Quite possibly the worst bill to make its way out of the legislature this year is Senate Bill 1234 (Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles). This bill would allow the state government to enter the private pension business under the pretense of “sharing the wealth” of California’s public employee pension systems. But California has amassed a [...]

On the last day of this year’s session, the Legislature approved Assembly Bill 340, which Governor Jerry Brown, Legislative Democrats and our state’s public employee unions all negotiated.  Like many of you, there were a number of legislators, including myself, who were concerned and in some cases livid, with how legislative leaders pushed a complex [...]

Governor Jerry Brown recently took offense with Governor Mitt Romney’s comment recently, jokingly comparing California’s economic condition to that of the debt-burdened European countries of Greece, Spain or Italy.  In an effort to protect his image and work, Brown immediately put on his rose-colored glasses and went into damage control.  “Just silly,” Brown said during [...]

No Real Reforms, Prolonging CA’s Economic Problems The State of California sits poised to fall off a financial cliff with a budget deficit of almost $16 billion. At the same time, the state’s employee pension plan is so awash in unfunded liability it’s been called a looming fiscal tsunami. Rather than demonstrating courage and addressing [...]

According to recently released data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) California lost $27 billion in tax revenues over the past decade due to residents moving to other states. From 1999 to 2009, California was the state with the second greatest tax revenue loss resulting from interstate migration. Other top tax revenue losers include New [...]

Waste Connections, one of the Sacramento region’s largest publicly traded companies, announced last week that it will be relocating its headquarters from Folsom, California to Houston, Texas. Currently valued at $3.6 billion, Waste Connections has been one of the area’s few thriving home-grown businesses, infusing approximately $100 million dollars into the local economy each year. [...]

As debt issues in Europe continue to plague the world markets, European nations teeter on complete fiscal collapse.  Similarly, many U.S. states are likewise under immense fiscal pressures because of their debt.  Annual budget gimmicks and accounting tricks utilized by state governments often result in an unrealistic portrayal of the state’s actual financial situation. These [...]

After a year of waiting, last week Governor Jerry Brown finally released his 12-point plan to address California’s massive unfunded pension liability.  With an estimated unfunded liability between $100 billion and half a trillion dollars, Governor Brown’s modest proposal seems to be headed in the right direction.  The proposal includes many of the reforms offered [...]

Democrats in Sacramento are still operating from the point of view that if government raises taxes, more revenue will ensue. If members of the majority party would simply check empirical evidence, they would see that California has gone past the point of peak revenue generation and not only will fail to generate increased revenue, but will in fact greatly hinder California’s economic recovery, causing more businesses to pull out of the state or to close their doors altogether.

Case in point: the “Amazon” tax (Assembly Bill 28x) recently passed as part of the partisan majority vote budget deal.

According to business and finance experts, due to Governor Brown’s signing of AB 28x, approved by Democrat legislators on a party-line vote, small web-based businesses’ revenue will drop by 20% to 30%. Why? As a direct result of the enactment of AB 28x, larger internet retailers, such as Amazon.com and Overstock.com, have already sent notices to over 20,000 California affiliates business terminating their contracts for advertising services.