Proposition 13 says that your property tax cannot go up more than 2% per year no matter how high inflation is. Since 1978 inflation has usually been over 2% so that incremental property tax increase has become routine. In both 1999 and 2004, the Consumer Price Index grew less than 2%, so the property assessments and taxes went up by the actual amount for those years, 1.85% and 1.86% respectively.

But what has never happened is for inflation to be less than 0%. Never until now. While the year for the CPI calculation runs to October, right now this year is running negative. If in these economic times prices decline over the entire year, then the official CPI index will be negative for the first time in the history of Proposition 13.

So each of us property owners should see a small yet real decline in property taxes. Right? Not so fast– the taxacrats are working on legal arguments to claim that a negative CPI change does not require a property tax change. Since this has never happened before and has not been addressed by the Legislature or the Board of Equalization, any decision will provoke some real controversy.

I believe… Read More

Oftentimes, legislation passed and signed into law has unintended consequences. In no policy area is this more true than the energy arena. One has to look no further than the recent deregulation debacle of the 1990’s and resulting price spikes for an illustrative example.

Further adding fuel to the fire, or jumping from the pan into the fire (please choose a metaphor),so called "fixes" usually don’t make it better. They usually make itworse.

Now we are poised to continue this trend. AB 32, pushed through by the Governor, Democrats, and a few Republicans, mandates California tooperateatunattainable levels of alternative energy as a percentage of its energy portfolio by unattainable dates.

Like many pieces of legislation,it is unattainable (that word again), will foolishly spend billions more of taxpayer dollars, will raise utility rates, and will earn even lower approval ratings for state government –all in one misguided law.

However, there is good news –the "fixers" have found a loophole and identified a new source of renewable energy they will allow to be… Read More

As I prepare to write articles and blogs every week, I often Google various subjects to help research my topic. Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed that too often, the majority of the results are liberal blogs. Now that the Internet has become the primary source of information in our time, it’s imperative that conservatives counter this influx of disinformation with the truth. The only way to do that is to provide our own content online.

Recognizing the need for conservatives to take back the Internet, Americans for Prosperity launched their Right Online conference last year in Austin, Texas. This year, over 700 conservative activists descended upon Pittsburgh to attend AFP’s second annual Right Online conference. Just across the river from where the conservative conference was held, the Left was holding its own Internet gathering: NetRoots Nation Convention. Reporters split their time between the two competing camps, covering both.

Break-out sessions covered topics ranging from how to fundraise online,… Read More

As I prepare to write articles and blogs every week, I often Google various subjects to help research my topic. Perhaps, like me, you’ve noticed that too often, the majority of the results are liberal blogs. Now that the Internet has become the primary source of information in our time, it’s imperative that conservatives counter this influx of disinformation with the truth. The only way to do that is to provide our own content online.

Recognizing the need for conservatives to take back the Internet, Americans for Prosperity launched their Right Online conference last year in Austin, Texas. This year, over 700 conservative activists descended upon Pittsburgh to attend AFP’s second annual Right Online conference. Just across the river from where the conservative conference was held, the Left was holding its own Internet gathering: NetRoots Nation Convention. Reporters split their time between the two competing camps, covering both.

Break-out sessions covered topics ranging from how to fundraise online,… Read More

A few noted items from the past week…

Bejarano Drops Bid for SD County Sheriff… If you missed it, we called the news first, then confirmed it right here at the FlashReport on Tuesday.

With the leading fundraiser now out of the 2010 race, the remaining candidates are former Sheriff Lt. Jim Duffy, appointed Sheriff Bill Gore, former Assemblyman Jay La Suer, and former Sheriff Sgt. Bruce Ruff. On Thursday, Duffy scored the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association endorsement. The next several months will be fun to watch.

Here’s theFR post from Tuesday.

The Money Story in the Hollingsworth Senate Seat… Also from yesterday, I say here’s the bucks in the bank "if" Joel Anderson runs; Jon Fleischman says "How quaint, he IS in." Either way, here is… Read More

A few Republicans may be lining up to run in the 77th Assembly District next year, all anticipating the spot may be open, yet incumbent Joel Anderson is still mum on his plans to run for senate instead of re-election.

Whatis known is that the 36th Senate seat is indeed open, as Dennis Hollingsworth is term-limited out.

Speaking of anticipation, then, much of it centers on a potential match-up between Anderson and Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone in a senate seat roughly 2/3 San Diego and 1/3 Riverside counties.

Stone is already in, no question. Okay then, if Anderson does run, what does the current money situation look like, comparing their respective state committees?…

Total Funds Raised (Jan-June 2009)Anderson – $355,767 Stone – $242,077

Total Cash on Hand (June 30) Anderson – $443,501 Stone – $209,026

If Anderson enters the senate race, FR readers will be among the first to know.

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www.twitter.com/barryjantz… Read More

I got a heads up that the campaign to recall Assemblyman Anthony Adams has launched a 2.0 version of their website, which you can check out here. By far, the most powerful part of the redesigned website is the Adams Tax Hike Calculator. I went onto it and filled in the various blanks and was able to see exactly how much more in taxes I am paying because of the vote of Adams and the five other Republicans who joined with all of the Democrats in the legislature to pass that massive tax increase last February (you remember, the tax increase that hit us all hard in the pocket, yet did absolutely nothing to solve our budget woes).

Anyways, how much did that tax increase cost YOUR FAMILY? Check it out.

The tragedy of that budget "deal" still makes me ill. When GOP resolve fails, taxpayers pay the price.… Read More

The folks over at Washington Watch have created a searchable federal earmarks database for each state, detailing the earmarks of each state’s congressional delegation. California alone has 2,400 earmarks from our delegation. Although their requests don’t seem quite as numerous as the Democrats’, Republicans are unfortunately feeding at the trough too.

h/t Capitol Morning Report… Read More