When I happily endorsed my friend of a quarter-century, Celeste Greig, for re-election as President of the California Republican Assembly I told her that I would pen something for her here on the FlashReport. On more than one occasion I have sat down in front of my computer to do just that. But each time I have found that writing an endorsement column for Celeste is not as easy as I would like. No, not because of reservations about Celeste. Celeste is a great person, a good leader for the CRA, and you’ll read more about my thoughts about Celeste below. This piece has been difficult to write because you cannot really talk about a candidate for CRA President without a candid discussion about the state of the CRA today.

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It is fitting that on Tax Day, April 15th, those who seek to destroy Proposition 13 have now revealed their intentions.

We already knew about all the bills currently pending in the California Legislature that would weaken Proposition 13, either by lowering the two-thirds vote for most local taxes or by taking away Proposition 13’s protections for business owners. Businesses – large and small – have benefited in the same manner as homeowners from the modest tax rates and the certainty Prop 13 provides.

The “conventional wisdom” in Sacramento has been that attacks on Proposition 13 shouldn’t be taken too seriously because even most Democrats know that direct attacks would be overreaching. But in this case, “conventional wisdom” possesses neither convention nor wisdom.

The fact is that the attacks are coming and they are coming soon.

In the Senate, there are several proposed constitutional amendments to lower the two thirds vote for special taxes which would make it far too easy for local governments to impose a plethora of “parcel taxes.”

A problem for the tax and spend lobby is that the polls suggest that these… Read More

In 2012, the state Legislature passed 80 budget “spot” bills — empty bills with no details. Such measures just sit on a shelf and await last-minute bill language, then are put forward for late-night passage on the last day of the budget session.

These are often the most controversial bills of each session. When lawmakers use them to avoid the legislative process, which requires committee hearings for all bills, it is clear that their goal is to avoid transparency and public involvement.

This has long been the norm. It has arguably been encouraged since the 2010 adoption of Propositions 25 and 26 into the state Constitution, allowing the Legislature to pass a budget on a simple majority vote and requiring a supermajority vote to pass fees and taxes by the Legislature, respectively. Lawmakers routinely take major policy changes and potential tax increases and drop them in trailer bill language.

Gorell and other Assembly Republicans target ‘waste, fraud and abuse’

To counter this practice, Assembly Republicans are pushing budget reform and transparency measures.… Read More

In November 2008, 52.7% of California voters approved Proposition 1A, which authorized the state to borrow $9.95 billion for the “Safe, Reliable High-Speed Passenger Train for the 21st Century” by selling bonds to investors. Support has slipped since then.

A 2011 Field Poll and a 2012 USC/L.A. Times poll showed 59% of California voters would reject Proposition 1A if put back on the ballot. A 2013 Public Policy Institute of California poll indicates that 54% of likely voters outright “oppose” the high-speed rail project as it stands now.

Frankly, these polling results are astonishing. Why does a significant minority of Californians STILL support California High-Speed Rail after all of its financial and management fiascoes?

Well, there’s a sizeable group of Californians who regard high-speed rail as an evolutionary step toward enlightened collectivism. Another group recognizes it as an opportunity to make a lot of money off of taxpayers through its design, engineering, construction, or operation.

Their minds are made up. That leaves another group of California voters who still support high-speed rail but don’t have an… Read More

Today, it appears the California Senate will reconfirm Malcolm Dougherty, the director of Caltrans. This will be done after only one Senate hearing, where instead of asking Dougherty to answer for the giant problems in his agency, lawmakers were silent or complimentary.

What timing. I hope Senators are paying attention today. Because yesterday, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission announced the opening of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge may be delayed a few more weeks or even months. The latest delay of the 10-year construction project is due to the discovery of more than 30 faulty giant bolts holding the bridge together — apparently they need to be replaced before the bridge can open to the public.

Under construction for more than a decade, the Bay Bridge project has not only taken much longer to build than planned, cost overruns have escalated the total… Read More

From Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez:

Another year, another tax day approaches. April 15th can be a depressing day, but especially for Californians.

Here in California we have some of the highest tax rates in the nation, we downright love to pay our taxes here. At least that’s what it would look like from the outside looking in. Year after year the state legislature passes fee increase after fee increase, taxing every single part of our lives, from the cradle to the grave. Californian’s high rate of taxation doesn’t stop at the state level either; there are still city and county taxes to factor in as well.

On April 15th, the day synonymous with paying taxes, I will have my bill AB 718 heard before the Revenue and Taxation Committee proposing a Sales Tax Holiday. I don’t have a single doubt that the bill will be killed in Committee by Assembly Democrats, never even reaching the Assembly Floor.

The month of April has historically been one of the slowest retail sales months of the year. With a consumer based economy and high unemployment, it’s important to encourage consumer spending to grow our economy and create more… Read More

As Gov. Jerry Brown seeks funding for California’s high-speed rail system in China, it is remarkable that the state’s train project is still alive.

California’s past legislatures have continued to fund the California High-Speed Rail Authority in a business-as-usual manner despite the plethora of findings demonstrating the quality of CHSRA’s work is below par, that the high-speed train’s project risks have been under-estimated, and that the statutory requirements of AB3034 and Proposition 1A are being violated.

The CHSRA’s excuses about program flaws are similar to rationalizations used on other similar boondoggles in which costs had been unrealistically minimized and benefits exaggerated, inducing public officials and the electorate to proceed, usually after cancellation is no longer feasible. If realistic, genuine projections had been made from the start, the California train project would likely have been cancelled long ago.

Our new Reason Foundation study concludes that the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2012 Business Plan has no more credibility than did… Read More

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In the past few weeks United States Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon (CA-26), Chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, has been talking with prominent political leaders in his district, informing them that he may be retiring at the end of his current term. I’ve personally spoken to several of the folks who spoke with McKeon, who confirmed for me that they had spoken with the senior Republican who was first elected in 1992, and is currently serving in his 11th term in the House.

I spoke with Congressman McKeon last evening in advance of publishing this story, and the Congressman would only say on the record that he has not yet made a decision about whether he would seek re-election in 2014.

Because of “committee term limits” within the House Republican Conference, the 74-year-old McKeon is in his last two year stint as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. McKeon is the senior member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and has served on top GOP spot on that committee for a term, but would be allowed, if chosen to do so, to serve two… Read More