The State of California has had windfall revenues for the past three years. At the same time, the State has shortchanged the developmentally disadvantaged and under-funded Medi-Cal so much that most doctors and other health care professionals won’t accept it.

So what is the legislature doing with the billions of dollars of surpluses currently flowing into Sacramento?

They have given raises to public employees. They have also ignored advice from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst Office to eliminate thousands of public employees that are not needed, a move that would… Read More

I don’t support Donald Trump.

Trump’s tough talk is scant cover for a shallow, disengaged intellect. He has shown astonishing dishonesty on even the most petty issues. His affable embrace of anyone who flatters him shows a desperate and easily manipulated hunger for celebrity accolades. His sudden and convenient conversion on a host of issues is more than little suspect – it shows either a mercenary malleability or simple deceit. And, his transparently feigned faith is offensive.

But if Trump wins a majority of Republican voters and “party leaders” try to scheme away the nomination, it won’t be the “short fingered vulgarian” who tears the party apart – it will be party elites who claim to be trying to save it.

A Trump win is hardly a foregone conclusion, but ignoring – or worse yet, dismissing – the real and visceral issues driving Trump’s support would be a terrible mistake and a betrayal to the principles of self-governance.

The issues driving voters to him have very little to do with Trump and everything to do with the failings of GOP leaders… Read More

Last June Governor Brown called a special session for his managed healthcare organization tax deal — the other for tax increases to fund transportation infrastructure. Special sessions may as well be called “transparency obfuscation and fair process elimination” tools. In these sessions the normal legislative rules and deadlines do not apply.

With the passage and signing of the new MCO tax, that first special session is over, right? WRONG.

It turns out that that special session on the MCO tax was not adjourned — it is still very much… Read More

Two Assembly bills were just introduced addressing labor union transparency and designed to offer a choice of labor unions, and to force unions to open up their books.

Assemblywoman ShannonGrove, R-Bakersfield, is working with union employees who have been fighting the Service Employees International Union for transparency, and they’ve been educating members of their option to opt out of paying the share of dues that is used for political purposes. This is information the Union does not tell it’s members.

The bills are on behalf of the workers. Most media has reported that the bills are an attack on… Read More

The 2016 tax filing deadline is now just one month away. Which makes it timely to point out how unfair our tax system is to middle class workers who want to prepare for their retirements. It is also timely to explain how there is a completely different set of retirement rules, far more favorable, that apply to unionized government workers.

If you are a member of the emerging “gig economy,” or a sole proprietor running a small business, or an independent contractor, and if you are reasonably successful, then you paying nearly 50% of every extra dollar you earn in taxes. The following table showsthe marginal tax burden for independent contractors who earned more than $81.5K and less than $118.5K in 2015:

Marginal Tax Rate for Independent Contractors (for 2015 earnings > $81.5K and < $118.5K)

The… Read More

Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a bill to give the Legislature more oversight over the California Air Resources Board. Some say lawmakers then retributively amended language out of Senate Bill 350 by Sen. Pres. Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, which was Brown’s proposal for a 50 percent cut in petroleum use for transportation that the CARB was all set to enforce.

The CARB holds cap-and-trade auctions, which extort and extract money from California businesses deemed polluters by the state. In his 2016 budget, Gov. Brown carved out more than $1 billionof cap-and-trade revenueto pay for his High Speed Train to nowhere.

The high-speed rail project, expected to be finished in 2033, was originally supposed travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two hours and 40 minutes. That was the ballot initiative promise in 2009, which intoxicated voters who narrowly… Read More

The late songwriter Jim Croce listed a number of imprudent actions in his “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.” Along with staying out of Jim’s way, he included the admonition not to tug on Superman’s cape or spit into the wind. Croce might have added to his list the foolishness of taking on Proposition 13.

Promoters of an initiative to impose a $6 billion annual surcharge on both business and residential, property, for the stated purposed of fighting poverty, have abandoned the effort. A measure sponsored by former Board of Equalization member Conway Collis and funded largely by an order of the Catholic Church, the Daughters of Charity, will not appear on the November ballot, as was expected.

It is unclear to Prop 13 defenders why the effort was halted. Some suggested that the governor intervened, convincing backers that too many measures on the ballot would risk rejection of propositions he favored. Others suggest the all-powerful teachers union threatened to oppose the measure because Collis failed to include a payout to education. But it cannot be overlooked that initiative backers may have become discouraged because Proposition 13 remains extremely… Read More

GOP Legislators,

Next week a vote is likely to come before you to reauthorize an expiring multi-billion dollar tax on healthcare in California. A vote that will fail if Republicans, together, simply don’t vote for it.

Last week I wrote a column where I walked through all of the policy and political reasons to reject the notion of doing a “deal” with Capitol Democrats to cast the needed votes for this tax they imposed on managed healthcare organizations three years ago on a party-line vote. I won’t reiterate all of those points, though if you need a refresher or haven’t read it I encourage you to do so.

I just wanted to make one last final appeal to all of you. California government is too big and spends too much. Long in the hands of liberals the… Read More