Today was the final day of the legislative session. For those brave enough, like me, to watch much of the shameful legislation being pushed through by the Democrats – it was almost too much to take. I truly think that we all need to chip in to provide for each Republican legislator to get professional counseling for having had to live through it in person. Mid-day yesterday, Congressman Tom Price (R-GA), the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee in Congress, stopped by my office (we did an interview which you can see on the blog later today). When he came in, I pointed out to him that the State Assembly was debating legislation introduced by Democrats to prohibit employers from using the credit history of a perspective employee as a factor in the hiring decision. He was as outraged as I was.

I did want to share a piece of good news. Much has been written about here on the FlashReport about Assembly Bill 1998 – legislation pushed by an evil coalition of eco-whack legislators and greedy grocers, that sought to both ban the use of plastic bags at grocery and drug stores – and also apply a new state-mandated… Read More

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year for Republicans. Every day there is another article that talks about it (here is today’s in The Hill) — and it should come as no shock to lawmakers of either party that the reason for this trend shift away from Democrats and to the GOP is because of overreach.

Most of the political factors that go into voter decision-making are geared around the national political scene — where Democrats are reeling from a hard-left push. Whether you look at Obamacare (and its significant costs), whether you look at the federal so-called "stimulus" spending which isn’t helping the private sector economy as much as it has been a boondoggle to support the public sector, or whether you look to efforts to create artificial government-created scarcities (like with the "cap and… Read More

This is a crazy week in the State Capitol as tomorrow is the deadline to get bills passed and to the governor’s desk.While many of the bills considered each year are either silly or simply written to correct a mistake created by previous bill, there is one piece of legislation that I’m hoping makes it to Gov. Schwarzenegger.But it is a long shot. AB 378 (Hagman) would clarify what constitutes continuing education for registered nurses.While it seems like this would fall into the “do we really need a bill?” category, the answer is, “unfortunately, yes.”Just look to the political games the California Nurses Association plays (in the name of “patient care”) and you’ll understand why. Recently, lawmakers were alerted to CNA representatives promising continuing education credits to nurses who … Read More

Here is a video of my speech at last weekend’s convention. Thank you all who attended and voiced your support for sending a true fiscal conservative to the Controller’s office! … Read More

See Bradley Benbrook’s "Water’s ‘unseemly’ slate-mail game" running now on Cal Watchdog. If you read one thing today, this should be it. It’s so outrageous I’m not even going to summarize it here. Just rub your eyes on it.… Read More

California is known for the glamorous lifestyles of its famous residents. Open up any gossip magazine and you’ll see pages of images of celebrities frolicking on the beautiful beaches of Malibu, dining at exclusive restaurants in Pacific Palisades, or partying in Hollywood nightclubs. It’s a lifestyle that very few Americans can relate to, but many envy. Conversely, celebrities, like California politicians, can lose touch with the very people they entertain. The perception of liberal bias in Hollywood isn’t inaccurate.

Some celebrities use their fame and influence to lend power to political causes. Such is the case with the California legislature’s attempt to ban plastic bags. Only in a state as celebrity-centric as California could an environmentalist protest in Malibu, featuring actors Julia Louise Dreyfus and Jeremy Irons, lead to a full-scale, statewide ban on plastic grocery bags. While Ms. Dreyfus and Mr. Irons may be accomplished actors, should their latest cause de… Read More

I know this isn’t California politics (as the Flashreport is geared towards) but John Fund’s blog todayon the Miller-Murkowski race in Alaska (I can no longer write Alaska without hearing Sandra Bollock’s voice in my head: A-las-ka. Go rent The Proposal if you don’t get it.) is worth reading.Looks like they don’t think Murkowski can win, even with the absentee votes that still need to be counted. Here’s a snippet: “Ms. Murkowski could also run a write-in campaign and has until Oct. 28 to choose that course. But such campaigns rarely work, are incredibly complicated and run the risk of being seen as a desperate sour grapes move by an incumbent not willing to bow to the will of the voters. In the end, Ms. Murkowski would do … Read More

It is downright embarrassing that we are nearly 60 days past the state’s Constitutional deadline for the passage of a state budget. Yet there is no state spending plan in place. The Democrats who control the State Senate and State Assembly remain committed to a course of trying to exact extreme financial pain on state taxpayers, looking to increase taxes to close the budget “gap” – while Republican legislators remain firm in their resolve to reject any budget plan that includes new taxes.

As a reminder of exactly how dysfunctional the budget process has become, the legislature continues to pass hundreds if not thousands of pieces of legislation that at best have nothing to do with the budget, or at worst, come with financial costs that will only worsen the budget crisis. All of the state’s legislators seem comfortable delegating the whole process over to the four legislative leaders, and we get to read tweets from the Capitol Press Corps, notifying us of occasional sightings – yesterday letting us know that the Governor is now meeting with Democrat and Republican leaders separately, conducing “shuttle… Read More