Controller John Chiang is being a bit of a drama Queen, choosing to pause before confirming that he will continue to pay the salaries and per diem payments to California’s state legislators. When voters passed Proposition 25 last year, it included a provision suspending compensation to legislators if no budget is passed by the Constitutional deadline of June 15. So to be clear, if Democrats had not passed a budget on Wednesday, legislators not be getting paid. It is certainly no accident that the language in Prop. 25 does not tie the legislative pay suspension to the enactment of a budget, just the legislature sending one to the Governor. It would be a stunning display of independence from the state’s public employee unions if Chiang were to withhold the pay of their legislative vassals.

Given that the basic issues surrounding the budget impasse had not materially changed going into the 15th (liberals want to hike taxes to balance the budget, conservatives want cuts, and a small group of moderates want to trade putting taxes on the ballot in return for reforms), and since the legislature has an unfortunate, time honored tradition of ignoring the June… Read More

Ever heard of a deliberative poll? Apparently this is where you bring together some random group of people and give them an informational download and then garner their now-informed opinions. California Forward, New America Foundation, California Common Cause and a group of other left-of-center organizations are bringing together such a group of 300 randomly selected Californians to participate in such a process in about a week, for such a poll that is scheduled to take place over a three day period. The problem, of course, is that normal people — you know, from the real world, don’t spend three-day weekends as human equivalents of laboratory rats. So it leaves you to wonder who actually is participating in this bizarre sociology experiment.

The New America Foundation first got on my radar screen in a big way as they weighed in to bolster efforts by former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to significantly expand state government’s role in health care in California, making the case over and over (and over) that the substantial costs (increased taxes) of such an endeavor are offset by reducing the massive… Read More

This morning at a conference of the American Association of Political Consultants in Sacramento, Gloria Fauss confirmed again that the politically liberal union “had a lot of Republican members” who “want us to engage with Republican candidates” for the legislature. Fauss claimed 150,000 members of the SEIU-UHW, who are generally hospital workers. She agreed with other lobbyists on the morning’s panel on “California 2012 – The Wild West”, that candidates from the “extremes” or “one issue” candidates would not receive support. But what Fauss did specifically say, was that her organization was seeking to support Republican candidates willing to support the “revenue” side of the equation in dealing with California’s budget problems. I think it is fair to interpret her comment as meaning the SEIU will be looking for Republican candidates in the 2012 primaries who support raising taxes.… Read More

Yesterday was a very bittersweet day for Californians, relative to their state government, as the Democrats pushed through an “on time” state budget plan. The good news is that due both to the resolve of Capitol Republicans to oppose tax increases, and a seemingly equal resolve by California’s public employee unions to oppose any meaningful spending and pension reforms, the budget that was adopted does not include the placing of massive income, sales and car taxes on a special election ballot, nor does it include the “bridge to nowhere” – our name for the outrageous request of the Governor that the legislature extend such taxes for a year, regardless of what voters might do. So when one considers the actions of the Democrats yesterday, it must be in the context of understanding that things could have been a lot worse.

I couldn’t say it better than Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway: “By standing united together as the last line of defense for California taxpayers, Republicans were able to stop Governor Brown’s massive $58 billion tax increase from becoming reality. This means that hard-working Californians will see much needed tax… Read More

Today, we here at the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association blasted the phony budget proposed by the Democrat majority in the legislature as a convoluted effort motivated solely by the need to continue to receive their paychecks.

As usual, the politicians under the Capitol dome are looking out for themselves. They are so desperate to pass a budget – any budget – in order to keep their pay, they are willing to use any means, including illegal maneuvers and gimmicks, in order to do so.

Some examples…

The passage of a CALFire surcharge on home insurance policies is illegal if passed on a simple majority vote; The proposed stealing of $1 billion from California’s First Five funds is illegal without a ballot initiative process; A $1.7 billion request of funds from Redevelopment Agencies (RDAs) under threat of extinction is likely illegal under Prop. 22; The $1.2 billion the Legislature is relying upon from the sale of State office buildings has already been determined to be illegal.

If self-serving lawmakers attempt to circumvent Prop. 13 and the will of the people, we will see them in court.… Read More

Make no mistake, the Democrats’ budget isn’t about solving California’s fiscal problems—it’s only goal is to ensure lawmakers keep their paychecks flowing.

When voters last fall granted Democrats their wish of majority-vote budgets, they demanded lawmakers forfeit their pay if those budgets are not approved on-time. But it was never the voters’ intention for lawmakers to approve a sham budget simply to keep their paychecks coming.

What’s worse is that to protect their own pay, Democrats are poised to sacrifice the paychecks of thousands of California small businesses known as affiliates. Up to 25,000 of these Internet entrepreneurs will lose their affiliate status if Democrats approve a so-called ‘Amazon tax.’ According to the Board of Equalization’s analysis, ‘termination of affiliate programs would have an adverse impact on state employment’ and ‘lead to lower revenues.’

The dumbest idea of all is the Democrats’ plan to sell state buildings for one-time revenue. If lawmakers want real one-time dollars, they should consider my proposals to raise billions in revenue by (1) granting an interest and penalty holiday to spur… Read More

This great video comes to us courtesy of Hector Barrajas of Revolvis… … Read More

Memorandum Date: 06/15/11 To: Legislative Republicans From: Jon Fleischman, Publisher, FlashReport.org RE: Today’s Democrat Majority-Vote Budget Drill

There is a better time and place to debate whether or not the voters of California were wise in passing Proposition 25 last year, which among other things provided that vote threshold to pass a budget and its attendant trailer bills would be a simple majority. The voters did approve it, which is all that really matters today.

The budget that Democrats will put before you today will be a terrible one. You should feel very comfortable voting against it. It represents the priorities of the ultra-liberal majority, and the will of the state’s powerful public employee unions.

The important task ahead of you is to take advantage of the opportunity provided with a majority vote budget. By definition, this represents the first budget (perhaps ever) that Democrats cannot claim has any patina of bipartisanship. This is their budget — they own it. Lock, stock and barrel. Each of you must be ready to talk to reporters, pen columns, prepare e-mail… Read More