In 1999, the first year of the beginning of the Davis debacle, I was re-appointed as the Republican member of the Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee (I had been the one Republican member of the three member committee before, but had been removed because I was "too difficult" to deal with). When I returned, my consultant on that committee was Mike Genest. For at least one budget cycle (maybe two), we sat in the committee watching then Committee Chair (later Congresswoman, and now Labor Secretary) Hilda Solis spend the state into oblivion. During her time as the Committee Chair, Solis increased welfare spending by 42%, moving the state to its largest (by percentage) deficit in its history.

During that time, I learned more about the budget, how it works, and what works and what doesn’t than I had in my first stint on the committee. I had great consultants before and after that time, but I learned a lot from Genest, and learned how the budget worked. A better budget technician you will never find.

He is now leaving the state, and I think the Governor will be worse off for it. He is loyal, he is competent, he is smart, and he… Read More

Last night the State Senate made a decision that the Assembly will mull over this morning — do you put a "solution" to the state’s water problems in front of voters that includes billions of dollars in unnecessary spending? To talk to Republicans who are supporting this proposal, they would tell you that they support some of the non-essential spending in order to make the measure itself more appealing to liberal votes in parts of the state that aren’t suffering from water shortages. Talk to others and they would tell you that the water crisis is so bad that billions of non-essential borrowing and spending is simply the price paid to get a water-fix through a legislature dominated by liberal Democrats.

Either way, if the water bond proposal as passed by the State Senate last night is approved by the Assembly and scheduled to go before voters in November of next year, there is serious question about whether or not such a "Christmas Tree" measure (with boughs filled with ornaments of enviro-pork) will be passed or rejected by voters.

To be sure, there is a large chunk of this proposal that makes sense — borrowing to… Read More

Last night the State Senate made a decision that the Assembly will mull over this morning — do you put a "solution" to the state’s water problems in front of voters that includes billions of dollars in unnecessary spending?

To talk to Republicans who are supporting this proposal, they would tell you that they support some of the non-essential spending in order to make the measure itself more appealing to liberal votes in parts of the state that aren’t suffering from water shortages. Talk to others and they would tell you that the water crisis is so bad that billions of non-essential borrowing and spending is simply the price paid to get a water-fix through a legislature dominated by liberal Democrats.

Either way, if the water bond proposal as passed by the State Senate last night is approved by the Assembly and scheduled to go before voters in November of next year, there is serious question about whether or not such a "Christmas Tree" measure (with boughs filled with ornaments of enviro-pork) will be passed or rejected by voters.

To be sure, there is a large chunk of this proposal that makes sense —… Read More

Lest there be any doubt about whether the new Pelosi Health Care Bill is more costly, more controlling, and closer to socialism than the previous iteration, here is your fact of the day:

You may remember that the ‘original’ health care bill introduced before the August recess, H.R. 3200, would have created 53 separate bureaucracies, commissions, boards etc… The new Pelosi Bill, which the House may vote on as early as this week creates a whopping 111 new boards, bureaucracies, commissions, and programs….wow….if this isn’t a massive government intervention into our health care system, I don’t know what is.

Monday’sedition of the Wall Street Journal has a scathing editorial of the legislation introduced by Speaker Pelosi. It notes the creation of a new ‘Health Choices Commissioner’ that will decide “essential benefits” which all insurers will have to offer. This sounds like something straight out of Aldous… Read More

James Freeman, a former staffer for then-Rep. Chris Cox (R-Newport Beach) is today an editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal. In a book review in the paper’s "bookshelf" column, he has managed to succinctly summarize the root cause of financial turmoil impacting the government sponsored enterprises (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae et al) and the financial institutions that bet on their investments. This summary comes in the form of a review of a new book, "The Sellout" by CNBC correspondent Charles Gasparino.

Here’s the gist, in terms of market turmoil triggers: "For another, the government had made a series of horrendous policy decisions that, as Mr. Gasparino shows, encouraged financial firms to go long on housing in ways that would have once been unimaginable.

"In 1995, Henry Cisneros, the secretary of housing and urban development, directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac…to buy and guarantee mortgages of low- and moderate-income borrowers amounting to 42% of their annual business volume. His successor,… Read More

California’s gas prices are the third highest in the nation, hovering around the $3.00 per gallon mark at the end of October. The average price of gas over the past three weeks for all 50 states was closer to $2.60 per gallon. So why are gas prices so much higher in California? To begin with, California charges the highest gasoline taxes in the nation. California even collects a tax on a tax by charging sales taxes on the state and federal excise tax!

In California, taxes on fuel account for roughly 65 cents per gallon, which includes the state sales tax rate of 8.25%, plus 1.2 cents per gallon for Underground Storage Tank (UST) fees, plus additional local sales taxes where applicable. In Sacramento County, sales taxes are 8.75%.

We also pay more in California because of stringent environmental laws dictating that we use reformulated gasoline, which can only be supplied by a limited number of refineries. So when one of them shuts down, as the Tesoro refinery in Los Angeles did earlier this year due to a fire, the supply is reduced enough that prices inevitably rise.

With our… Read More

For weeks now top legislative leaders have been toiling in the back room cobbling together a complex package to try and address California’s water woes. The plan is rumored to include not only borrowing through bond measures of close to ten BILLION dollars, but also is said to include a host of new regulations that will impact all Californians.

The handful of legislative leaders that have been engrossed in the negotiations are very familiar will all of these details. One would imagine, if the legislative leaders are doing their job, that to some degree, each of the 120 legislators have some knowledge of the contents of the plans — at least through telephonic briefings and such. Well, at least the plans as of their most recent conference call. In addition some stakeholders have been briefed in summary fashion at various stages of negotiation, but certainly that is a small number.

Once you get beyond this very small pyramid of those in some sort of loop, it becomes clear that once again the legislature and the Governor are once again preparing to put up for a vote a piece of major legislation without providing an opportunity for thorough… Read More

There was smoke, but apparently no fire.

La Mesa Councilman Dave Allan, who on Friday filed initial paperwork to run for County Supervisor in 2012 (see prior breaking news story), called me today to say he changed his mind. Now apparently done with perhaps the briefest candidacy in recent memory, Allan had previously confirmed that he would run for the 2nd District seat, even if it meant taking on incumbent Dianne Jacob.

"I’m not going to run," said Allan. "It was a hasty decision made out of distrust and anger over my concerns about fire protection in the County of San Diego."

So there. As for his future plans, Allan said "I’m going to continue my mission to make fire protection the best that it can be."… Read More