As reported by the Ventura County Star, the City of Oxnard faces budget headwinds.Quoted in the article, Mayor Tim Flynn had this to say:

“We’re making decisions that should have been made 10, 20 years ago to put the city on a sustainable path,” Flynn said. “These are very painful cuts, but we have to live within our means. The city historically has not lived within our means.”

City Manager Alex Nguyen was more specific:

“Skyrocketing pension costs and spikes in health care are some of the reasons for the budget shortfall. With projected expenditures approximately $10 million more than anticipated revenue, there is no choice but to recommend programmatic cuts to the City Council.”

Skyrocketing pension costs. You can say that again. Depicted on the chart below is a summary of what’s happening to Oxnard, thanks to “skyrocketing pension costs.” The biggest takeaway from this chart is the fact that Oxnard’s pensions have just begun to “skyrocket.” If you want to skip the details and cut to the… Read More

On June 27, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the caseJanus vs AFSCME. An immediate consequence of this ruling was that public sector unions could no longer collect so-called “agency fees” from workers in their bargaining units who had opted out of full union membership.

The other main consequence of theJanusruling was that those workers who were full dues paying members of public sector unions would have the right to terminate their memberships. In anticipation of a result unfavorable to them, whichJanuscertainly was, public sector unions have used their influence with lawmakers topass numerous pieces of legislationdesigned to make it harder for union members to quit. As a result, the full impact of union members terminating their membership will not be felt immediately.

With nearly a year passed since theJanuscase was decided, however, it is possible to begin to quantify the impact so far on union membership and on union… Read More

On the SAN DIEGO U-T website, there is a treasure trove of invaluable articles (MY articles!) first published on the now defunct NORTH COUNTY TIMES. The U-T bought the NCT for a pittance, and put their database of stories on the U-T website.

I found it by accident recently — surprised that my timeless(?) op-eds could still be accessed. The only drawback is that in the platform switch from NCT to U-T, there are numerous formatting problems. Here I’ve taken the article and fixed the formatting mess, but the U-T link can be accessed to see the “original.”

In this article, the data is outdated, but the RELATIONSHIP of public and private salaries for comparable jobs likely remains the same. And remember, this comparison is JUST the salaries — not the benefits — government benefits that are FAR higher than private sector employees receive.

Breaking Bad:California vs. the Other States

by Richard Rider – Chairman, San Diego Tax Fighters

Version 3.09 Revised: 16 April, 2019

Online version at: www.TinyURL.com/CA-vs-other-states

Email: … Read More

The union assault on charter schools in California has intensified, but resistance isnotfutile. Parents, students, conscientious teachers, lawmakers and concerned citizens are stepping up. There are many ways to fight for charter schools, which represent one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal performance by California’s K-12 system of public education.

In anApril 2019 reportin the respected websiteCalMattersentitled “Charter-mageddon: Lawmakers advance a raft of union-backed charter school curbs,” the ongoing battle between charter school advocates and their foes is updated as follows: “While the two sides have battled for decades—typically to a draw—the political momentum has shifted in favor of organized labor this session.”

This is an understatement. On April 4th, three charter-killer bills cleared the State Assembly’s Education Committee, and all of them have a good chance of moving on to the Governor’s desk, where Gavin Newsom is considered far more likely to sign them than former Gov. Brown would… Read More

In 2012, San Diego voters approved Proposition B, a pension reform measure that replaced pensions for new hires with a 401K plan. Seven years later, it is possible this reform will be completely unwound, because union attorneys have successfully argued that the city didn’t “meet and confer” with the unions before putting the reform measure on the ballot for voter approval.

As reported two weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s argument that the San Diego’s mayor, who supported Prop. B, was exercising his right to free speech, and to force him to meet and confer with the unions prior to supporting Prop. B would have been a violation of that right.

Since then, the case has been returned to the original appellate court, which on 3/25 ruled that the city must “meet and confer over the effects of the initiative and to pay the… Read More

With fresh news this week that Californians—including 53 percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Latinos—are souring on taxes, it is perhaps no surprise that big government-happy legislators are turning to regulation to advance pet policy goals.

Among them are several measures targeting vapers in California and seeking to limit choices in the vapor market. All of these should be rejected out of… Read More

Should the government spend money to benefit private companies? Should the government spend money to influence voters? In California, they do it all the time. There are laws specifically written to prevent this, but they are undermined by aggressive exploitation of loopholes combined with lax enforcement. And to be fair, genuine ambiguity often makes it hard to know where the lines belong. Let’s consider these one at a time.

Using Taxes to Benefit Private Companies – Corporate Welfare

Gifts of government resources to private organizations – in the form of subsidies to corporations, for example, or payments made under unlawful contracts – are illegal in California.

Article 16 Sec. 6 of the California Constitution, the “gift clause,” prohibits the giving or lending public funds to any person or entity, public or private. Here’s the actual language:

“The Legislature shall have no power to give or to lend, or to authorize the giving or lending, of the credit of the State, or of any… Read More