IF Prop 30 Passes, Brown Doctrine on Budgeting Could Become Widespread
If Proposition 30 passes, the method used to secure voters’ approval could become a new formula for state and local governments to pass tax increases. We’ll call it the Brown Doctrine after our governor who conceived it. Here’s how the Brown Doctrine works. First write a budget that is balanced only if the voters pass […]
Falsely Blaming the Legislature for November Ballot Initiatives
The Sacramento Bee recently printed a fairy tale posing as news. “Many California ballot measures spurred by legislative inaction,” read the headline, and the story went on to describe this November’s slate of initiatives as a response to the legislature’s failure to act. This claim is mostly nonsense, as a matter of facts. And in […]
Why Worker Savings Plan Is Bad For California
Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as repeating the same action over and over again and expecting different results. Vague support for the creation of a state-run retirement system for private sector employees as expressed in a recent editorial in the Sacramento Bee “Worker savings plan deserves a close study,” fits this definition nicely. Senate Bill […]
Safer Consumer Products Regulation Reflects Consumer Concern
Editor’s Note: This article is in response to Assembly Member Jeff Miller’s piece published on August 30th, “State’s Green Chemistry Rules Could Have Californians Seeing Red” When California’s “Green Chemistry” law passed with bipartisan support in 2008, industry, health advocacy groups and consumer organizations applauded its broad vision of a systematic approach to reducing toxic […]
Prop 37 Will Increase Lawsuit Abuse in California
As CALA recognizes Lawsuit Abuse Awareness Week, it is important to highlight a measure on the November ballot that will open the door for more abusive lawsuits in California. I recently joined many of my county supervisor colleagues throughout California in opposition to Prop 37, a deceptive, deeply flawed food labeling scheme. The measure would […]