CalPERS financial struggles are draining state taxpayers. The ever-increasing contribution rates it demands from state and local governments have already bankrupted several cities. Even for more financially stable agencies, increased CalPERS contributions have crowded out other spending priorities or tax relief.

While discussions about unfunded liabilities and projected rates of return are necessary and important, the average member of the public is too busy to dive into the details.

That’s why the recent release ofCalPERS’ 2013 base payouts, including retiree names, onTransparentCalifornia.comis so important.

For the first time, average Californians can quickly and easily seehow much CalPERS paid out to retirees in 2013. The names and payouts are availablehere.

Even a casual glance at the data, shows the root cause of CalPERS’ financial struggles: It’s paying tens of thousands… Read More

Legislation just signed by Gov. Brown may help alert homeowners to the threat posed by per parcel property taxes. Parcel taxes have become one of the most insidious threats to home ownership because they can be imposed over and above the property tax limits set by Proposition 13.

Supported by a broad coalition lead by the California Taxpayers Association, Assembly Bill 2109 requires the Controller to maintain a publicly accessible data base relating to the imposition of locally assessed… Read More

Well, at least it wasn’t close. California Governor Jerry Brown has a LOCK on last place in a Cato study that just came out — comparing governors’ performance regarding “Fiscal Policy.” The 2ndworst governor (John Hickenlooper, D, Colorado) earned an abysmal score — but still scored 37% higher than anchor-clanker Brown.

Thank Goodness Governor Brown is fiscally prudent — verified by gushing accolades from our ever-reliable MSM. Otherwise Brown might have earned a REALLY low score!

Two state governors were not included in the report — the Republican in Alaska (due to the vagaries of their petroleum-based state budget) and the Democrat in West Virginia, who has been in office too short a time to rate in the survey.

http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/fprc-on-americas-governors_1.pdf

pages 6-7 have the scores and rankings

By what can only be described as an extraordinary coincidence, the six best governors were all Republicans, while the twelve worst governors were… Read More

Legislation I proposed to ease the burden of a lumber tax on small businesses has become law.

Assembly Bill 2031, authored by Assemblyman Brian Dahle (R-Bieber), passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and was signed by Governor Brown on September 29, 2014.

In 2012, the Legislature enacted AB 1492, which imposed a 1% assessment on lumber and engineered wood products. Unfortunately, the bill did not allow an exemption for qualified businesses that have little or no sales of wood products, causing many retailers to needlessly file returns.

AB 2031 fixes this problem by exempting businesses that sell less than $25,000 in lumber or engineered wood from paying the 1% Lumber Products Assessment. This will save nearly 1,000 businesses the hassle of separately reporting lumber sales to the Board of Equalization.

The legislation was sponsored by the State Board of Equalization and received support from the California Retailers Association, the California Forestry Association, CalTax and many small business owners.

In his… Read More

Sexual encounters often tragically occur where usually both parties are very drunk. Sexual consent isn’t thought of until the next day when regret sets in.

Yet, young men are increasingly being charged by female students and college administrators, of sexual misconduct — even when accusers cannot remember the events because of intoxication. Right or wrong, young men are subjected to a minimum of academic discipline, and many times, brought up on more formal, serious, and even criminal charges.

Apparently, there ought to be a law.

Protect… Read More

Fungible – definition – “able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.”

On November 4th, Palo Alto voters will be asked to approve Measure B, with only a simple majority required for passage. According to a summarycompiled by theCalifornia Taxpayers Association, “2014 Local Elections,” Measure B “increases the city hotel/motel tax by 2% and extends the tax to apply to online bookings, to fund general city services.”

According to an article in the Silicon Valley Business Journal entitled “Palo Alto 2% hotel tax hike headed for November ballot,”“About $4.6 million would be generated annually through a combination of the potential tax increase and funds generated by several new hotels slated to open in the city.”

Analysis ofraw datadownloaded from the California State Controller’s website, and available for review… Read More

The back room deal between the California Grocers Association andUnited Food and Commercial Workers labor union paid off; Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill to ban and tax plastic and paper grocery bags… despite that all types of plastic shopping bags can be recycled into new bags.

SB 270by Senators Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles Alex Padilla, D- Pacoima, and Ricardo Lara, D-Los Angeles, “prohibits stores from distributing lightweight, single-use plastic bags.” Padilla is running for Secretary of State.

Immediately after the bill signing, the American Progressive Bag Alliance announced it was preparing to gather signatures for a November 2016 ballot initiative to repeal SB 270.

Governor Jerry Brown has repeatedly said, “There will be no new taxes for the foreseeable future.” But the plastic bag ban is also a tax increase on reusable bags, and paper bags — minimum 10 cents per bag — which grocers will pocket.

I remember when plastic bags were… Read More

Roll over Cesar Chavez —In a surprise move, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a UFW labor union backed bill.

Backed by the United Farm Workerslabor union and Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Senate Bill 25 would have allowed the UFW to force a farm employer into mandatory mediation at any time.

This very bad bill would have put California farm workers under the state’s Mandatory Mediation and Conciliation law. Under that law, the California Agriculture Labor Relations… Read More