As a freshman legislator, it’s astounding to me how many times I’ve already come across scenarios in which common sense has failed to prevail. The latest is so aggravating, that I feel compelled to share.

AB35XXX was just put on “Suspense” by a vote of 7-5, with every Democrat voting for the Suspense motion, and every Republican voting against. The bill would have saved taxpayer dollars while minimizing the impact in the summer-break of the kids and parents who are being punished for a minor mistake made by Chino Valley Unified. The district miscalculated a few minutes in their bell schedule, forcing a few schools to extend their school year by 34 extra days…which in turn forced students and parents to cancel summer plans, vacations, camps, etc. This bill would have minimized the impact of that error.

The fact that the bill was put on the Senate Appropriations’ “Suspense File” only surprises me a little bit; after all this is not the first time that a common sense piece of legislation has been… Read More

Speaker Bass has to go!

California’s budget crisis cannot be solved until those responsible are removed from leadership. Last February the “big five’ leaders from both parties in both houses plus the Governor, rammed down billions in new taxes and put to vote more billions on the May 19th ballot. That didn’t work.

Everyone knows the new taxes didn’t resolve the budget gap and the voters in a 2-1 vote scuttled the new new tax increases.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

Last we checked, Monday is a "work day" for full-time legislators. Also, last we checked, the state is still dealing with a massive budget short-fall that is only going to be fixed by legislative action — which is needed, like, yesterday.

If you looked around the building today for a meeting of the Fab Five (OK, that’s "Big 5" in Capitol parlance) — you won’t find one.

The Governor’s around. The Senate Republican Leader is around. The Assembly Speaker is around. The Assembly Republican Leader is around.

But someone is missing…

Who could it be?

Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg has DISAPPEARED. Rumor has it that he isn’t even in California.

WHERE’S DARRELL?… Read More

The BoE has released its 2007-08 Annual Report that breaks down the $53.1 billion in revenue collected by the BoE in year ending June 30, 2008. The BOE collected approximately $700 million less than the previous fiscal year, a decrease of 1.3 percent.

It is clear the economy was getting softer in the first half of last year and that retail sales were declining even more than other revenue categories. In light of this, February’s decision to raise the sales tax by one percent was a punitive and destructive decision. The Governor and legislators that signed off on it claimed raising the sales tax would bring in $6 billion more in revenue, despite the dynamic revenue analysis of the BoE’s chief economist showing that a … Read More

In the coming weeks, every kind of commentator from every corner of the state is going to have a recommendation about how to solve the budget crisis. Democrats are going to pound their chest and say they won’t "cut" government any more. Thousands of articles are going to be written attacking Republicans for being obstructionists (and that will be the nicest things they say), everyone is going to have a solution, an idea, a comment, a thought, every kind of way of "solving" the crisis, most of which will tell legislators that they have to "leave their ideology" at the capitol steps, and become "problem-solvers." These are media speak for "Republicans have to raise taxes."

In my opinion, there is only one strategy that will actually solve this crisis, and the crises that will occur in the future. Republicans must stand firm. I realize that is asking a lot. Republicans have never stood firm. Republicans have always given in. Republicans in the Legislature are as responsible for today’s collapse because past leaders have given in to Democrat demands for bigger government, and have never stood up… Read More

Last week the San Francisco Chronicle published a story in which they “broke the story” that former Hewlett Packard Chief Operating Officer and ersatz United States Senator Carly Fiorina may not have complied with required government filings concerning two business entities which she owns – Carly Fiorina Enterprises and the Fiorina Foundation.

Fiorina, who has been prepping behind the scenes for a run for the Republican nomination for United States Senate next year – even as she undergoes treatments for breast cancer – was quick to respond to the allegations through her spokesman and Chief of Staff Deborah Bowker. Bowker contacted me with the following statement…

Last week the San Francisco Chronicle published a story in which they “broke the story” that former Hewlett Packard Chief Operating Officer and ersatz United States Senator Carly Fiorina may not have complied with required government filings concerning two business entities which she owns – Carly Fiorina Enterprises and the Fiorina Foundation.

Fiorina, who has been prepping behind the scenes for a run for the Republican nomination for United States Senate next year – even as she undergoes treatments for breast cancer – was quick to respond to the allegations through her spokesman and Chief of Staff Deborah Bowker. Bowker contacted me with the following statement…

Adding significant muscle to a bill that appeared to have some legs already, State Controller John Chiang on Friday sent a letter to Assemblyman Joel Anderson in support of AB 1506. The Anderson legislation, a badly-needed piece of creative juice in the midst of another protracted State budget mess, would require the State of California to accept as payment its own registered warrants, otherwise known as IOUs.

Quite simply, for Controller Chiang to support this legislation is…well…huge. He is, after all, the one forced to issue IOUs in lieu of real monetary payments owed by the state to several thousand taxpayers, state contractors, and service providers.

For Democrat Chiang to agree with Republican Anderson that "if it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander" makes AB 1506 as credible as it is compelling. Until now, even though many legislators of both parties have jumped on board as bill co-authors, there has been a lingering question for some: "What does the Controller say about the idea? He will have to implement it." Chiang answered the question with a letter to… Read More