Action Is Needed To Improve California’s Business Climate
Well, here we are again — It’s mid August and the legislature still doesn’t have a budget. In fact, we have yet to even VOTE on a proposal. The democrat majority wants to be credited for proposing a budget; however they seem unwilling to have a debate or vote. Why?? I am fairly certain that, not only will all Republicans oppose it, but also not even every Democrat will support it.
I am continually amazed that there are those in Sacramento who think we can tax our way out of this financial crisis. It is no secret that California’s economy is in a decline. Families are paying more and more for gas and groceries while their house payments go up and their home values go down. Our state’s unemployment rate has risen to 6.9 percent, the highest level in more than a decade, and businesses are leaving for other states.
It’s time we take immediate action to improve California’s business climate, attract businesses and create jobs. Passing a responsible budget with long-term structural reforms along with a "rainy day" fund is a solid first step.
A Test for Union Leadership
The LA Times recently published an excellent investigative story on Tyrone Freeman, the leader of California’s largest SEIU local, which represents home health care givers. It’s an outrageous tale of self-dealing, with money from union affiliates going to the business pursuits of Freeman’s wife and mother-in-law.
Freeman, 38, is a young and talented leader; I saw that firsthand as a reporter covering labor for the LA Times in 2006. Freeman is popular within the union movement, and close to SEIU’s international president, Andy Stern. (The last time I saw Freeman, he and Stern were sitting down to a meal at the Pacific Dining Car). So this is going to be a difficult test of the union movement in LA and nationallly.
But it’s a test. Freeman needs to step down and offer a full-throated apology. The union needs to ask for an independent audit of the local. And the public needs to hear immediately from union leadership — Stern, county labor chief Maria Elena Durazo, other top SEIU leaders such as janitors’ union chief Mike Garcia — about how such conduct must not be permitted in the movement. So far, the silence is deafening. Stern, in the story, refuses to address the conduct in question. That won’t cut it.
Governor’s Spending Reform Proposals Are Tough Stuff
Friday’s San Diego Union Tribune editorial revealed some of the budget reforms Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is supporting in the state budget negotiations. The editorial said the inside look was provided by a party to the discussions. If correct, then the governor is standing behind some real reforms to the budget process.
As also stated by the Union-Tribune editorial, the sales tax increase that has been discussed in the budget negotiations would be a mistake for the state economy. However, focusing just upon the reforms, if implemented, they would be a step toward ending California’s boom and bust budget cycles.
The reported reforms are designed to take political wiggle room out of current spending rules, establish a rainy-day fund with strict requirements to release the funds tied to provisions provided by the Gann spending limit passed by voters in 1979; and allow for gubernatorial authority for mid-year budget corrections, including the power to suspend cost-of-living increases for state programs during revenue shortfalls.
Tough stuff.
Proposition 11 has 2 giant loop-holes in it—and more!
Giant loop-hole #1 allows the Legislature to change the make up of the so-called Citizens Redistricting Commission in future years — Thus allowing the Legislature’s skilled gerrymanders to dominate the process in the future just like they do now. (see Government Code, Chapter 3.2. 8251. (c, 2,3,4)
Giant loop-hole #2 is that this so-called Citizens Redistricting Commission can craft new districts any way they’d like, just by calling them Communities of Interest. (see Article XXI, Sec. 2. (d4)
That’s right, by using the “Communities of Interest” criteria, they can run districts hundreds of miles across the state. And, because there is no specific definition for "Community of Interest", it allows the commission to define it any way they please.