Friday Wrap: Lost CA Businesses; State Budget Shortfall; Possible Troubles for the Rose Parade and Game
Why Businesses Leave CA Fox and Hounds Daily contributor, Joe Vranich, known as the business relocation coach, was interviewed as part of a five part series produced by Fox 11 News in Los Angeles this week on why California is losing businesses and jobs. Vranich produced a top ten list that create the state’s business […]
Occupy Protests and Political Backlash
The Occupy Wall Street protests, especially in Oakland, and the news it has generated, brings up memories of former United States Senator from California, S. I. Hayakawa. The former English professor and president of the then named San Francisco State College achieved world-wide attention for standing up to protests at the school during the raucous […]
Do Local Tax Election Results Foreshadow 2012 State Tax Fight?
With the expectation that taxes dealing with California’s budget issues will dominate the state’s general election one year from now, the tea-leaves of yesterday’s local elections around the state might indicate how voters are feeling about taxes. Overall, there were 53 tax, bond and fee measures on local ballots. With the understanding that the results […]
Maybe Perata “Won” in Oakland After All
One year ago this week, the voters or Oakland went to the polls to choose a new mayor. Former President pro tem of the State Senate Don Perata finished first in the initial wave of voting with 34% of the vote. But Oakland has a ranked-choice voting system (also known as instant runoff voting) in […]
Pension Reform Strategy Echoes Workers Comp Reform of 2004
As a proponent of a tough workers compensation reform initiative, I sat in the gallery of the State Assembly in 2004 to watch the final vote on a legislative version of reforming the workers compensation system (the no-fault system of insurance for workplace injuries.) I heard over and over again from legislators who rose to […]
High Speed Rail Gamble May Go Off the Tracks
If we build (some of) it, they will invest. That is the key to the business plan the California High Speed Rail Authority put forward yesterday, in a new effort to quiet the critics of a program that had spun out of control. The Authority now estimates the cost of the high speed rail to […]
“Govern for California” Looking for Courageous Candidates
“People don’t realize how much power resides in the state legislature in California,” says David Crane, Governor Schwarzenegger’s former Jobs and Economic Advisor. “It has enormous power and each of these state legislators has enormous power.” But Crane doesn’t think the current crop of legislators is using their power to fix the state’s dysfunctional government. […]
Business Prepared to Go to War in Senate District 27
As part of an on-going effort to prevent a veto proof Democratic majority in the state senate, business interests have zeroed in on the newly created Senate District 27 that covers the western portion of Los Angeles County and the Eastern section of Ventura County. New redistricting has created concern that the Senate could go […]
Local Governments Need Freedom From State to Innovate
(Editor’s Note: This column is one of a number published on the Public Policy Institute of California website dealing with the state-local relationship. Other columns can be found here.) One of the biggest problems in the state-local relationship is that the state does not allow local governments the freedom to innovate in carrying out their […]
Perry’s Flat Tax Announcement Brings Back Memories … of Jerry Brown
Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate, Rick Perry, released his tax reform proposal yesterday centered on a 20% flat income tax. Putting a spotlight on the flat tax reminded me of a forum I once moderated on the subject featuring none other then our once and future governor, Jerry Brown. It was 1995. The flat […]