[Publisher’s Note – We are pleased to offer this column penned by longtime FR friend David Wolfe. Wolfe is the Legislative Director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. We found it “fun” that liberal State Senator Leland Yee is carrying a piece of legislation sponsored by HJTA. What is it? Read on! — Flash]

Earlier this year hundreds of Los Angeles County voters filled the Hall of Administration to protest a proposed $280 million/year storm water fee, or “rain tax” as it had become known. They were angry about the new fee that could, for some, amount to thousands of dollars. Adding insult to injury, the notice mailed out by the county, which was supposed to advise property owners of their right to protest the proposed fee, was made to look like a community newsletter touting the virtues of clean beaches and streams.

Most who received the notice, and the protest form buried inside, considered it junk mail and threw it away without reading it, unwittingly forfeiting the chance to have their objection counted before the county… Read More

This next week in the State Capitol will be an ugly one for taxpayers. Pretty much any legislation that could have brought relief has already been slaughtered in the policy committee process, where any meaningful legislation authored by a Republican was decimated with the efficiency of a shredding machine slicing and dicing a piece of paper. In the midst of all of the bad bills that each legislative chamber will attempt to pass, there are two that are particularly insidious. Assembly Bill 8 and Senate Bill 11 are almost identical bills that each contain a massive $2.3 billion car tax increase. Running along-side this column is one from Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that goes into the details of why these bills are very bad public policy. I’m going to write about why Republicans supporting these two bills is bad politically, both for those members who might be tempted to support the bills, and for the Republican Party itself, and crucial efforts to pick up GOP seats next year.

Virtually every Republican legislator ran for their… Read More

This week, the California Legislature will consider Assembly Bill 8, a massive $2.3 billion car tax increase. In better days, a tax increase this large and this unpopular would stand little chance of passage because virtually all Republicans and a handful of moderate Democrats could be counted on to stand up for taxpayers.

But things are not as they once were. Up to a dozen Republicans have already signaled support for AB 8 or its companion measure in the Senate, SB 11. Some of these members, including a few who have previously received an “A” grade on HJTA’s report card, tell us that the nine year tax increase is the best “deal” for taxpayers they can get. It is not. There is always the choice to stand and fight for taxpayers rather than capitulate to government bureaucrats and rent seeking business organizations who rarely advocate for the broader interests of taxpayers.

The crux of the matter is this: should unelected government entities like the California Air Resources Board (CARB) be able to impose strict mandates on diesel truckers and the petroleum industry and then force all taxpayers to pay for them? AB 8 would increase by millions of… Read More

According to recent U.S. census figures, the 2009 median household income in California is

significantly higher than Texas.

  CA --  $58,931
  TX --  $48,259

But, ADJUSTED FOR THE COST OF LIVING, the Texas median household income is significantly

higher than California.

  TX --  $53,009
  CA --  $44,456

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Median_income

Freshman State Senator Ricardo Lara and I don’t see eye to eye on much. Lara has praised the “comprehensive immigration reform” package being considered in Congress — I think it is a public policy disaster. Lara fights for the recognition of gay marriage — I think that the institution of marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman. Lara wants to speed along the implementation of Obamacare — I want to see it repealed. Lara is a Democrat — and I am a Republican. Kindred souls? Probably not.

That having been said, believe it or not the Senator and I do not disagree on everything. This week Lara published an OpEd in the Long Beach Press Telegram, Plastic Bag Ban Would Hurt California Workers. In the piece, Lara says:

I would like to have a responsible and smart conversation that balances the human, economic and environmental concerns surrounding plastic bags. We all care about the environment and want to reduce litter, but at a time when California is still recovering from a recession, we need to pursue policies that protect the environment and… Read More

So this is the best 11 minutes you will spend today — watching this video. LOVE Ted Cruz.

… Read More

Not long ago Associated Press discovered they are not immune from the tentacles Obama’s “Main Justice”. Not merely peeking at their emails, but now trolling their parents, AP reporters have a right to be nervous.

Locally, AP distributed a story which exposes the vulnerability of aggressive and greedy government unions domination over local California governments. Witness the LA mayoral elections. The key factor for liberal Eric Garcetti beating liberal Wendy Greuel was painting her as the government union controlled candidate. AP captured this story and distributed throughout the country.

It begins…… Read More

When the November election gave the Democrats a supermajority in both houses of the legislature, press reports quickly focused on whether they would use this dominance to raise taxes. Trial balloons were floated, and the danger of tax increases has not passed, but those initial fears have so far proven unwarranted. The governor has engaged in some mostly responsible budgeting. I would make different choices in many respects – for example, our court system is being decimated and needs significant further funding. But some of the governor’s budget choices have been quite reasonable and he is proceeding on appropriately conservative assumptions.

Fortunately, the Democrats have not yet used their supermajority to spend wantonly. Unfortunately, though, spending money is only one of the things a legislature does. Another is the passing of even more laws to burden the public, and in that task, the supermajority has proven every bit as pernicious as Republicans feared right after the election.

Consider that, in just one week recently, two committees on which I serve passed the following… Read More