May Revise: Tax Increases Have Consequences
This is the 30th California state budget I’ve written about after I drove out here in 1987 to write editorials for the Orange County Register. Looking over the years, my theme has been the same: The state’s taxpayers can only bear so high a burden of taxing and spending. When that burden gets too large, […]
AB 359: A Quietly Lurking Threat to Prosecutors Throughout California
Some threats to public safety are obvious, such as Prop. 47 and Prop. 57. They were high-profile initiatives that received plenty of public attention and debate. Other efforts to change the criminal justice system appear to be well meaning, but contain consequences that reveal both a misunderstanding of how the system operates and are ill […]
Reserves for Me But Not For Thee
When is it good for a California government to hold moneys in reserve for a rainy day? Only when the governor or legislative leaders say so. Recent so-called scandals have exposed a hypocrisy in state government. Gov. Brown and leading Democrats all talk up the virtues of rainy day funds. But they are only interested […]
UFW Union Failed its Own Workers
In the latest crisis facing the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), Monterey Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills recently ruled that the union failed to pay its workers for their hours worked, which included overtime and meal breaks. Judge Wills ordered the UFW to pay $1.2 million to their employees. The verdict comes at a […]
A President from California? The Speculation Begins
With all the commotion raised by President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and the House passing the American Health Care Act, many Democrats and a number media members are already considering possibilities of a 2020 challenger to Trump. For a change, a Californian may be part of the conversation. California has not had […]
Los Angeles County wants to connect your small business to $1 billion in contracting opportunities
What if I told you there’s a customer who has a goal to buy $1 billion worth of goods and services from small businesses? This customer buys everything from office supplies and computers, consultant services, clothing, hygiene products, food, bedding, cookware, furniture, and more. This customer is Los Angeles County. Maybe you’ve never considered selling […]
PAGA Lawsuits Hit Small Businesses Hard
The problem with the Private Attorneys General Act on small business was made clear in a recent article in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. It points to an obvious solution to prevent the crippling of small businesses while at the same time supporting labor laws: give businesses a fair amount of time to fix […]
The Valley Silver Lining in the Health Bill
In the awful cloud of the Obamacare rollback approved by the U.S. House of Representatives, there’s a silver lining: health care in the Central Valley is going to get much more of the attention it needs. The bill saw California’s Republican members of Congress vote for a bill that would cost millions their health coverage—specifically […]
The News Media are Losing their Search for Truth
To someone who has spent most of his career in the news business, it’s distressing to confront the current state of the media. Rather than a source of information and varied opinion, the media increasingly act not so such as disseminators of information but as a privileged and separate caste, determined to shape opinion […]