There is already talk about the quick legal challenge to passing billions of dollars of tax increases with a 2/3rds vote of the legislature. But chew on this — undoubtedly a referendum will also be filed on these bills if signed into law. From my basic understanding of how that process works, just the start of the qualification process of a referendum halts the implementation of the laws for months… Chew on that! Anyone have the forms I need to submit to start the ball rolling? I think I just need to send in a letter a $200 check…… Read More

Things are hectic here at the home base of the FlashReport — while Democrats in Sacramento were slamming through very constitutionally questionable tax increases — billions of dollars worth — I was out with the family buying a Christmas Tree for the house. Now I am writing an update on the antics of the Capitol before the tree delivery people arrive with our new purchase.

As promised, Senate and Assembly Democrats called session this afternoon, and rammed through bills containing gas, income and a car tax increases. We’ll give a closer look to see which Democrats didn’t vote FOR the taxes (I am sure they "protected" targets since they only needed majority votes under their lame plan) — but I can tell you that not one Republican in the Senate or the Assembly voted for ANY tax increase.

Nevertheless, in both chambers, these tax increases were declared as being passed with a majority vote. In the State Assembly, Republican Chuck DeVore objected to the tax increases being scored as needing only a majority vote. DeVore’s objection was overturned, and he then, in turn moved to overturn the ruling of the chair,… Read More

My youngest of three children just turned ten today! I can’t help thinking about how much life has changed since she was born…gosh, I didn’t even have a cell phone then…archaic! Actually, in the past week, all three of my kids have had their birthdays. (I know, I know – great planning, huh?) I get sentimental around this time each year, because I remember bringing each little bundle of joy home, and how each trip to the delivery room made me a fiercer and fiercer protector of my brood of Buck babies. Each time a new life was placed in my arms for the first time, I became more certain that I would do anything, sacrifice everything, and stop at nothing to make sure my kids were safe from harm. And hence, I found my life’s work…the Go Green Initiative (GGI) (www.gogreeninitiative.org). After sharing my bio when I ran for State Assembly in 2006, many of you already know the story of how the GGI came into being, and if you don’t, here is where you can find out: … Read More

Today I am pleased to offer this guest editorial from longtime FR friend State Senator Jeff Denham…

So California can’t sell its bonds because the outside world has no confidence in our leadership’s ability to manage the state’s finances. And now public works projects are shutting down—projects that the public approved at the governor’s urging. If only he had shown as much leadership throughout his tenure in fighting for budget reform. Instead, when that issue wasn’t an easy win and didn’t come with accolades from the Democrats and the media, he shifted his attention to global warming. For once, a politician’s chickens are coming to roost when he is still in office. I’m glad that the Schwarzenegger is having to deal with this mess. He could have avoided it—or at least the deficit wouldn’t be this big and his options would be better—if he had stayed true to his word when he first ran for office and shepherded through real budget reform early on.

… Read More

Today I am pleased to offer this guest editorial from longtime FR friend State Senator Jeff Denham…

One important step in solving the state’s budget crisis is to eliminate wasteful resources and look for potential opportunities to create new revenue without raising taxes.

One significant opportunity is to sell the 432 acres of pristine California land that houses San Quentin State Prison. This state property sits on a prime bay front section of Marin County and has the potential to provide the state with substantial revenue.

**There is more –… Read More

A reminder that once a year, the elves here at the FlashReport take our annual vacation. Every year, the FlashReport publishes daily through the Friday before Christmas, and we restart our daily routine on January 2. For those looking at a calendar, that means that this Friday will be the last time our main page is updated for the year. This is traditionally a very slow time for political news.

That said, this particular year, because of the chaos caused by the chronic overspending of legislative Democrats, and the resulting budget mess, we will be keeping the FR blog open through the holidays, and will encourage our readers to check in regularly (normally we would shut that down, too!).

When we come back after the holidays, look for one new major feature on the site, and we’ll also be revamping our blogger row, with some new, awesome contributors joining our blog team.

As always, if you have any thoughts or suggestions about how we can improve FR, please share them with us. You can e-mail me here.… Read More

Speaker Grinch hauled all of the State Assemblymembers down to the floor yesterday for a 6+ hour waste of time session. During their lengthy stay in the legislative chambers, care to guess what was achieved? The Democrats put up BILLIONS of dollars in tax increases for a vote — and only Democrats supported them. I am VERY PLEASED to convey to FR readers that 100% of Assembly Republicans voted against their blatant attempt to punish California’s taxpayers for their spending addiction.

Once again, Democrats put up these tax increases without putting up the votes for a permanent spending cap (you know, in order to make sure that the chronic overspending must come to a halt), nor any of the other major reforms in state law that would improve our state’s business climate, to stimulate growth in the economy.

I guess later today the GOP proposal will get a vote on the Assembly Floor, where we can predict that all of the Republicans will support it (I would hope so!) and all of the Democrats will oppose it.

And in the "upper" chamber, there is a disturbing rumor that they have concocted some scheme to increase taxes by calling… Read More