Entrepreneurs Can Help Solve Jobs Crisis

Crossposted San Diego Union Tribune Glimpse any recent government jobs report and it becomes very clear. We must do much more immediately to attack our nation’s unemployment crisis. And I call on America’s millions of entrepreneurs to tackle this critical issue. I urge this as someone who’s dealt with this problem extensively in both the […]

Fixing AB 32 Will Require Real Action, Not More Delay

The findings announced yesterday by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor on AB 32’s impact on unemployment in California confirmed what many of us have known for a long time – the regulations imposed by AB 32 will cause California to lose more jobs. With California facing its worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression, we don’t have the luxury of a wait-and-see approach to AB 32, the greenhouse gas law that will smother job creation, raise costs for consumers, and destroy businesses across our state. It’s time for decisive action to correct AB 32, a law that will only make it harder for California families to make ends meet.

That’s why I support the California Jobs Initiative. This initiative, which is currently seeking signatures to qualify for the ballot, will stop all rulemaking and regulation under AB 32 until California’s unemployment rate declines to the level it was when AB 32 was adopted. I am proud to be the only candidate for governor that has endorsed this initiative and called for AB 32 to be completely halted until our economy is back on track and Californians are back to work.

Fixing California’s Broken Welfare System

California’s welfare system, known as CalWORKs, is in crisis. You might not hear much about it in the newspaper or on television, but this problem costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year. Instead of serving as a temporary assistance and retraining program that leads its recipients to new work and financial self-sufficiency, CalWORKs has itself become a way of life for many.

California has about 12 percent of the nation’s population. Under a rational system, we’d expect the state to have about 12 percent of the nation’s welfare recipients. But the reality is far worse—our state has about 30 percent of the nation’s welfare recipients. In comparison, Texas has 8 percent of the nation’s population, but just 3 percent of the nation’s welfare recipients.

How did we let it get this bad?

In 1996, Congress took much-needed action to reform the federal welfare program. The reforms tore down the old federal entitlement program and empowered states to implement genuine welfare-to-work programs. Caseloads across the country, including California’s, began to decline.