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Doug Haaland

Liberal Virtue Signaling is Costly!

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.

Adam Smith

August is such a wonderful time of the legislative calendar! It’s that magical month when bills about “legislative intent” become the vehicles of California’s often craziest headlines in national news! Liberal Democrats are using the closing weeks of this legislative session to push through several of their virtuous ideas.

With the process of “gut & amend,” liberals escape the drudgery of policy committee hearings and avoid public opposition to their vastly superior principles intended to make life better and often government coffers richer, in their fantasy world.

An example of virtue signaling type of “caring” is the odyssey of Senate Bill 845 (SB 845). Introduced in January as a “budget” vehicle, in June it was amended to become the 2018 “Human Services Omnibus” budget bill in the Assembly. On the same day, the Senate amended AB 1811 to become the 2018 “Human Services Omnibus” budget bill as well.

With AB 1811 becoming part of the… Read More

Katy Grimes

Part ll: Why CA Water Bonds on June/Nov Ballots Need To go Down In Flames

Droughts are naturally occurring; water shortages are political and caused by corrupt and incompetent government officials.

Part l:Why Voters Need to Care About More Water Bonds on June/Nov CA Ballotsis HERE

With millions of dollars of unspent water bond money from 2006 and 2014 water bonds, why is there yet another a water bond on today’s June Primary ballot, and another on the November ballot?

The answers lie in the players behind nearly all of the water bonds.

Voters need to ask why Joseph Caves, Gerald Meral and Lester Snow have had their hands in virtually every bond measure dealingRead More

Katy Grimes

Why Voters Need to Care About More Water Bonds on June/Nov CA Ballots

UPDATE: Droughts are naturally occurring; water shortages are government-created and political. Examples of this can be found in every water bond in recent history, put on the ballot by politicians, and passed by emotional voters.

California voters will be facing two more ballot initiatives claiming to be water bonds this year, totaling $13 billion. But the overall cost will be much higher for taxpayers. One water bond is on the June 5 ballot and a second one is on the November 6 ballot.

The most recent 2014 Proposition 1 water bond funding has not even been fully spent, and will not be spent by the end of 2018,… Read More

Katy Grimes

CA Democrats Repeating Rent Control Insanity

The definition of insanity is to repeat the same mistake over and over again, while hoping for a different, better outcome. Such is the latest case of the predictable Left, turning once again to another failed sociological experiment —capping or regulating rents artificially, more commonly known as “Rent Control.” Democrats in California are once again imposing rent control initiatives through state and local ballot measures, including theSacramento Renter Protection And Community Stabilization Charter Amendment.

Read More

Katy Grimes

Sacto Taxpayers Association Bestows Annual Golden Fleece Awards

The Sacramento Taxpayers Association held its Fourth AnnualGOLDEN FLEECEAWARDS at the STA Annual Dinner April 18, 2018. Golden Fleece Awards are bestowed upon public officials, governmental agencies and organizations for their “wasteful, ridiculous, or ironic use of taxpayers’ money.”

As the President of the Sacramento Taxpayers Association, I wanted us to carry the torch for the late U.S. Senator William Proxmire, a Democrat, who used to famously issue monthlyGoldenRead More

Katy Grimes

Why Senate Democrats Oppose Good Budget Transparency Bill

Why would Senate Democrats oppose a transparency bill, when every one of them campaigns on the importance of government transparency?

I testified in support of Rancho Cucamonga Sen. Mike Morrell’s Senate Bill 921Tuesday.

In addition to being a State Capitol political reporter, my other job is President of the Sacramento Taxpayers Association, which has been a presence in Sacramento, CA since 1961.

The bill will require each California state agency or department to post simple budgetary information on the home page of their website in a… Read More

Katy Grimes

Failed State California: Overtaxed, Overregulated, Overopinionated, and Underhanded

More is never enough for California politicians, as evidenced by our highest-in-the-nation taxes. The once-Golden State of opportunity and innovation ranks 48th in the Tax Foundation’s 2018StateBusiness Tax Climate Index. Again. Back in 2012I wrote aboutour lousy 48th ranking, and that was before Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 passed, which dramatically increased sales and income taxes. And it was before the California Legislature passed yet another massive gas/diesel tax on the state’s drivers, making California’s the highest gas taxes in the nation.

Read More

Katy Grimes

Pot is A Dangerous ‘Recreation’

Voters legalized pot several years ago in Colorado and Washington State. They were promised increased tax revenue increases and better-educated children for their vote. For the love of money and claims of liberty, disasters are now unfolding in both states.

Now California is embarking on likely the same disastrous path, if not worse, despite copious amounts of destructive evidence.

A Taxing Problem

California voters approvedProposition 64, the “California Marijuana Legalization Initiative,” in November of 2016. It legalized recreational marijuana for Californians aged 21 years or older. It also created two new excise taxes on marijuana:

A cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce for flowers and $2.75 per ounce for … Read More

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