Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana have more in common than great college football and basketball teams. Each has recently seen an out-of-state exodus of state lawmakers in order to stall or foil legislation that they don’t want to see passed. Or that they don’t want to be responsible for.

Though I would have rather seen the in-state USC Trojans in the Rose Bowl than the out-of-state Wisconsin Badgers, I’ve wondered if the fleeing of Democrat lawmakers from those various Midwestern states, to duck tough votes, might have any precedent in California for Republican lawmakers that might otherwise want to avoid their responsibilities in Sacramento.

I did consult with some esteemed co-counsel, and here is what I found out: in California, legislators are prohibited by state law from accepting payments for work related to the performance of their legislative functions. Gov. Code 8920(b)(4) and Legislative Joint Rule 44. Accepting payments that conflict with their work during the legislative session is illegal. Accepting payments for lodging, meals, etc.,… Read More

Every FlashReport reader should take four minutes to watch State Senator Bob Huff’s outstanding remarks in opposition to the legislature adopting new, higher renewable energy requirements for this state — requirements that will require massive de facto tax increases (through energy bill rate hikes) to achieve…

Senator Bob Huff opposes SB2x from CA Senate Republican Caucus on Vimeo.… Read More

Governor Mitch Daniels, recently encouraged others to bolster his name asa Presidential possibility. That is all snuffed. Sadly, somewhere deep in the Republican psyche there is a strand that allows some to melt into oblivion under pressure. We’ve seen this regularly amongst some Republican legislators for the last 20 — probably longer– years.

These Republicans who cave into union or democrat pressure, come from a variety of backgrounds. All too often, they see themselves as pragmatists or ‘problem solvers’. In fact, they are ‘situationists’ —much like Arnold Schwarzenegger. They believe in very little, excepting compromise. Values are relative. They accomplish very little. Their lives are literally meaningless. Think Doris Allen or Paul Horcher. Sad pathetic individuals.

MItch Daniels is descending into the unremarkable.

… Read More

SB X1 2 passes off our floor, encasing in law the requirement for not yet existent wind and solar power procurementto be required forCalifornia users. The present standard of 20% by 2010 [not quite met by 2010 except withaccounting tricks] will now be pushed to 33 [or is that 33 1/3] by 2020. An army of green jobs is expected to follow…… Read More

Sitting in the Governor’s spartan office, Jerry Brown and wife/senior advisor Anne Gust can take out their "hit list" of Republican legislators, and also get out a big fat red marking pen. Once they have done so, they can use the marker to scratch out the names of thirty State Senate and Assembly GOP legislators who yesterday joined the California Taxpayers Caucus. While all of these legislators had already signed the Americans for Tax Reform No New Taxes pledge, when joining this new Taxpayer Caucus, all of these legislators specifically pledged to oppose placing ANY tax increase measures on the ballot (with the only exception being spelled out in writing being a vote to place taxes on the ballot if that same ballot would also include tax cuts of an equal or greater amount).

I flew up to the Capitol yesterday to cover the press conference announcing the formation of the Taxpayers Caucus, which took place on the steps of the State Capitol (somehow the Brown Administration… Read More

One might look towards the California State Capitol, and wonder if our state’s taxpayers are represented in the building at all. After all, last night a mass of state workers descended on the place to hold a what could be characterized as a "sympathy rally" for state workers in Wisconsin, where the elected Governor and legislature there stand on the bring of ending "collective bargaining" for public employees in that state (this is a process where elected officials no longer can make financial decisions about the spending of taxpayer funds without negotiating that with state workers).

You can tune into Strickland and Wagner at noon with Eric Hogue in the Sacramento Area — or at 5pm they will be on with John and Ken in SoCal and the Bay Area!

Today the Democrats convene meetings of the budget committees in the Capitol for the purpose of crafting a state budget that presumes not only that Republicans will be complicit in an effort to push the largest tax increase in the… Read More

Recently the California Republican Assembly (of which I served as State President from 1995-1997) released its latest comprehensive scorecard of the California State Legislature, for last year. Below is the both the release from the CRA, as well as link to review the entire Scorecard and see how your elected legislators fared. I want to express a hearty congratulations to the five GOPers who got a perfect score from the CRA — former Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, Senator Mimi Walters, and former Senators Sam Aanestad, Dave Cogdill and now-Congressman Jeff Denham. It is worthy of note that you could not get a perfect score if you voted to confirm scoundrel Abel Maldonado as Lt. Governor. I guess I also need to throw the "raspberry award" to our friend Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who managed to wrack up, from CRA’s perspective, the lowest score of any legislative Republican.

You can see the entire scorecard here… Read More

Americans for Prosperity just issued the following statement regarding the new Taxpayers Caucus highlighted on the main page of FR today:

AFP California Calls on Legislators to Join Taxpayers CaucusGrassroots group will hold accountable any lawmakers who don’t support cause

Sacramento—Grassroots taxpayer advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity California joined a coalition of other organizations and state legislators today in urging all 120 members of the state legislature to join the newly-formed Taxpayers Caucus. Led by State Senator Tony Strickland and Assemblyman Don Wagner, the caucus is committed to balancing the state budget without tax increases, and supports Proposition 13’s taxpayer protections.

“California has a 12.5 percent unemployment rate, one of the highest tax rates in the country and is considered one of the most hostile environments for businesses,” explained State Chairman Peter Foy. “We cannot continue on this path over a cliff to fiscal ruin.… Read More