There are two intertwined themes that define unionized government in California. First, funding government retiree pensions will soak up every new source of tax revenue they will ever collect. Second, cloaking new taxes and fees – and new agencies – in the virtuous raiment of environmentalism will deflect criticism and demonize critics. Here’s why:

Now that Democrats have a super-majority in California’s state legislature, expect to see plentiful new taxes to pile onto the$5.0 billion in new state and local taxesthat were approved by voters on November 8th. After all,California’s projected 2017-18 state budgetstill has a $1.6 billion deficit. And that’s nothing. Here is a look what sort of deficit challenges California’s state and local governments are actually facing:

California State/Local Pension Funds Consolidated Est. Funding Status and Required Contributions at Various ROI

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Removing all doubt that the California Agricultural Labor Relations Boardis a Marxist tool for unionization, William B. Gould IV, Gov.Jerry Brown’s appointed Chairman of the board, announced his resignation Friday, in a cranky letter complaining that farm workers don’t want to join the United Farmworkers Union.

Gould’s resignation also… Read More

Governor Brown has just released his spending proposal for 2017-18 and taxpayers should not be blamed if they feel like they are walking down a dark alley in a high-crime neighborhood.

While the governor’s proposed budget has been described as austere, it still represents a spending boost of five percent, a rate of increase only slightly smaller than last year’s six percent. Because the state is in the process of rewarding its employees with generous pay increases and covering an expanding requirement to fund their pensions — pensions that are currently subsidized by six percent of the general fund budget — more spending does not represent an increase in the quantity or quality of services for average Californians.

The Brown budget contains no major program increases except for transportation. But the kicker is that this would be contingent on higher taxes on gasoline and car registration. So, while state workers will be kept snug and comfortable, if commuters want those pot holes repaired, they must pay extra.

To read the entire column click here… Read More

I had the privilege of meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown on the first day that I arrived in Sacramento as a brand new State Senator. He observed that we needed to find a way to fund transportation improvements.

Three budget cycles later, and the Governor has not put real transportation funding in his budget. His latest budget mentions $4.2 billion. However, it needs a new revenue source to fund it! Let’s use the old euphemism of “contributions from you” versus yet another… Read More

Climate change is California Gov. Jerry Brown’s “crusade,” his jihad, his holy war. Yet Gov. Brown’s climate change and drought policy is flooded with a manic madness – never has his manic obsession with climate change been more evident.

In March on Meet the Press, after declaring Ted Cruz unfit to run for president because of his views on climate change, Brown said, “We are running out of time because it’s not raining. This is a serious matter we’re experiencing in California, as kind of a foretaste. But there is no doubt that into the future, we’re going to have more problems.”Brown also claimed research shows a “connection” between California’s drought and climate change.

California’s drought conditions are actually historically normal; water shortages are created by incompetent and scheming government. California’s recent drought was billed by government and media as the driest period in the state’s recorded rainfall history. However, scientists who study the Western United States’ long-term climate patterns say otherwise: California has been dry for significantly longer… Read More

Governor Jerry Brown announced today that the budget was $1.4 billion in deficit. At the end of last year, the state announced that it was giving state employees a raise which would cost taxpayers over $2 billion over the next four years. Do you think there is a connection?

A story ran locally in Southern California saying that over 105 employees in Santa Monica, a medium sized city, earn over $300,000 a year. The Governor of the state of California earns $174,000 per year. If you do the research, you will find that there are over 200 state employees that earn more than that

When I was deciding what I wanted to do in my younger years, my mother told me I should go to work for the government, good benefits she said. I knew I would be bored and would die young if I became a government drone. My little sister listened to her. Today, my little sister is retired on a great government pension, I still fight to pay my taxes. Given the pay that even the lowest government official receives, my mother was right.

Our government pension system is over $500 billion upside down. Retired state employee health benefits add an additional $300 billion or more to… Read More

Even with “the most progressive tax system in the United states,” California Gov. Jerry Brown is facing huge deficits, and cannot balance the state budget. The huge $180billion state budget proposal for 2017-18, may be another record budget but for millions of Californians, it’s still record stagnation and less income.

Brown has presented yet another budget fairytale that will have $5.8 Billion in deficits over the next three years – even with the recently passed ballot tax of $10 Billion in new tax revenue. And the budget does little or nothing to pay down more than $240 billion in state debt.

Why? Because personal income tax, corporate, and sales tax projections are… Read More

Ajust released studycalculates the total state and local government debt in California as of June 30, 2015, at over $1.3 trillion. Authored by Marc Joffe and Bill Fletcher at the California Policy Center, thisupdates a similar exercisefrom three years ago that put the June 30, 2012 total at $1.1 trillion. As a percent of GDP, California’s state and local government debt has held steady at around 54 percent.

For a more detailed analysis of how these debt estimates were calculated, read the studies, but here’sa summary of what California’s governments owe as of 6/30/2015:

(1) Bonds and loans – state, cities, counties, school districts, community colleges, special districts, agencies and other authorities – $426 billion.

(2) Unfunded pension obligations (official estimate) – $258 billion.

(3) Other unfunded post-employment benefits, primarily for retiree health insurance – $148 billion.

This total, $832… Read More