Job Killer Scorecard

The California Chamber of Commerce issued its annual list of job killer bills as the organization hopes to keep up a remarkable record of success in defeating bills harmful to jobs and the economy. Given a reputation that the state is a bad place to do business – a reputation that California legislators and the […]

Journalist Greg Lucas as State Librarian? Yes!

When Governor Jerry Brown nominated journalist Greg Lucas, as state librarian there was an immediate backlash from some in the library community. They charged that Lucas was unqualified for the job. However, in this corner, Brown’s nomination is an inspired choice. Lucas will bring uncommon insight and a fresh perspective to the job. Lucas served […]

Silicon Valley Needs Workers from CA

On Monday, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that the cap for H-1B visas has been reached – in only one week’s time. The USCIS says a computer-generated process will randomly select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 85,000 visas so skilled computer scientists from around the world can […]

E Pluribus Unum – But Not in California

Identity politics continue to roil the state. The Sacramento Bee reported the motivation behind the death of a non-controversial bill in the legislature was payback against Asian American legislators who dropped their backing for SCA 5, a bill to restore affirmative action, after the Asian American community protested. The rejected bill had to do with […]

Californians Already Pay an Oil Severance Tax – to Other States

In promoting an oil severance tax in California, proponents often cite the fact that other oil producing states have such a tax. However, what is not often acknowledged is who pays that tax. It can be argued, as this article in Bloomberg Business Week does, that the tax in some of those oil severance tax states […]

Assembly Votes Against Free Competition in Delivering Public Services

Public unions demonstrated once again their hold over the majority Democrats when the Assembly passed a resolution to oppose out-sourcing of public services. The position taken by the Assembly throws out the notion that the goal of government is to deliver services in the most effective way. A secondary goal is to be frugal with […]

Fallout from the Senate Scandals

Senator Leland Yee is innocent until proven guilty, but in the court of public perception his high profile arrest will ripple through the political landscape like aftershocks from an earthquake. A few places where the fallout of the Yee affair as well as the indictment of Sen. Ron Calderon and the conviction of Sen. Rod […]

Political Scandal–Is it the Culture, Leadership or is that the Way it Always Was?

“Nowadays, people think ‘House of Cards” is a documentary.” John Pitney, Claremont McKenna College professor. Professor Pitney’s quote in the Los Angeles Times was BEFORE the arrest of Sen. Leland Yee on corruption charges. He was referring to the conviction of Senator Rod Wright and the indictment of Senator Ron Calderon. Three Democratic state senators […]

PPIC Poll: On Taxes Business has a Fighting Chance, the Wealthy Not so Much

Lots of numbers in the new Public Policy Institute poll but let’s concentrate on matters of importance to business. Thirty-two percent of those polled identified jobs and the economy as California’s biggest problem. While the jobs and economy issue continues as the top issue for the voters, the number on jobs and the economy as […]

Let Hollywood Glamor Help all the State’s Businesses

The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to send a letter to Governor Brown supporting efforts to end runaway film production by recognizing “the negative impacts high taxes and excessive regulations have on the entertainment industry.” As stated many times on this site, that phrase could be applied to many industries that look for […]