Brown-Negotiated Contracts with Public Safety Unions Signify Nothing Has Changed
If you needed more evidence that the Republican legislators
are right to push Governor Brown for long-term fiscal reforms in the current
budget face-off, look no further than the public sector contracts negotiated by
the governor. Giveaways in the contracts will only make budget matters worse as
time goes on.
At the end of last month, Daniel Weintraub reported
on this site that the Legislative Analyst’s Office review of contracts made
by the administration and public safety employees found that the promised ten-
percent cost savings were not there. Weintraub wrote: "The analyst believes the contract will
actually increase costs this year, save just 2.8 percent next year and then
start adding to the state’s payroll costs again the year after next."
Weintraub added that the contracts were "chock-full of concessions by
the state." Among those concessions were big costs to the state on changes to
employees’ time off and holiday pay. The contract allows for nearly 8 weeks off
even for new hires. The legislative analyst doubts employees will use all that
time off and will bank the time to be paid later when the employee leaves the
job.
Prop 25 – I Told You So
Isn’t it great how Prop 25 has fixed the budget process?
Remember
all the arguments for Prop 25? The majority party will own the budget now. They
can fix the problem all by themselves. They’ll move quickly. The minority party
won’t hold the budget hostage. Instead, they’ll offer a specific alternative
that they can take to the voters in the next election.
How’s that
working it out?
It isn’t –
for reasons that should have been obvious to reformers then, but weren’t. I
can’t tell you all the grief I received from good government folks, not to
mention folks on the left (and some on the right), for calling Prop 25 a
mistake last fall. I was told that it was at the very least a good first step
in the right direction.
Well, I
told you so.
Main Street Menace of the Week: California State Legislature
While the legislature is in session, the National Federation
of Independent Business/California will be profiling anti-small business bills
and the adverse effect they would have on California’s job creators. This is the first column of the 2011 series.
If this year is any indication, the
news is not good for small businesses and their employees. And it’s not because of the troubled economy,
recession or any other external source.
Well, check that, there is an external source that consistently, year
after year, inflicts pain and hardship on small businesses.
Cue scary, dramatic music here…The California Legislature.
Some may assert that it is an
overgeneralization to say that the entire legislature has it out for small
businesses in the state. But, consider
for a moment the results of the NFIB/CA 2010 Voting Record. When 50 assembly members and over 20 senators
have voting records of 50 percent or less on the issues that matter most to our
members – something just isn’t getting through those Capitol doors.
The Unnamed Victims
I walked into the courtroom and felt immediately out of
place. An odd sensation, especially for
a public prosecutor, someone who has made his life’s work fighting for victims
within the walls of courthouses throughout Los Angeles County. But those were my courtrooms. This was
not.
The Second Appellate Division for the California Court of Appeals
conducts its business in beautiful environs.
Dark wood walls accent expensive-looking green marble. A meticulously
crafted bench carved in a semi-circle provides a dignified stage for the appellate
justices who occupy its space. Thick
carpet quiets the almost serene tone of the room. But the elegance of the courtroom stands in
stark contrast to the horrors described within it.
On April 12, those descriptions were of a beautiful woman being
shot to death through the mouth by an egocentric music producer whose persona
was marked by money, fame and violence. The
case being heard that day was the appeal by Phil Spector of his conviction for
murdering Lana Clarkson.