Assemblywoman Diane Harkey penned this insightful column for FlashReport readers. In it, Harkey reveals yet another terrible component of the majority vote budget passed by Capitol Democrats — in this case she details how the Democrats are raiding the coffers of medium and large sized cities big time…

Clarity and Certainty At Last – Another Unbalanced Budget and Taxes on the Way by Assemblywoman Diane Harkey The ink was hardly dry on the Governor’s “balanced” 2011-12 budget, before we learned that the state’s cash receipts were less than expected for the month of May and June of the 2010-11 year we just completed. Also, while claiming to spend only $86 billion, the total was actually $91.5 billion, when one adds the more than $5 billion for “realignment,” or transferring state prisoners and some social services to counties.

The funding for “realignment” was supposedly met by transferring 1% of the… Read More

California taxpayers are celebrating a rare victory. Despite Democrat efforts to extend them, the sweeping “temporary” tax increases of 2009 have gone away. This is an uncommon treat, as many prior tax hikes sold as “temporary” are still with us today.

As Californians enjoy the benefits of this victory, today marks the 20th anniversary of a prior sales tax increase that is still with us. On July 15, 1991 Californians were impaled with a “temporary” sales tax increase of 1.25%. This measure was enacted by the Legislature to address the state budget shortfall during the early 1990s economic downturn.

Fast forward to June of this year. A 2009 sales tax rate increase of 1% was set to expire on July 1, 2011. Despite a vote of the people against extending this and other temporary tax increases, Governor Jerry Brown and Democrat legislators unsuccessfully sought a five year extension of these taxes.

These higher taxes amounted to billions of dollars per year out of the pockets of struggling Californians and into the hands of wasteful government. Combine the 2009 temporary sales tax increase with the 1991 temporary sales tax increase, and… Read More

Democrat lawmakers are protesting a proposed referendum on California’s new “Amazon Tax” law. But keep in mind that this issue isn’t about Amazon. It’s about the thousands of California jobs the “Amazon Tax” places in jeopardy.

The lawmakers who authored the ‘Amazon Tax’ should be ashamed to appear in public. Their law has failed to achieve their goals. Instead it is punishing thousands of California small business affiliates who are losing income and may even be forced to leave the state.

The Legislature should admit its mistake and repeal the Amazon Tax. But short of that, the fastest way to save California jobs is through a referendum rather than years of costly litigation. Let the people engage in the debate and decide the issue for themselves.… Read More

Four and a half years ago I was honored to be invited and attend President Ford’s funeral at the National Cathedral when he passed away. I posted my thoughts of that event at the time and if you’d like you can read it here.

One of the things I most remember is at every memorial event for her husband, Mrs. Ford sat and personally thanked everyone that came. What class. What graciousness. What strength.

Last Friday we lost that wonderful former First Lady. My family will miss her and we honor her service to our country.

The Battin… Read More

I have had a fascination with all things British since I was young. I attribute this interest in part to an English aunt with whom I spent quite a bit of time while young, and then a yearlong class in high school on the subject of British history for which my textbook was Winston Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples. Adding to this, during my business career, a British publicly-held company was a major investor in my company and, as a result, I traveled to England 2-3 times a year for nearly 10 years. At one time, I could rattle off every English monarch from William the Conqueror through Elizabeth II, including the years of their reigns.

I can’t do that anymore. But, I know the place and people pretty well, and I like all things British, except of course, the weather. I even like the food!

Because of this knowledge and interest, I was asked to Co-Chair the US-UK caucus in the House of Representatives. We now have a bipartisan membership of 90 members of Congress. I have always considered the mission of this caucus as one of preserving and expanding the “special relationship” that exists and has existed between our two… Read More

Great news for the Republican Party and Carly Fiorina fans! The accomplished former HP CEO and U.S. Senate candidate has been named a Vice Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. While California would certainly be better off with Carly serving in the Senate and not just at the NRSC, this is nonetheless excellent news for the Republican Party.

During her campaign to unseat Barbara Boxer, Carly proved herself a dedicated campaigner with a remarkable ability to connect with voters and—most… Read More

Democrats have mounted an effort in Sacramento to abolish the death penalty. Critics of capital punishment say it is too expensive – allegedly up to $184 million per year – to justify sentencing miscreants to death. Thus, a bill has been introduced calling for a referendum abolishing capital punishment in favor of life imprisonment. Soon it will be on the floor for a final vote where I expect the ruling Democrats to rubber stamp it.

Death penalty critics are right in both of their major challenges to keeping it on the books: it is too costly and too haphazardly implemented. However, those critics are wrong to say that the solution therefore is its elimination. We can fix both of those problems; indeed we have a moral obligation to fix those problems rather than abandon capital punishment.

Preliminarily, it is important to note that there are no significant legal challenges to continuance of the death penalty. Anti-death penalty activists often trot out the hoary old charge that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the United States Constitution. This argument is nonsense. The Constitution explicitly permits capital… Read More

The so-called “Amazon Tax” is now California law, and it’s already a failure. After having terminated their advertising relationships with thousands of California-based Internet affiliate businesses, leading out-of-state online sellers continue to sell into California without collecting sales tax.

Proponents of the “Amazon Tax” claimed it would “create fairness” by “leveling the playing field” between California’s brick and mortar retailers and out-of-state online sellers. They claimed it would generate $200 million in new revenues for the state this year. But they were wrong.

So far all of the following online sellers have terminated their affiliate programs (if you know of others, please let me know):

6pm.com Amazon.com Audible.com B&H Photo & Electronics Corp. Backcountry Barware.com Beach Trading Co. BeautyBar.com BedBathStore Benchmark Brands Inc. CSN Stores Diapers.com Drugstore.com Endless.com Fabric.com Gaiam GiftBaskets.com Hayneedle Higher… Read More