A Constitutional Change Taxpayers and Businesses Should Pursue
As
taxpayers and businesses consider the political landscape during and after the
coming election year, they might want to think about making a small but
powerful change to the state constitution. Article 2, Section 9 (a) grants the
people referendum power to challenge bills passed by the legislature and signed
into law by the governor. However, the constitution prohibits the use of
referendums for tax levies. Excising that prohibition from the constitution
would add an important taxpayer protection by potentially giving voters the
final say over taxes.
In the next election cycle, a major push will be made to get enough tax
friendly politicians elected to the legislature to scale the two-thirds vote
barrier required to levy taxes. Democrats think that capturing two-thirds of
both houses of the legislature is possible in the next election. They may be
right.
According to Allan Hoffenblum, editor of the respected Target Book,
which follows the California electoral scene, "It appears that redistricting may
be favoring Democratic candidates, which could give the Democrats an
opportunity to capture two-thirds of both houses in 2012."
On top of that, the Service Employees International Union has made
no secret that it plans to use its influence in Republican leaning
districts to elect Republicans who may be more tax friendly.
The Redistricting Commission: Descending into a Racial Quagmire
The Friends of the African American Caucus don’t think highly of California Redistricting Commission Commissioner Connie Galambos Malloy. The Caucus wrote in their most recent posting:
“As millions of Americans put out their flags and fired up the grill to celebrate freedom and democracy over the 4th of July weekend, Commissioner Connie Galambos Malloy of the California Redistricting Commission fired a salvo at African American voters in Los Angeles as she penciled them out of their traditional community districts and hard fought political power.
“Malloy, who is from the San Francisco Bay Area, committed her dastardly deeds with stealth and incredible disrespect for African American electoral participation, creating serpentine, meandering and totally nonsensical districts. This was done while most Californians were enjoying their holiday festivities and not paying attention to political intrigue. Was this intentional?”
The First Amendment is Alive and Well; Reason, however, may be lagging.
US Supreme Courts come and go – some take on names: the
Warren Court; the Burger Court; some are remembered for their role in the 2000
election, some for their more recent role in the Citizens United case, which cleared the way for infinite amounts of
corporate and union money to find its way into political coffers, both large
and small. Anybody who says they know
where and how all of the loose ends of that last one will tie up, is kidding
you . . .
But, we learned last week, in the process of the Supremes’
announced June decisions – I call them the Supremes with no disrespect
intended; Motown hits still play in my head decades after Diana Ross and the
Girls’ heyday; nor did I make up the name – that the First Amendment has a few
new twists and turns that nobody in particular really contemplated.
Or, perhaps it is me who was caught napping.
In reversing a healthy percentage of the Federal Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decisions (something over 70% this year;
nothing special, really), the Supremes reminded us all who it is that has the
last word. Including in the reversals was California’s criminal law against
peddling violent and gory video games to children (the under-eighteen crowd).
The Next Boom Towns In The U.S.
What cities are best positioned to grow and prosper in the coming decade?
To determine the next boom towns in the U.S., with the help of Mark Schill at the Praxis Strategy Group, we took the 52 largest metro areas in the country (those with populations exceeding 1 million) and ranked them based on various data indicating past, present and future vitality.
We started with job growth, not only looking at performance over the past decade but also focusing on growth in the past two years, to account for the possible long-term effects of the Great Recession. That accounted for roughly one-third of the score. The other two-thirds were made up of a a broad range of demographic factors, all weighted equally. These included rates of family formation (percentage growth in children 5-17), growth in educated migration, population growth and, finally, a broad measurement of attractiveness to immigrants — as places to settle, make money and start businesses.
We focused on these demographic factors because college-educated migrants (who also tend to be under 30), new families and immigrants will be critical in shaping the future. Areas that are rapidly losing young families and low rates of migration among educated migrants are the American equivalents of rapidly aging countries like Japan; those with more sprightly demographics are akin to up and coming countries such as Vietnam.