The Top Two Primary is Coming: “Fasten Your Seatbelts … it’s going to be a bumpy night.” – Part 1
When Bette Davis spoke the above line in the classic movie, All About Eve, I’m certain she did not have California politics in mind. But it fittingly describes how many of California’s most powerful power brokers will feel the night of June 5 … the date of the state’s first Top-Two Open Primary Election. In […]
Initiative Reform is Another Way to Frame More Taxing Power
Senate Leader Darryl Steinberg sent initiative reformers’ hearts aflutter when he announced he was jumping on the reform bandwagon. Speaking to reporters, Sen. Steinberg ticked off three changes that he said would “both strengthen … direct democracy and empower the people elected by their communities…” He supports: Allowing the Legislature to place statutory initiatives, including […]
Steinberg Initiative Plan: Are Four Small Steps Forward Enough?
The leader of the state senate, Darrell Steinberg, recently offered a characteristically thoughtful proposal on improving the state’s initiative process. In a speech at the Sacramento Press Club, Steinberg argued for four changes – each of them modest but each with merit. The real question about the proposals – other than the political difficulties of […]
Strengthening Taxpayer Rights at the BOE
Each month, Board of Equalization members meet to hear tax appeals relating to nearly every facet of California’s complicated tax code. Sometimes the outcome of those appeals is so outrageous that it calls for legislative action. In 2009, a taxpayer who had a good payment history came before the board because he had recently failed […]
Legislature to Hear Two-Year Regulatory Moratorium Bill
How many members of our state legislature–how many of us–have a clue about the overall impact of all of these regulatory requirements on our economy? And if they don’t, is it not because none of us has a systematic way of assessing the usefulness or effectiveness of all these rules and mandates? AB 1969 (Beth […]