It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on the status of Bay Area Assemblywoman Fiona Ma’s legislation to create the California Blueberry Commission (at a time when California legislators should be striving to drastically reduce the number of state boards and commissions).

We only caught on to this outrageous piece of legislation, AB 606, after it had already passed out of the State Assembly. Last month (National Blueberry Appreciation Month, I might add), the State Senate Food and Agriculture Committee narrowly passed the bill. However, not without bipartisan opposition. That committee has only five members — three Democrats and two Republicans. With Democrat Loni Hancock opposing the bill, Republicans could have ended the quixotic quest for a State Blueberry Commission right then and there. But while Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth voted with Hancock against AB 606, Republican Abel Maldonado voted with Democrats Dean Florez and Fran Pavley to pass it!

The bill will next be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 17th.

It is our hope that the the Blueberry Commission bill will be "pressed… Read More

My boss, Senator John J. Benoit, has been fighting hard with several efforts to recoup the billions California has spent out of our own budget on housing illegal immigrants in our State prisons. The following commentary was published in The Desert Sun —you can check out the Senator’s work on Facebook now too!

Feds should pay the bill for immigrants in our prisons

Now that California finally has a budget, legislators are free to take on more pressing issues facing the state, right? With the economic downturn, state legislators should be getting to work undoing years of over-regulation that is hurting the economy — starting with the repeal of A.B. 32.

But the legislature is NOT focused forward — Democrats are still focused backwards on the now-done budget deal.

Legislative Democrats are now claiming the Governor had no legal grounds for making additional cuts to balance the unfinished budget the legislature sent him. They are calling for legal action to have his vetoes overturned and the cuts reinstated, which of course would re-create a huge deficit and further flush our economy down the toilet. It never ceases to amaze me how disconnected and oblivious the Democratic politicians in this state are, and this is the most recent example.

The Democrats in the legislature had three months to come up with a sensible budget solution, but instead spent their time stalling to attempt to pass massive tax hikes on working Californians. Luckily, the Republicans and the Governor chose to take a lesson from the… Read More

There have been some news links posted on the Flash main page over the last few days about the legislature "expunging" (or never posting, I believe is the reality) from its websites the official Assembly July 24 vote tallies for Chuck DeVore’s AB 23, which would have allowed offshore oil drilling (it failed 28-43, with eight not voting): LAT: California Assembly expunges votes on oil drilling bill

SF Chron: Erase the cowardice

The articles are comical, when you read some of the stated reasons for hiding the votes of our representatives.

The 30,000 foot implication in the articles, of course, is that such a bill is too controversial for the public to fully understand the complex and personal reasons for each members’ respective vote on the matter. I like that one.

More specifically implied is that any Democrat demanding the U.S. rid itself of the necessity of foreign oil sources, would need to "splain" how they could be opposed to… Read More

This week, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted not to allow marijuana dispensaries within unincorporated areas of the county for up to a year. That same day, the City of Victorville took a similar action.

These actions are taking place more and more as a result of Proposition 215, which, under state law, allows marijuana use if “recommended” (not prescribed) by a physician.

As part of his “hope and change” agenda, President Barack Obama, the country’s chief law enforcement officer, has vowed not to enforce federal laws in California pertaining to marijuana.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away an attempt by San Bernardino and San Diego counties to not be forced into issuing medical marijuana identification cards on the grounds that doing so could be in violation of federal law.

The laws being what they are, San Bernardino County is now forced to adhere to the state requirement to hand out medical marijuana cards on behalf of the state.

But now, the question of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries comes front and center.

Ventura County and cities like… Read More

Who are these three? An order to release 25% of felons from state prisons is one of the most mind boggling judicial orders ever issued in US history. The idea is so bizarre, strange and breathtaking we need to have a look into the background of each of the judges. Are they mere cranks or serious social policy reformers?

Here’s the first clue. All were appointed by Jimmy Carter. What are the odds? If you were forced to choose who among the three is the most exotic you would have endless shouting matches. Let’s begin with Stephen Reinhardt. … Read More

Who are these three? An order to release 25% of felons from state prisons is one of the most mind boggling judicial orders ever issued in US history. The idea is so bizarre, strange and breathtaking we need to have a look into the background of each of the judges. Are they mere cranks or serious social policy reformers?

Here’s the first clue. All were appointed by Jimmy Carter. What are the odds? If you were forced to choose who among the three is the most exotic you would have endless shouting matches. Let’s begin with Stephen Reinhardt. … Read More

With yesterday’s news that three federal judges have decided 44,000 California state inmates ought to be released, now is a good time to take a look at the facts about our state prison in this paper, "Who Is In Our State Prisons?" I’ve said it before and I will say it again: the folks at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation desperately need to focus on the rehabilitation part if we are to quit the foolish practice of sending parolees back to prison on infractions. But California does not have the crowding and health care problems that some liberals would have you believe. As a matter of fact, when it comes to prison populations, California is about in the middle when compared to other states, according to the Pew Institute — a Left leaning think tank, as you will read in my paper.… Read More