Whitman’s Position on AB 32 Could Appeal to Voters
The newly hatched PPIC poll on the environment indicates Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman’s middle path related to California’s greenhouse gases law and a controversial November ballot measure could serve her well come Election Day.
Proposition 23 would suspend California’s greenhouse gases law (AB 32) until unemployment dropped to 5.5% for four consecutive quarters. California’s unemployment rate now stands over 12%.
PPIC pollsters did not ask a question about Proposition 23 using specific ballot language. PPIC found that likely voters supported the idea behind AB 32 to reduce greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, 61% to 28%. Without the ballot title, PPIC asked a general follow-up question whether the state government should act right away to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or wait until the state economy and job situation improve. Likely voters split down the middle on the question with 48% support to move ahead right away; 48% voted to wait.
Tax Reform! – California’s Budget Necessity is the Mother of Invention
There are rumors circulating that the Legislature is considering reducing State sales taxes while increasing personal income taxes as part of this year’s budget package. If these rumors are true, then that is unquestionably a good thing. As we described on these pages in January of this year as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle, such a tax swap could save Californians billions of dollars annually and help grow the economy.
Why is this? Because personal income taxes are deductible from their federal taxes while sales taxes are not. Under this tax reform, Californians would keep more money circulating within the State even if the reform was revenue neutral.
That means more economic activity and more jobs in California.
Candidates Could Text Their Way to a Win in November
The Candidate as Your New BFF? Don’t LOL, it could happen.
The New York Times reported this week that the text craze
has arrived on the gilded doorstep of the prestigious world of the symphony.
Both the New York Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Philharmonic have introduced
new audience texting participation programs, through which audience members can
now text their favorite song to be played during the encore.
Which got me wondering: if it’s good enough for the
Philharmonic, isn’t it good enough to engage more folks in the democratic
process?
The March of California’s Unemployment Insurance Fund
California’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Fund has continued to go deeper and deeper in debt through 2010-a debt of $7.6 billion at present, projected now to grow to $18.4 billion by the end of 2010. But 2010 has not been all negative for the Fund.
This year has seen advancements in a series of Fund Information Technology projects that should improve call center operations, enable claimants to access their records and file and check claims via the internet, and enable the state to pay claims electronically and with greater security.
Coming to California, Designing a Brand New Initiative Process
Why would Europeans be coming to California, seeking advice?
Well, a group of European activists and scholars are coming this week to learn as much as they can about our initiative process. Their goal? Learn what to do (and perhaps not to do) as they design a new initiative process of their own.
The process in question is called the European Citizen’s Initiative. It’s an agenda-setting initiative – permitting the people to introduce legislation (though not put a measure on the ballot – at least not yet).