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Senate goes into session at 10:00 pm, I am told. Cox has apparently cut his deal, and is rumored to be the vote for the budget. He had a laundry list of reforms he negotiated for, none of which included eliminating the taxes. We will see however.
It usually isn’t hard to get a deal when it is down to one vote, someone will always cave. That is why the Leaders’ capitulation on the tax in this negotiation was so disastrous.… Read More
We salute the thirteen members of the State Senate Republican Caucus who have held the line against a plan that would saddle as much as $70 billion of tax increases over the next five years on California taxpayers.
THANK YOU SENATORS AANESTAD, BENOIT, COX, DENHAM, MALDONADO, HARMAN, DUTTON, HOLLINGSWORTH, HUFF, RUNNER, STRICKLAND, WALTERS AND WYLAND.
We have duly elected members of the Legislature under the Capitol Dome being treated like children. Let’s just assume that everyone is an adult and they all of them can generally take care of themselves. Some of you are laughing now but we are talking about grown men and women.
Recently the doors have been locked and they have been prevented from leaving.
I want to know what authority the Assembly Speaker and President Pro Tem have to do this. Under Article 4 Section 7 of the California Constitution:
SEC. 7. (a) Each house shall choose its officers and adopt rules for its proceedings. A majority of the membership constitutes a quorum, but a smaller number may recess from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members.
So who is absent? Was the leadership really compelling attendance be absent members? No one was absent. They didn’t miss anything.
If this is the only justification provided by the leadership for their actions of locking the doors… Read More
There are a lot of problems with the Big 5/Big Taxes plan — some of which are a function of a broken process. The super secret-squirrel negotiations result in a scrambling of speedy analysis, trying to figure out what is really in the package.
State Senator Bob Dutton, who ironically is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, like everyone else has been scrambling to look into the details of the plan, having had it sprung on him just like everyone else.
One interesting analysis that his staff did was they looked over the stated $15.1 billion in cuts in the plan. Guess what they found? Yep, State Capitol "double speak" is alive and well.
Attached is a document (excel format) that details the sad truth, which is that if you apply the traditional "normal" definition of cuts (you know, were we actually reduce the amount of money on a program, as opposed to "cutting an anticipated increase" — or how about calling cuts items that have to be paid back?
Anyways, by the take you take out the "cuts that aren’t cuts" — the real cuts in this package are only $3.1 billion —… Read More
It’s no secret that business and residents are leaving California in record numbers. But don’t listen to me. Read this column by Bill Steigerwald, a columnist at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
And to get a better idea of just how bad the film industry is suffering in California, read this Daily News article where writer Troy Andersonreports " the percentage of studio feature films shot in California has dropped from 66 percent in 2003 to 31 percent last year, said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission."
The story goes on to say: Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said California needs to become more competitive.
"People in California are just sort of sitting back, not understanding the implications of this, and if we’re not careful, this is another industry that could slip away from us, just like aerospace did," Kyser said.… Read More
The Senate has adjourned without a vote with session called for tomorrow at 10am. Democrats gave a lot of floor speeches blaming Republicans for the consequences of inaction. But we should note for the record that the votes have and continue to be there to 'right size' state government. Funny how the union-tool dominated left won't put up all of the billions in spending reductions that everyone agrees to without gauging taxpayers with more taxes. How much you want to bet most MSM papers blame Republicans, instead of the Democrats, for lack of progress? I don't think the votes are there tomorrow either for the Big 5/Big Taxes deal…
Taxpayers owe Senate Republicans a debt of gratitude — today their taxes didn't go up.… Read More
This morning, around forty Republican legislators have to look back at the bleary mess that was their President’s Day Weekend (and somewhere in there was Valentine’s Day, too), wondering exactly what happened to them. With the seeming speed of the flip of a switch, Republican representatives to the “Big 5” signed off on a Big 5/Big Taxes budget “deal” that would make any professional sausage maker proud.
The problem with the plan is that at its center is a massive increase in taxes (sales tax, car tax, car fee, income tax) that totals over $14,000,000,000.00 (multiply that out a few years to really see that number grow – all of those zeros, by the way, make it BILLIONS). Completely conceded in this Big 5/Big Taxes plan is the notion that Republican lawmakers were elected to office with a pledge to protect Californians from higher taxes (let alone tax hikes of this record-making magnitude). There are two underlying assumptions to this plan that are flawed – the first of which is that there is simply no way to balance the state’s books without a tax increase. The second is that there is no way to get a plan that will resolve the issue that will… Read More