Sacramento Mayor-Elect Darrell Steinberg Shares His Priorities & Agenda
Darrell Steinberg, Mayor-elect of Sacramento, is the biggest cheerleader for his city. Steinberg served on the City Council, in state Assembly, and was the California Senate Pro Tem from 2008 to 2014, making him arguably the most qualified mayor in Sacramento history. Steinberg avoided a runoff in November by winning more than 50% of the vote […]
Cap and Trade is Easy; it’s the Tax that’s Hard
Governor Brown cited the major deficiency of new climate change legislation at a press conference yesterday, citing cap and trade as the major piece of unfinished business. He’s right. When the Governor signs the new climate change legislation rapidly nearing his desk, rather than clarifying public policy, California will be entering uncharted territory. The hard-fought […]
Backstop: The Taxpayers
Pity the poor California taxpayers. They are seen as the backstop for various government schemes that are supposed to be self-funding. The Wall Street Journal’s lead editorial yesterday, critical of California’s plan to establish state managed retirement accounts for private employees, argued that while the law says the state shall not be liable for any […]
The Next Big Shift in California’s Climate Change Movement
She calls him Eduardo. He calls her Mrs. Pavley. And together they epitomize big changes within the world-renowned California movement to fight climate change. She is Fran Pavley, 67, a state senator from the San Fernando Valley who is in the final months of a distinguished legislative career that established her as the mother of […]
Legislature’s Rejection of Veterans Court Bill a Tragic Disappointment
As a Vietnam veteran, I have experienced, first hand, the horrors of battle and the trauma it inflicts on brothers and sisters in uniform. But in the work I do to establish new veterans treatment courts around the state, I am seeing the lives of hundreds of service men and women returning from battle with […]
Energy Jobs Lost, The Sky is Falling in Kern County
(Editor’s Note: Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller issued the following press release on SB 32.) Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller (R-Bakersfield) opposed Senate Bill 32 (Pavley, D-Agoura Hills) and made the case to protect jobs in California. SB 32 would require the California Air Resources Board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced […]
How the Voters Feel About Climate Change Legislation
When the greenhouse gases extension bill seemed to be stalled in the legislature, Gov. Jerry Brown’s Executive Secretary, Nancy McFadden, said that the administration would get its way on the climate change: Either the bill would pass the legislature or the governor would take his agenda to the ballot. He filed papers for a ballot […]
How Do You Keep Them Down on the Farm with Excessively High Wages?
One of the ironies of our time is that progressive laws often hurt those they’re supposed to help. Restrictions on housing construction, such as almost anything the California Coastal Commission does or SB 375 from 2008, raise prices, making it difficult, even impossible for poor people to find housing. I wrote several columns on that […]
Can’t Fix Climate Change by Punishing Manufacturers
At least AB 32, our climate change bill passed in 2006, recognized that California alone can’t fix climate change and that higher costs only in California will hurt jobs, the economy and even the environment. So AB 32 included important features to keep regulations affordable and meet a 2020 goal. Now there is a push […]