Reach Out, Republicans, Or Lose!
Last May I posted an article in
F&H Daily titled, "California’s Republican Legislators – a White Males’
Club".
One of many points raised in the
article is the failure of the state GOP to elect a significant number Latinos,
Asians and other people of color to congress and the state legislature.
Among the 19 member of the House GOP
delegation, all but one is a white male. Among the 15 Republicans in the
state senate, all but two are white males. Among the 20 Republicans in the
state assembly, all but four are white males.
A Field Poll was released
recently showing the dramatic changes the past thirty years in the ethnic
makeup of California’s registered voters.
The Power of Tax Relief
Liberals and conservatives in California have debated endlessly over the benefits and shortcomings of taxation. More taxes produce a broader and more durable social and welfare safety net, argues one side. The other side says taxes that progress with incomes discourage initiative, enterprise and hard work.
And, as California is well-recognized as one of the nation’s higher-tax states – and maintains its appetite for more government spending – the debate is certain to continue.
But, someone will record a moment in the state’s history – earlier this year – when, for only a few months, a tax cut worked so well that everyone liked it. No kidding. Nearly the entire Legislature not only voted for it but later marveled at its success.
Schools for Sale Thanks to State Budget
Thanks to a little-publicized part of the latest state budget deal, “For Sale” signs are going to be going up on vacant school buildings across the state.
In an effort to give California schools a little something to make up for grabbing billions from educational funding to close the state’s budget gap, the Legislature agreed last month to suspend the rules that strictly limit how school districts can spend the money from the sale of surplus classroom buildings.
In the past, if a district sold a school building, money from the sale generally could only be used for more construction or one-time maintenance. The new rules toss those limits out and let that money go into the district’s general fund, where it can be used for one-time purchases.
But, like Cinderella’s wardrobe, there’s a time limit on the state’s generosity. On Jan. 1, 2012, the new rules disappear and school districts will once again be bound by the old restrictions.
Self-Inflicted Wounds
It has to be tough to work in the marketing department of one of California’s container ports. While California’s container volumes continue to decline dramatically, new capacity continues to come on-line at Atlantic, Gulf coast, Canadian and Mexican ports. Combine the competitive pressures of these new facilities with the downturn in overall trade volumes, historic decline in freight rates and massive losses for ocean carriers and it’s clear why the competition to attract trade through West Coast gateways has become particularly intense. But the ports’ marketing departments have an additional challenge, perhaps their greatest one – the ports themselves.
Case in point, it was recently reported that the Port of Los Angeles is lobbying Congress to amend the federal act which preempts any local governmental regulation of the trucking industry with regard to the price, route or service of a motor carrier. As this federal preemption was the basis of a forceful ruling issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a successful action brought by the American Trucking Association against the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the attempt to get around the Ninth Circuit ruling is the Port of LA’s attempt to impose “employee mandates” on port trucking firms.