This morning Senate and Assembly Republicans held a news conference at the State Capitol to announce a formal proposal to institute state government spending limits.

An overview of the elements of their proposal: Establishes A Spending Limit Enacts a strict spending limit that restricts spending growth each year to the combined percentage change in the state’s population growth and inflation, currently averaging about 5 percent.

Establishes a prudent Reserve Fund

Creates a Special Reserve Account that may only be spent when revenue falls below the spending limits for a given year, subject to a two-thirds vote. The maximum amount that can be accumulated in the new Special Reserve Account may not … Read More

It seems like just yesterday, but are we really celebrating the 10th anniversary of the successful campaign to pass the Proposition 227 to end bilingual education in California in favor of English immersion programs? The campaign we called English for the Children.

It seems like just yesterday when I got a phone call from my friend and political mentor at the time Lorelei Kinder. Lorelei, who is passionate about the education issue (I can still her rolling quotes from her friend and senior education official in the latter part of the Reagan Administration, Chester “Checker” Finn, off of her tongue). Lorelei asked me if I would be interested leaving my position (at the time I was a special assistant to then State Senator John Lewis) and go to work as the Campaign Coordinator for the fledgling Prop. 227 effort. I took her up on the idea, and soon found myself having a meeting with the impressive genius (literally) of this ballot measure campaign – successful Silicon Valley… Read More

It seems like just yesterday, but are we really celebrating the 10th anniversary of the successful campaign to pass the Proposition 227 to end bilingual education in California in favor of English immersion programs? The campaign we called English for the Children.

It seems like just yesterday when I got a phone call from my friend and political mentor at the time Lorelei Kinder. Lorelei, who is passionate about the education issue (I can still her rolling quotes from her friend and senior education official in the latter part of the Reagan Administration, Chester “Checker” Finn, off of her tongue). Lorelei asked me if I would be interested leaving my position (at the time I was a special assistant to then State Senator John Lewis) and go to work as the Campaign Coordinator for the fledgling Prop. 227 effort. I took her up on the idea, and soon found myself having a meeting with the impressive genius (literally) of this ballot measure campaign – successful Silicon Valley… Read More

I came home for the weekend to find the price of premium gas approaching $5 per gallon. It is about 40 cents higher than in the DC area. Not only is the price of gas unlikely to stop there, but other energy prices are rising too. The price of natural gas has risen dramatically in the last few months. Natural gas provides almost all of our home heating in California as well as about 50% of our electricity generation. Remember the spikes in electricity prices back during the energy crisis of 2001? Well, there won’t be that big a jump this time, but there will be a jump in your electric bill and your heating bill soon. So it’s not just the price of gasoline which will be impacting your wallet.

So what is happening in Washington to try to deal with this new energy crisis? Nothing. House Democratic leadership has blocked a number of Republican sponsored bills from consideration on the floor, and the only bill they are pushing is a "windfall profits" tax increase on domestic oil production which they know is going nowhere in the Senate or with the president (and which would increase the price of gas rather than decrease it anyway). So there is literally… Read More

[Meredith’s post below this one reminded me that I had intended to write on this earlier. I guess it’s "pile on Jack Scott" day…] About a month ago, State Senator Jack Scott was "hired" to be the new Chancellor of the California Community College System, said employment to begin at the end of the year. Shortly after his appointment to this post was announced, Scott tendered his resignation as Chairman of the Budget Subcommittee on Education (The Bee’s Capitol Alert carried it here – registration req’d).

At the time, Scott’s spokesperson said that the Senator, "didn’t want any possible appearance of a conflict of interest."

I guess its time to ask the obvious question — if Scott resigned from a budget subcommittee because a conflict of interest (I can’t think of a bigger one than having accepted a job at the end of your term from a public agency that is heavily… Read More

Just when you think nanny government can’t get any more intrusive, Senator Jack Scott introduces an asinine bill like SB 1499. This ridiculous bill will make it a crime to sell metallic balloons in California. A staple of parties and celebrations, the balloons are apparently the cause of periodic power outages when they get loose and become entangled in electrical wires. So to prevent such inconveniences, Senator Scott wants to ban the balloons in California.

Los Angeles radio talk show hosts John and Ken are some of the most vocal opponents against nanny government bills and, as you can imagine, they are vehemently opposed to SB 1499. To express their disgust for SB 1499, they decided to use an effective tactic that Rush Limbaugh calls “showing absurdity by being absurd.” Instead of utilizing the old political protest tactic of “burning in effigy,” the radio hosts sponsored a Jack Scott “stomping in effigy” last week.

… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… OUCH.

No Message, But Please Accept this Toy

My sources at the Republican National Committee say they are stunned by the dropoff in contributions this election cycle, but a big part of the problem is an absence of an agenda. It’s getting harder and harder to finish this sentence: "Vote for Republicans in November because…" The Republican campaign committees are getting more angry mail than checks as a result of failing to stop earmarked spending and the GOP’s recent failure to support President Bush’s veto of the inexcusable $300 billion farm bill.

So instead of a message this fall, the GOP is trying to promote donations with a new stuffed… Read More

It’s financial disclosure time–and you thought FPPC Form 700 season was tough! The Washington Post and Politico have coverage of the statements, outlining members worth and liabilities, here, here and here. California member Doolittle is mentioned in both because the form shows contributions to his legal defense fund.

The digging has begun, and members of the House are answering questions about their mortgages, noted in today’s Roll Call (sadly, despite a site re-vamp, subscription still required). In a related note, House conservative Rep Jeb Hensarling has called for hearings to determine the impact of discounted rates given to Representatives and Senators on mortgages from Countrywide. Here and here.

Politico looks at the politics of immigration and also at the "budgets" of key members,… Read More