Good move, Mr. Speaker. The single payer health care measure incorporated in Senate Bill 562 was “woefully incomplete” as Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon declared. Rendon’s move to bury the bill in the Assembly Rules Committee was driven by both policy and political concerns. The health care improvements cannot be fixed by one state alone, even […]

Echoes of California’s fabled Gold Rush can be heard in the proposal for single payer health care—but instead of migrants taking gold nuggets out of the ground, a new Health Care Rush likely would see many people rushing to California to claim taxpayer funded health care. Much like Samuel Brannan, publisher of San Francisco’s first newspaper, […]

In deep blue California, many Democratic gubernatorial candidates have their left turn blinker on constantly supporting policy moves in a progressive and risky direction. How does that sit with the state’s business community, which treasures certainty? While the business sector is not monolithic, there is a common concern expressed by all types of business leaders […]

The budget passed—no surprise—so what will the legislature focus on during the remaining session this year? First, a few factors to consider about 2018 that may frame what happens in the remainder of the 2017 legislative session. Next year is an election year, which rarely produces major policy changes as legislators are leery of defending […]

A  budget bill has been introduced that would lengthen the time to qualify recall elections. One might say this bill came out of the blue—blue California, that is. Changing election rules to benefit their positions is becoming a habit with Democrats in the legislature. The presumed object of the bill, SB 96, is to forestall […]

A tremor ran through the 2018 California elections with the release of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll that shows widespread disdain for the recently passed gas tax and vehicle fees–even before collection of the tax begins in November. The gas tax issue could sway California elections from the governor’s race on down, especially […]