The more things change in the legislature, the more they stay the same. Senator Tom Berryhill was stripped of his Chairmanship of the Food and Agriculture Committee by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg for shockingly reminding everybody that the Republican Caucus would not be supporting tax increases and the democrats own this "solution" that has already been rejected by the voters.

To make matters worse, Steinberg, in his letter to the Rules Committee stripping Berryhill of the post arrogantly states "Each member of the California State Senate represents nearly one million people and we have a duty, regardless of party or philosophy, to actively engage in the serious work necessary to address the challenges confronting California." It seems that "actively engaging" on the budget to Senator Steinberg means checking the reasons your constituents sent you to Sacramento at the door.

Steinberg has made a choice to put politics first and reminded Californians that a critical piece of our economic structure that creates jobs and tax revenue keeping this state afloat will take a back seat to political… Read More

Yesterday, I talked about Republicans changing the process of how budgets are decided. Today, most government budgets start with baseline spending, and then try to figure out how to make a combination of "cuts and revenue increases to balance the budget." That mindset has led to the tax and spend mentality that predominates in government, whether the government is run by the Republicans and Democrats. If the starting point of any budget discussion is how much to spend, every decision made after that is driven by a discussion about spending. In fact, the language of budgets is the language of preserving spending levels, not finding ways to "live within our means."

However, if the budgeters look at revenue, and then try to figure out how to match the spending to the revenue, the whole mindset changes. I promised yesterday to apply this principle to the Governor’s budget. Here it is. The numbers are derived from the Governor’s budget. Remember, I don’t have thousands of staff to analyze this multiple volume document. If the numbers are not precise, use the principles to find the… Read More

It came as no surprise that Gov. Jerry Brown’s first budget plan included a proposed tax increase that requires a vote of the people.He was very clear in his campaign that he would not increase taxes without a vote of the people and a balanced budget without a tax increase would be just so…un-Democratic!

Reaction from the right side of the aisle also was not surprising. Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton immediately said that there was “zero” support in his caucus for increased taxes. After Brown visited with the Assembly GOP caucas, theirleader Connie Conway described the meeting to the Los Angeles Times: "It was cordial. It was conversational. I don’t think anyone changed their mind about raising taxes."

Jerry Brown unveiled his budget. I haven’t had a chance to review it all, but I will before tomorrow. However, I thought I would first start with principles to guide my Republican friends in the Legislature on how to analyze and deal with the budget issues they will face. What I propose here is a little outside the box, but it can work in their favor if they choose to follow it.

The first thing for most legislators to understand is the lingo used by budget gurus. What people hear from these budget types is noises that sound like English words, but those words don’t have English meanings. For instance, a cut is not a reduction in spending, as most people would think. It can be a fund shift, or it could be a decrease in the amount of projected spending increases. Republicans cannot fall into the trap of using the words of the left or the budgeters. Republicans must use real English to describe what is going on in the budget process.

A couple of important words:

(a) "Base" or "Current Year Budget" – That is how much money the state is spending on programs this year… Read More

Back in late December I told you that Beth Gaines, wife of newly minted conservative State Senator Ted Gaines, would be a candidate for the 4th District Assembly seat, now vacant with Gaines’ being sworn into the Senate. Well, this morning Beth will make it official and formally launch her campaign!

Yesterday afternoon I ran into Beth near the State Capitol and she shared with me that today she would be making a formal announcement. Her campaign will be putting out a press release later this morning, but were here at the FlashReport were able to snag an early copy… (Her campaign website is here). Beth Gaines Announces Assembly Candidacy ROCKLIN, CA — Conservative Republican Beth Gaines today… Read More

I have great respect for tax-fighters like Grover Norquist, Jon Coupal, Ted Costa and others, but I don’t believe Republicans should be afraid to take our issues to voters – and that includes fighting reckless tax increases.

In fact, we should push for it.

I believe raising taxes – particularly when so many families and small businesses are struggling – is unconscionable and reckless. And I think most voters agree with me.

State government spends billions of dollars on meaningless boards and commissions, duplicative bureaucracy, wasteful contracts and overly generous salaries and pensions. Over-regulation, over taxation and meaningless paperwork are choking business and preventing job-recovery. And I think most voters agree with me.

The state needs to cut waste and abuse; eliminate duplication; cut regulation to free up business to create jobs and boost the economy; ratchet down costly salaries, pensions and benefits; and… Read More

Pretty soon state government employees won’t be able to take that call outside the office—at least not on the taxpayers’ dime. Governor Jerry Brown announced today that he’s ending cell phone plans for 48,000 state employees and confiscating their phones by June 1. Apparently that’s just half of the cell phones currently in use by government workers. It’s hard to imagine why 40% of state employees have taxpayer-financed cell phones. For the governor’s first executive order, cutting government spending is an encouraging sign. It’s estimated nixing the cell phone usage in half will save the state $20 million. Governor Brown should be applauded for taking his first swipe at cutting government waste. But, as evidenced by his budget proposal yesterday, it’s going to take more than token cuts to solve the $25 billion+ deficit.

Pension reform and ending collective bargaining for state… Read More

While Jerry Brown campaigned for office with promises of doing things differently, the reality is that today he has demonstrated that he is just another tax and spend Democrat. To ask lawmakers to put what would be the largest tax increase in the history of California on the ballot — and to have the hubris to ask working Californians in the midst of a recession to approve them, exhibits an amazing tone-deafness by Governor Brown. In principle it is unfair to increase taxes on California’s families and businesses to offset decades of overspending by liberal politicians. As a practical matter, voters rejected these very same taxes proposed for a two-year duration (let alone five) just two years ago, and last November voters rejected ballot measures that would raise taxes as well. Brown assumes that voters are either dumb or gullible — as he uses a “Washington Monument” scheme to try to put a gun to the heads of the electorate. The fact remains that Californians are among the highest taxed people in the nation, yet that doesn’t seem to provide enough tax revenue to feed the voracious appetite for spending of Capitol Democrats. The cynicism and… Read More