You probably don’t know it, but you could be subsidizing the health care costs of foreign diplomats. That is, the many thousands of foreign officials who represent their countries in Washington, New York and elsewhere. Buried in Obamacare, the U.S. Tax Code now permits foreign diplomats serving throughout the United States and at the United Nations to receive premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for Obamacare plans. Worse yet, the State Department is actually encouraging Foreign Missions and U.N. staff to take advantage of this benefit,… Read More

President Obama’s name wasn’t on the ballot when Israelis went to the polls yesterday. But it may as well have been as the President, his top officials and political team all weighed in to defeat Israel’s Churchillian Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

They failed, and their miscalculation needlessly soured U.S.-Israeli relations while making a negotiated peace between Israel and the Palestinians during the President’s remaining time in office even less likely.

I last met Mr. Netanyahu during a Republican Jewish Coalition mission to Israel during my tenure as California Republican Party Chairman. The man I met was the same formidable leader in person as he appeared when speaking before a… Read More

The epitome of special interest legislation was recently introduced, but the special interest is state government.

“Sacramento’s Worst Boss” may be carrying legislation for Sacramento’s worst state employee. Assemblywomen Nora Campos, D-San Jose, hasauthored legislationon behalf of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board General Counsel, to grant the general counsel unheard-of authority.

AB 561would grant Sylvia Torres Guillén, the ALRB general counsel, “primary authority with respect to the calculation and litigation of makewhole awards, backpay calculations, and other monetary awards in compliance proceedings of agricultural employers before the board.”

In other words, Torres Guillén would have unlimited authority over the contract negotiations with agriculture employers and farmworkers.

Keeping an apparent wicked agenda, Torres Guillén has targeted several big farming employers with a vengeance, as well as some ALRB… Read More

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[Publisher’s Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from Lance T. Izumi, Koret Senior Fellow and Senior Director of Education Studiesat Pacific Research Institute.]

If you are new to the FlashReport, please check out the main site and the acclaimed FlashReport Weblog on California politics.

As California students take new state tests aligned to the controversial and much-criticized Common Core national education standards, the State Board of Education announced that scores on the tests will not be used to hold public schools accountable for performance in the 2014-15 school year. More troubling, however, are the findings of a just released report detailing major flaws and deficiencies in the tests themselves.

Supporters of the Common Core national standards, which replaced California’s own state education standards, claim, among other things, that student scores on the new tests, which… Read More

Voter turnout in California is low. Just three weeks ago, the election held in Los Angeles saw an embarrassing 10 percent turnout. And, of course, the statewide turnout just last November was almost as bad.

Irrespective of political affiliation, the immediate reaction among those of us who are politically engaged is that low voter turnout is not good for democracy. But perhaps we should challenge that bit of conventional wisdom. Is voting for voting’s sake really a good thing?

Members of the self-serving political class, made up of politicians and the special interests that support them, complain about the lack of voter participation because they believe they should be seen as patriotically promoting the democratic process. But their faux sincerity is based entirely on whether or not they see a greater political advantage to a higher voter turnout. If they believe that a higher turnout will drive more low information voters, who can be easily persuaded by glossy mailers, they are all for more voters. (At one point it was suggested that Los Angeles should increase turnout by providing those who vote a chance to win cash through a lottery system.) If… Read More

For decades the population of California was growing faster than Texas. It roared passed the population of Texas in 1934 and never looked back.

But by 1992 that trend had changed. Here’s the comparative figures in millions:

STATE 1992 2014 DIFFERENCE

California 30.97 38.80 7.83 million growth Texas 17.76 26.96 9.20 million growth https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_&met_y=population&idim=state:48000:06000:12000&hl=en&dl=en

The difference is even more dramatic when one looks at the PERCENTAGE of growth in that time frame:

California 25.3% Texas 51.8% — over TWICE the growth rate of California

The difference in growth is found in the “net domestic migration” — the movement among states. Since 1992 CA has lost a NET of 3.8 million people to… Read More

Major changes are being proposed to the California History-Social Science Curriculum “Frameworks” through an administrative process that is getting no attention.

The California Department of Education has been reviewing recommended edits to California History and Social Science frameworks from Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender special interest groups, following passage of Senate Bill 48, by Sen. Mark Leno, and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, both of San Francisco, in 2011.

California public school… Read More

UPDATED: March 13, 2015 to include a photo of the $8 million piece of art from a Sacramento city staff report – a public record.

While this may appear to be a local news story from the wayward Sacramento City Council, it is an example of callous, tone-deaf local government, and symptomatic of state government.

As the Sacramento City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday evening to approve a public contract with a New York artist for an $8 million piece of art, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson called it “a good investment for our community.”

High-end art is one of the most manipulated markets in the world. But that didn’t stop the Sacramento Mayor: “This guy is world renowned, he is one of the most amazing artists ever,” Mayor Johnson said of artist Jeff Koons, explaining that this art purchase will really put Sacramento on the map as “a world-class city.”

In one of the most ludicrous statements I’ve ever heard from an elected official, this is what politics has become. The deal was done before the deal was done,… Read More