Since I am in the business of aggregating relevant California political news and opinion, I spend more time that any sane person should scanning the opinion pages of California’s major daily newspapers. As it does on every day that I am putting together the links for the FlashReport’s main page, yesterday I found myself reading the editorial page of the San Diego Union Tribune. To be honest, I have been disappointed to see what I would consider a significant move to the political center, and sometimes behind, from a paper that was one reliably center-right, and on some issues, even more so to the right… With no further lead-in, here is a column I have penned in response to the lead editorial in the Union Tribune that ran yesterday, on the 10th Anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks on our nation…

The lead editorial in the San Diego Union Tribune yesterday, entitled The Tragedy After 9/11, was a lamentation piece expressing sorrow for the increased partisan divide in America over the last 25 years,… Read More

Upon visiting the Drudge Report today, I was shocked and appalled to read this headline: “Man Ticketed For Directing Traffic At Backed Up Intersection During Outage.” Without even knowing where this absurd story took place, I had a sneaking suspicion it was in California. Sure enough, it occurred in Pasadena this last week. Apparently the traffic light at a major intersection malfunctioned and traffic was backed up for more than a mile, with drivers waiting 30 minutes to get through. So local citizen Alan Ehrlich jumped into action and began directing traffic. According to an eyewitness, within 10 minutes, he had cleared up the traffic jam.

This seems like the responsible thing for a citizen to do. See a problem in your community and take action to resolve it, right? Well, in Commie-fornia, responsible citizens cannot be tolerated and when police arrived, they TICKETED Ehrlich.

As the news article… Read More

As we remember the immense loss we suffered in the early hours of September 11, 2001, it is fitting to take time to reflect on how these attacks impacted—and continue to impact—our nation.

Ten years later we are reminded of the selflessness of the American spirit as citizens from every walk of life came together to help one another from the rubble of the collapsed towers and the Pentagon.

We are reminded of the courageous fortitude of the American soul as passengers aboard Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to avoid even greater loss of life.

We are reminded what it means to stand united for our freedoms against a common enemy.

Despite the pain caused by terrorists that fateful morning, we stand as proof that the people of the United States of America will stand united when under attack.

May we never forget the great courage of firefighters, police officers and other first responders who paid the ultimate sacrifice. May our thoughts and prayers be with the many families who lost loved ones. And may we continue to support our troops who continue to put themselves in harm’s way to defend us against future attacks.

God bless… Read More

Any of you of my generation or older remembers where you were and what you were doing when you heard that President Kennedy had been shot. I think all of us, including two younger generations now, will always remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard about the attacks on 9/11/01. I was not yet in Congress, but was in my first year as a freshman Assemblyman in the California Legislature. I was at my home in Sacramento that morning reading the paper and quietly doing e-mails and preparing to write one of these missives, which I had already been regularly writing for a year to that point. My then Chief-of Staff called me at home to ask if I was watching the news. “No”, I replied. He said, “A plane crashed into the world Trade Center in New York”. “You mean like a Cessna or something?” I asked. “No”, he responded, “a big plane. You should turn on the TV”. I did. The State Capitol was closed that day as they assessed attack risks there. My house was under the flight pattern for Sacramento Airport and it was eerily quiet as all planes stopped flying for several days. When we went into the State Capitol the next day, I, along with a Democratic… Read More

AB 155, as proposed to be amended, will retroactively repeal the “Amazon Tax” for a year or longer, allowing time for impacted parties to seek a federal solution to the dispute.

This is far from a perfect plan, but politics is the art of compromise. It’s a good thing when competing interests are able to come together on a contentious issue.

The deal provides at least a one year reprieve for affiliate businesses whose livelihoods have been disrupted by the dispute. It allows time for impacted parties to seek a federal solution to this issue. Congress has always been the right venue for this conversation.

However, I’m disappointed that this deal provides no certainty for thousands of affiliates who partner with out-of-state online retailers other than Amazon. The uncertainty will discourage these companies from creating new jobs and investing in our state.

Furthermore, the Legislature refused to include a pathway to immediately bring Amazon jobs to California. I’ll be working with Amazon and legislators to find a way to expedite their presence in order to bring thousands of new jobs to our state as soon as possible.

Throughout the year… Read More

UPDATE: 1AM SATURDAY MORNING As expected, on a party-line vote the State Senate and State Assembly rammed this terrible legislation through the legislature in the dead of night, and it now sits on Governor Brown’s desk… Original Post The most egregious “gut and amend” mushroom bill of the day will most… Read More

Senate Bill 202 is wrong on its substance alone, but is compounded by the “dark-of-night” process by which the bill is being advanced.

SB 202, of course, is the union-backed legislation that would move critical reform ballot initiatives from the June 2012 election, to the November 2012 election.

As if that weren’t bad enough, we have never seen a Legislature so hell-bent on pulling something over on the people in the dark of night. As of yesterday afternoon, the bill language wasn’t even available in print.

In good faith, millions of voters in California lawfully signed petitions to put critically-needed reforms on the ballot. But with these antics, the Democrats in the Legislature has proven they will go to any length to please their labor union bosses, even if they have to deny Californians their day the ballot box. Californians deserved better than this pathetic display of politics. Make no mistake, democracy delayed is democracy denied.… Read More

The last days of the legislative session before adjournment are always filled with an array of last minute surprises. Nevertheless, I’ll admit my shock when a brazen gut-and-amend bill with far-reaching implications appeared. Assembly Bill 101, a bill to unionize child care workers, is co-authored by Assembly Speaker John Perez and Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg.

Only a couple of weeks ago, Assembly Bill 889 (Ammiano), affectionately known as “The Babysitter Bill,” showed up on the radar, although the bill has already passed the Assembly and appeared to be on track to make to the Governor’s desk. AB 889 would require household “employers” (aka parents) to pay minimum wage, provide workers’ compensation benefits, meal and rest breaks, as well as overtime pay to any “domestic employee,” even a babysitter, over the age of 18 from the first hour worked. AB 101 picks up where AB 889 leaves off.

Both licensed and license-exempt child care providers who receive state subsidies will be required to join an exclusive “provider organization” if 50% or more of those targeted “show interest.” Sign a card, join the union. No… Read More