Convention Founders Really Want Legislative Reform, Not a Convention
After sitting through Tuesday’s five-and-a-half-hour, standing-room only summit on the possibility of a California constitutional convention, I came away with two strong impressions.
1. A constitutional convention, while it would be difficult and dangerous, is something California should do. There is so much frustration with the status quo here, and so many different ideas about how to fix things, that we need a top-to-bottom review of our state constitution. We need to pare back the convention (it runs more than 150 pages), and look at all three branches – the legislative, executive and judicial.
2. The Bay Area Council and other good government groups, in their heart of hearts, don’t really want a constitutional convention. They want legislative reform – changes in how laws are made, budgets are passed, and lawmakers are elected.
Shocking Cost of Green Energy
Imagine taking a nice Sunday excursion into the desert a few years from now. Maybe you’ll pass some Joshua trees and some spectacular geologic formations. But chances are, the feature you’ll see most will be miles and miles of high-voltage transmission lines.
Yes, massive transmission lines will soon dominate the desert scenery around Los Angeles. That’s thanks to the quest to boost alternative electrical power. Utilities in California are required to get one-third of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.
Up till now, transmission lines that stretched across the hinterlands haven’t been particularly common because electricity-generating plants have been close to most cities.
Why Not California #7: California-based company banking on Las Vegas solar manufacturing
Read this Las Vegas Sun article on why a California-based company, Ausra, is changing its core mission to manufacturing solar supplies (as opposed to building solar generation facilities) and producing those supplies in a neighboring state.
Here’s the abbreviated version:
1. Ausra abandoning most of its large solar facility projects in the west and now manufacturing solar equipment in existing Las Vegas facility to supply medium sized operations in California and the region.
2. Company will supply limited new renewable supply for utilities struggling to meet California’s 20-soon-to-be-33-percent renewable standard
3. Company’s only viable option is manufacturing in a cost competitive state and supplying into California’s smaller energy markets
Surprise! California Can Improve Its Tax Climate
Californians have been treated to a bruising debate over the wisdom of raising taxes to resolve the budget deficit. But recent actions to improve the state’s economic competitiveness have mostly played out behind closed doors, leaving citizens with the incorrect impression that making tax policy in pursuit of economic development is too messy or obscure for democracy.
When the California economy begins its eventual recovery, our best hope for a strong resurgence in job creation will be to ensure we can compete for high-value, high-skill jobs that are in demand on the world market. But for companies who make decisions based on the tax climate – which include much of the high tech, biotech and entrepreneurial sectors – California has not been in the game.