The file item that contained the state budget bill, AB 1781, was passed over this morning. Republicans made a motion to at least have a vote on the current bill, as reported out of the budget Conference Committee. That motion was defeated, so we still don’t know what the ‘temperature’ of both caucuses is on the current document or how far away the Assembly is from achieving 54 votes to pass any form of budget.There are47 Democrat members in regular attendence in our floor sessions. It is widely assumed, if a vote was taken today,that there are less than 47 likely ‘aye’ votes as of right now for this budget document…but who really knows? … Read More

PLEASE READ THIS THROUGH, LISTEN, AND THEN CONTACT STATE SENATOR ROY ASHBURN!

Upon returning from my vacation, I was impressed upon by some Capitol insiders that there was a "problem" within the Senate Republican Caucus — and that we may no longer have a unified team to oppose a tax increase. As you know too well from last year, it takes a two-thirds vote to pass a budget, as well as to pass a tax increase (or place one on the ballot). That means that only two GOPers need to "go south" before the entire defense against new taxes shifts over to the Assembly where six votes of Republicans (or perhaps seven due to the illness of one Democrat member) are needed, along with every Democrat, to pass a budget, raise taxes, or place a tax increase on the ballot.

I was told that State Senator Roy Ashburn was publicly saying there were circumstances under which he would be willing to support Governor Schwarzenegger’s "temporary sales tax… Read More

This is simple, and to the point. The special interests that want to grow government need not bother calling Nakanishi’s office:

“I remain steadfast in my commitment to oppose any tax increases. We need to cut spending, not raise taxes.”… Read More

Statement by Assembly Republican Caucus Chairman Bob Huff:

"I stand by my pledge to oppose tax increases for the state budget for 2008-09. Raising the state sales tax or income tax will increase the cost of living and hurt working families who are already struggling to keep their heads above water in the face of high gas and food prices, and house payments. Raising taxes on California businesses will cause many companies to leave California for other states, delay our economic recovery and kill jobs. We did not run up a $15 billion dollar budget deficit because Californians are paying too little in taxes. The problem is the Legislature is spending too much, not that we are paying too little. "… Read More

Assemblymember Spitzer, Chief Republican Whip, sent over this statement regarding the budget:

“I want to make it unequivocally clear: I will not be voting for any budget that includes a tax increase of any kind or any gimmicks to put tax increases on the ballot.

The fact is Sacramento needs a responsible, permanent budget process that stops overspending. In the last four years, state expenditures have grown by 44% – or $31 billion. The fact that Democrats want to raise taxes after such a large growth in spending is ludicrous.

What bothers me the most is that Democrats support raising taxes over $9 billion but, at the same time, propose cutting local public safety funding by $218 million from last year’s budget. Government’s most important role is to protect the public’s safety. The irony is that the majority party would rather support bureaucratic social programs instead of keeping neighborhoods safe.”… Read More

It would be a tough call to find a politician in Orange County (or elsewhere, for that matter) to who has the candor, directness, and the straight-forward style of Assemblyman Todd Spitzer. I’ve known Todd for many years, and as someone who writes (a lot) about politics locally and in Sacramento, I am always looking to get input from the Assemblyman because he, frankly, is very provocative in his prose.

So I was quite excited when the Assemblyman approached me about making his own foray

Well, here’s a bright spot in the phenomenally late, phenomenally messy 08-09 budget writing process: the Governor kept his word about taking whatever step necessary to compel Controller Chiang to implement his executive order. The Governor’s Department of Personnel Administration filed suit Monday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court just a couple of hours after a wishy-washy, non-committal response out of Chiang’s office.

Let’s be clear: if Chiang were working as chief financial officer for any business, rather than for state government, he would have been fired long ago for even suggesting that we spend hundreds of millions of extra dollars on Wall Street for high-interest loans just so we don’t have to temporarily lay off 4 percent of our bloated workforce. He would have been fired long ago for failing to update his computer system so that it can easily comply with a 5-year-old court ruling.

The Governor did the right thing by suing to force him to comply with the state constitution, the state Supreme Court, common sense, and fiscal responsibility. We have a serious cash crisis coming – on that point, no one disagrees. And separate… Read More

The IRS doesn’t want charitable organizations to have links to political campaigns on their websites, and on July 28, the director of IRS Exempt Organization Examinations issued a ukase on "Political Campaign Activity on the Internet."

The IRS will now open examinations of charities that have a direct link to a political action committee or candidate website on the charity’s website. They will also open an examination if they find a charity has linked to an unrelated501(c)(4) advocacy organization or commerical sitethat itself links to a candidate or PAC site whereit isintended by the charity to indirectly link the viewer to the political site.

Cases involving "related" 501(c)(4) organizations are more complicated and the IRS is less likely to take action to indirect links to political sites by that route. However, a "fact and circumstance" is how many clicks it takes to get to the political site. If it is really easy, that is a problem.

I’m sure IRS agents love this duty, siting in front of a computer 8 hours a day and websurfing. Must be… Read More