Sacramento’s Attempted So Cal Overreach Could Extend Beyond Southern California
Things have been going pretty well lately in the East Bay. Since last year the total number of jobs here increased by almost 27,000 and unemployment is below the statewide rate. An important factor in area companies’ ability to survive California’s myriad state and local regulations is working with local government representatives and agencies such […]
Let’s Pump the Brakes on Cap-and-Trade
In 2006, elected officials gave the California Air Resources Board (CARB) virtually unchecked authority to implement AB 32, which aims to reduce carbon emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. The legislation, including the controversial cap-and-trade program, expires in four years. Some lawmakers have already introduced legislation, such as SB 32, to extend CARB’s […]
The Word of the Summer is “Victoriotic”
It’s the word of the summer: Victoriotic. You won’t find it in the Oxford English Dictionary, or Merriam-Webster’s, at least not yet. It began its life as an epithet, hurled by my oldest son, age 7, at me. “Don’t be victoriotic!” I was guilty as charged. I had a long losing streak against him in the […]
Union Kingpin Threatens California
United Teachers of Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl gave a speech for the ages a couple of weeks ago, securing a wing in the pantheon-of-vile, a place which includes such memorable outbursts as National Education Association general counsel Bob Chanin’s “right-wing bastards” farewell-to-troops speech in 2009 and Chicago Teacher Union boss Karen Lewis’ talk to […]
SB 1298: A Common Sense Clarification Benefitting Our Communities
“Water, water everywhere, nay a drop to drink.” That famous quote from The Ancient Mariner was never more appropriate than in California. We border the planet’s largest ocean. We have massive underground aquifers. We have built one of the world’s most extensive systems of reservoirs, canals and pipelines to move water to our urban areas. […]
Death Penalty on the Initiative Plan
One reviewer found Celine’s “Death on the Installment Plan” the story of “a gloomy, disillusioned doctor who views medicine cynically and is irritated by his patients. That’s about how voters are going to look at yet another decision tossed to them about the death penalty in California. Although there are two related initiatives on the […]
Meg Does California Republicans A Favor
The California Republican Party has now lost something else: its ability to thank people acting in its best interests. Meg Whitman, the Republican nominee for governor in 2010 was criticized by current and former state party officials for her public repudiation of Donald Trump and endorsement of Hillary Clinton. They shoud have praised Whitman. She […]
Don’t Ignore Science with California’s Climate Programs
Regardless of whether a vote is taken before the end of session on the future of California’s climate programs, the conversation taking place about what these programs should look like is a very important one. Clearly Californians place a high priority on reducing the impacts of climate change. Reflecting this, our state’s environmental policies have […]
No Blank Checks for Jerry Brown’s Pet Projects
If approved by a majority of the voters, Proposition 53, the Stop Blank Checks Initiative, “all revenue bonds issued or sold by the State in an amount singly or in the aggregate over $2 billion for any single project owned, operated, or managed by the State must first be approved by the voters at a […]