Last week, we blogged about a report released by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and conducted by Sanjay Varshney that quantified the regulatory costs on California’s small businesses. The study is now being scrutinized by the press and others to determine its validity and credibility. No matter the outcome of the debate, there is no question that California is an uncompetitive place to do business in large part because of the regulatory impediments and costs. We know the regulatory environment is killing middle class jobs. It’s too bad we don’t have regular, consistent, and independent analysis of each state regulation so we know exactly what we are up against. Let’s face it though, even if California’s regulatory costs are half what the study finds, the Governor and legislature should take immediate action to reduce the cost of regulatory impediments.
California is moving forward with global warming regulations and we don’t know the costs. It’s been almost a year since CARB released the AB 32 economic analysis which was summarily dismissed by respected economists across the state and nation. We think CARB should own up to its very own flawed analysis on the impact of AB 32. Absolutely nothing has been done to develop a new, believable analysis and CARB continues to use their original study to justify new regulation that will impose unknown costs on all Californians.
A state with a 12.2 percent unemployment rate and a budget near bankruptcy can ill afford another regulation without understanding completely how it will hamper our economic growth.