Today, California Common Sensereleased a report analyzing the California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s (CalSTRS) major $71 billion funding shortfall and the imminent risk it poses to California’s school district and overall operating budgets. The report found that the state Legislature – the only entity with the authority to adjust CalSTRS’s funding level – is primarily responsible for allowing the pension fund to descend into severely unfunded territory over the last decade.

Consequently, to regain financial stability, the pension fund now requires that school districts, state, and/or… Read More

One definition of the word freedom reads “exempt from external control, interference, regulation, etc.” Even the most progressive among us would agree that if a person were forced to give 100% of the fruits of their labor to the state or to anyone, this individual would not be free. What if it was 95% or 85% or just over half? Would that person be free?

Today, in California, the top marginal tax rates for state and federal taxes exceeds 50%. Yes, there are deductions, but there are also numerous other forms of taxation that eat away at our freedom. Payroll taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, car taxes, capital gains taxes, gas taxes, hotel taxes, transfer taxes, etc., the list goes on and on. Yet a further limiter of freedom is the time burden created by our inefficient system as Americans spend 6 billion hours per year dealing with the administrative nightmare created by our tax system.

One has to wonder, are we free from external control and interference? Are we giving up too much of our freedom?

Today I am proud to sign Americans For Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge. As a candidate for Congress in California’s 45th District I feel it is right… Read More

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Following on the heels of banning plastic bags and the sale of furs, the city of West Hollywood, California, enacted a new ordinance eliminating the use of fireplaces. The ordinance is being hailed as one of the great advances in in environmental law in the past century.

The ordinance, which becomes effective as of November 1, 2013, comes in time to eliminate the use of fireplaces during the impending winter season. Residents opposed to the new law said the killjoys in the city were particularly evil for banning the use of fireplaces just prior to the holiday season. They said chestnuts roasting on an open fire are the essence of the Christmas season, and the people outlawing the use were anti-religion.

The Mayor of West Hollywood, Abbe Land, indicated it was quite to the contrary — it is because of religion the ban was put in place. Mayor Land said the particulates released into the air from just one fireplace are as damaging as 40 tractor-trailer trucks to the environment. She said “We have allowed selfish people to destroy the air of our community for far too long. We see this as a beginning of a movement across America.”

The news has… Read More

Government Shutdown Day 3: The outcome of last night’s meeting at the White House was predictably poor. It appears that the president called in legislative leaders to tell them for the third time in 2 weeks that he refuses to negotiate or compromise on anything. This is akin to a husband or wife in the middle of a fight in which they aren’t speaking to each other, calling their spouse into the living room to exclaim to them, “I am not and will not be speaking with you.” And, then promptly dismissing them. It is counterproductive.

Back in March, when the “Sequester” first went into effect, you may remember that the president intentionally tried to create as much disruption about sequestration as possible in order to generate public pressure against it. One of his more extreme actions was to furlough meat inspectors so that no meat could legally be sold in the country, while, at the same time, not laying-off a single economist within the Department of Agriculture (note: this department has more economists than any organization on planet earth.) The public saw through this blatant abuse of power, and he was forced to put the meat… Read More

Republican Assemblyman Brian Nestande has announced that he is introducing legislation when the State Assembly reconvenes in January that will mandate that if the 120 members of the California legislature want to continue to enjoy taxpayer funded healthcare insurance that they all must enroll in the plans offered under the Obamacare health insurance exchange. This is a great bill and at a minimum I would hope that it would have 36 co-sponsors out the chute — Nestande’s Republican colleagues.

I have yet to hear one Democrat in the California legislature call for a repeal of Obamacare — and to play off the colloquial expression, what’s good for the gander ought to be good for the goose.

In announcing his intention to author this legislation, Nestande said, ““As legislators, we are responsible for implementing the guidelines under the Affordable Care Act. If the laws that we pass are good enough for our citizens and businesses, they should be good enough for us as elected officials. If we truly want to understand how the ACA is working and being… Read More

Government Shutdown – Day 2: Last night, we voted on three bills on the floor of the House. Each allowed one aspect of the shut down government to reopen until December 15th. The first one allowed the processing of veterans’ health claims. The money for these claims is entitlement spending and is not affected by the shutdown. But, the processing and paying of these claims stopped because of the shutdown and this bill fixed that. The second bill allowed locally derived revenues in the city of Washington, DC (revenue from things like parking meters and local taxes), which have nothing to do with the federal government, to be distributed to the city so it can continue normal operations with normal revenue. By the way, this is a quirk in the law specific only to the “federal city”. Thirdly, it would fund the U.S. Park Service in order to reopen the national parks.

All 3 of these bills were brought up under an expedited process in the House called “suspension of the rules”. This process enables quick action, but it requires a 2/3rds vote of the House to pass a bill. That means it is within the power of the minority party to… Read More

This weekend brings with it the Fall Convention of the California Republican Party. At this biannual confab the better part of a thousand Republican activists, donors, elected officials, leaders and more will occupy the Anaheim Hilton hotel. Delegate and attendees will be able to hear from a number of great speakers — I’m especially looking forward to hearing from Texas Governor Rick Perry and noted economist Arthur Laffer.

As the State GOP gathers, it does so still reeling from the effects of the passage of Proposition 14. For those needing a refresher, Proposition 14 was a ballot measure authored by former Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado which he got placed before the voters by the legislature in return for putting up his vote in 2009 for the largest single tax increase in California history. Both Maldonado, and the primary cheerleader and campaigner for Prop. 14, then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, overtly stated that the purpose of the ballot measure was to weaken the political party system in California. Overnight, with its passage, Prop. 14 came an end to the use of June elections for political parties to nominate candidates to go forward to the… Read More

Most fire fighters do not get Social Security, so they completely count on the pensions they have contributed to, been promised and earned over a career. Take their pensions away or cut their pensions and you have fire fighters who risked their lives over a career to save others living in destitution, on public assistance, meaning the taxpayers have to foot that bill, too.

– Harold A. Schaitberger,President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, Press Release Sept. 26, 2013

The implication in Mr. Schaitberger’s remark, apparently, is that $234,000 per year isn’t enough to permit someone to save enough money to avoid “living in destitution.”

Here’s how Orange County’s full-time firefighters did in 2011, according to data from their own website (ref.OCFA Employee Compensation,2011 – Grand Jury Format). Anyone who wishes to verify all of the calculations referenced in this post can… Read More