As seen in The Sacramento Bee

“I take public transit, but I hate it,” says a student intern who works in my downtown Sacramento office.

In a perfect world, there would be nothing wrong with investing in public transportation. We’re told by government that infrastructure projects like high-speed rail will make travel cheaper, more accessible and better for the environment. It’s supposed to be a win-win for everyone.

But we don’t live in a perfect world. And you probably know a few people who have a nightmare story to tell about their time catching the bus or train. The reality is most people don’t have positive opinions about public transit. That raises the question: In our ever-changing-millennial-driven economy, does it make sense to continue diverting billions of dollars to underutilized mass transit systems?

Many people have given up on public transportation because of the long delays and wait times and, in some cases, unclean and unsafe conditions. In Sacramento, the latest number from Regional Transit show total ridership is down nearly 7 percent… Read More

IT’S A BIRD! IT’S A PLANE! IT’S A TAX INCREASE! Tax Hike on Health Plans Causing Major Angst in Sacramento

Currently on the front burner in the State Capitol is the extremely contentious (and complicated) issue of taxing “managed care organizations.” Because of federal requirements under Obamacare, California must alter the manner in which it taxes healthcare plans or risk losing billions in federal money. But the question everyone is asking is whether the proposed legislation constitutes a tax increase. That question is not merely academic because its answer has significant policy and political ramifications.

While the determination of whether a legislative act imposes a tax may not be that important in other states, it certainly is in California. A requirement imposed by Proposition 13 is that “tax increases” be approved by a two-thirds vote of each house. Thus, although the majority Democrats have almost a two-thirds majority, they lack the power to raise taxes without at least some Republican support. And because most Republicans run for office as fiscal conservatives, they are loath to vote for anything that raises the tax burden on… Read More

Genevieve Shiroma, long time member of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, as well as a board member for the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, is the subject of a legal brief to disqualify her from the ALRB for bias and conflicts of interest.

How could the SMUD board and the Ag labor board be tied together in a conflict?

ALRB board member Shiroma hired UFW lobbyist Richie Ross for her personal campaign the same year he successfully lobbied passage of the ALRB’s California Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation Statute. The MMC law empowers the board to write and force contracts on employers and workers.

In September 2002, then-Gov. Gray Davis signed into law SB 1156 and AB 2596, the first major amendments to the 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. The MMC law would compel Gerawan and its workers into a state-imposed “contract” that would saddle the employees with the UFW as their exclusive representative.

The UFW won an election to represent Gerawan Farming’s workers 25 years ago. But after only one bargaining session, the union disappeared and wasn’t… Read More

Did you know Californians overpaid gas tax last year due to a bizarre and complex formula that few people understand?

Under current law, the Board of Equalization is required to annually adjust the state excise tax rates for both motor vehicle and diesel fuel, so the amount of tax revenue collected each year is equal to what would have been collected prior to the fuel tax swap.

At our February 23, 2016 meeting in Culver City, the Board of Equalization will consider a staff proposal to lower the state excise tax rate for gasoline by 2.2 cents for the 2016-17 fiscal year. If approved, the new lower rate of 27.8 cents per gallon will take effect July 1. The current excise tax rate is 30 cents per gallon.

When gas prices fall we must lower the rate to ensure fairness. The cut will be a welcome and much-deserved tax break for Californians, who currently pay more taxes at the pump than drivers in other states.… Read More

By Katy Grimes and Megan Barth

“Hands up don’t shoot” was a lie. The phony “Black Lives Matter” movement exists solely as atool for Democratsto create civil unrest and racial dividewhen they need votes and are recent,… Read More

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In his 2016 State of the State address, Governor Jerry Brown touted the centerpiece of his education agenda, the Local Control Funding Formula, which simplifies the way in which local school districts are funded.

Yet his key legacy program has experienced critical implementation problems and has exposed, once again, the fallacy of relying only on government-centric solutions to the state’s education problems.

The governor’s intentions in creating the Local Control Funding Formula, which was adopted by the state in 2013, were worthy. In his State of the State, he criticized the micromanagement of educators “through increasingly minute and prescriptive state and federal regulations.” With his LCFF program, he proclaimed, “California has led the country in the way it is returning control to local school districts.”

But simply shifting spending discretion from one level of government to another still means that government is in control of decision-making, with predictably bad results.

Prior to the enactment of the LCFF, funding California’s public schools was a complicated mix of general and restricted dollars,… Read More

A recent YouGov global survey, found that only 9.2% of Americans rate global warming as a top concern. In fact, the headline read the “U.S. among the least worried about climate change.” What to do? Well, sue someone, of course.

The Attorneys General of each state are supposed to use their powers to protect our constitutional rights, not restrict them. So, it is a surprise to learn that the Attorney General of California, Kamala D. Harris, is using her power to investigate those who she claims are climate skeptics.

News reports tell us that Harris, who is coincidently running for the U.S. Senate, is investigating whether Exxon Mobil Corp. lied to the public about global… Read More

If youarebemused by the success of populist candidates for President, if you think national politics in America is at risk of becoming a circus spectacle, get ready. Because that circus is coming to California. Southern California businessman John Cox is collecting signatures for aballot initiativethat will require state politicians to wear the logos of their top ten campaign contributors.

If voters approve this measure, every time a state senator or member of the assembly votes on the floor or in a committee, they will have to wear these logos on their jackets. As the text of the initiative puts it, “the disclosureshall be printed clearly and legibly, be conspicuous and in a type sizesufficient that it can be read by a member of the public observing any public session of theLegislature or a Committee thereof.”

Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. But then again, isn’t Cox’s initiative just making explicit what everybody’s known for a very long time? As Cox puts it, “unions and corporations have too much power and it’s time we stand up and fight. The ‘California is Not For Sale… Read More