, holding bold colors when many in the building, in our own party, would have preferred soft pastels. And Barbara served for twelve years as a member of the Republican National Committee representing our state. Barbara also… Read More

I hate being a Cassandra, always reporting bad news. Well, I’m SUPPOSED to hate being a Cassandra. I’m a little weird about it, actually.

But no matter. Today I have a bit of GOOD news for California taxpayers. In a significant 3-0 ruling by a California appeals court, a wrongly structured Alameda school district parcel tax was struck down, and the money collected has to be refunded to taxpayers.

The state law concerning parcel taxes is clear. The parcel tax has to be a uniform dollar amount, regardless of the value of the property. I suppose the theory is that such a tax benefits each taxpayer equally, so the tax has to reflect that. Exceptions are made for seniors and the disabled, but NOT for commercial property.

The tax grabbers know full well that ‘soak-the-rich” measures resonate with voters. And, after all, there are more voters than business owners. So some agencies and jurisdictions have been trying to pass parcel taxes that allow commercial taxes to be taxed on some sliding scale — bigger payments for bigger parcels. Such was the case with this tax.

“No can do” says the court.… Read More

In Michigan, game-changing right to work legislation was just passed. The change will make it legal for employers to pay workers who choose not to be union members, and would make paying union dues voluntary.

Currently, Michigan employers are required to fire unionized workers who do not pay dues.

Despite the left claiming that big bad business will stop paying living wages to workers, the opposite will happen. There will be a leveling of the unrealistic, skyrocketing union wages that unions demand, and hopefully, employers can once again be competitive.

When unions and governments demand that business owners and employers pay employees higher wages than the market will bear, ultimately it renders the business non-competitive. But when businesses are allowed to fairly compete, often times… Read More

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KEVIN JEFFRIES

It took a couple of weeks after election day for conservative Kevin Jeffries to declare victory in his campaign to oust long-time County Supervisor Bob Buster from his job as a Riverside County Supervisor. Jeffries, a former Chairman of the Riverside County GOP has just finished up a six year stint in the California State Assembly. On the campaign trail, Jeffries made a lot of campaign promises. Well, he’s kept one of them — a biggie — before he’s even been sworn in. Jeffries would like to see the County Supervisors moving out of a pension system and into a 401(k) system with the Supervisors themselves responsible for funding their retirement accounts. As one who practices what he preaches, in filling out his “employment” paperwork with the county, Supervisor-Elect Jeffries in fact declined to participate in the generous taxpayer-funded pension plan. One can only imagine the puzzled look on the County HR staffer when he handed back the… Read More

Last year, around this time, I predicted that the approach my Democrat friends have with respect to dealing with criminals would have serious repercussions. Their “soft of crime”/rehabilitate the criminal attitude has claimed its first high profile horrific outcome, the killing of 4 people in Northridge by someone who should have been in prison at the time he committed the murders. Four innocents were killed by criminal justice policies of political leaders who think they are enlightened and compassionate.

Ka Pasasouk is a bad guy. I have read of at least two serious or violent felonies he has committed in the past, an armed robbery and an assault with a deadly weapon. Most recently he was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, a nonserious felony. Despite his ugly past, in and out of prison, he was released from prison, put in the county probation system, and allowed to live amongst an innocent civilian population. He should have been in prison for the rest of his life last year. Four people died this month because those in government charged with protecting us let him walk around free.

I’m not just blaming the line workers in the… Read More

In the wee hours of the night, at the end of the last legislative session, language was added into a bill to push forward reforms to California’s 40-year old environmental policy, the California Environmental Quality Act.

The reforms were sponsored by the CEQA Working Group, a business-labor-government coalition. Intended to reduce frivolous environmental litigation and duplicative government oversight, the reforms ended up being part of a smoggy deal.

Before anyone could stop them, the Democratic leadership swooped in on the bill and changed it.

SB 317

Because of California’s stringent environmental laws and project-killing local planning requirements, nearly all public and private projects in the state are legally challenged under CEQA, even when a project meets all other environmental standards of state law.

SB 317, co-authored by Sen. Michael Rubio, D-Shafter, a gut-and-amend bill, would not have actually changed CEQA, but instead would have introduced a companion law to dictate how CEQA is enforced. The new legislation would have restricted certain types of lawsuits, and would have exempted some projects from CEQA… Read More