What’s Happening? Notes on Current Issues
Radio and television ads urge Californians to call legislators and support the bill to fix the roads. However, none of the ads mention the tax and fee increases. What happened to truth in advertising? The “sanctuary state” bill passed the senate along party lines 27-12. Many in law enforcement still oppose. Senator Pat Bates cited […]
Prop 13 Gets Roped into the Housing Debate
The discussion on the state’s housing crisis hosted by the California Realtors Association in Los Angeles last week eventually got around to Proposition 13—as you knew it would. As I reported, there was some agreement among panelists on solutions to the housing crisis but agreement melted away when the famous property tax measure became part of […]
Don’t Give Volkswagen an Unfair Advantage
Last week, the California Air Resources Board heard from the public on Volkswagen’s $800 million spending plan for Zero Emissions Vehicle infrastructure, access, and education in California. But in order to know if this spending is a good deal for California, it’s important to know how we got here. We cannot forget that Volkswagen executed […]
Cutting State Programs for a New Failing Bail System in California
This Tuesday, state elected officials from Los Angeles, San Diego and Bay Area will be voting on what seems to be a new California “catch and release” program while burdening all of us with more criminals on our streets and the loss of billions of dollars from many of the programs our children and communities […]
Calexit Could Qualify for Ballot Cheaply
The rule of thumb these days is that qualifying an initiative for the California ballot is a $3 million proposition. Calexit could be cheaper. The reason: people know what Calexit is. And the topic is likely to be a conversation starter. And petition circulators like conversation starters. Indeed, the Calexit initiative could fit nicely into […]
State Gas Tax Plan Following Path of Federal Health Care Bill
The governor and legislative leaders came out from behind closed doors with a transportation tax and road fix plan and demand to pass the measure through the legislature in one week. Feels a lot like the federal experience with the health care reform bill. And, like that measure, despite one party controlling the executive and […]
What Is the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Hiding?
Trust us, they said. We know what’s good for you and the state of California. That was the message hawked by Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature when they pushed and passed a variety of initiatives that gutted the criminal justice system. They did so by weakening parole (AB 109), downgrading a host of […]
LA’s Measure H Campaign Relied on Public Funds, Charity Funds, and Clout
It’s official. L.A. County voters have passed another increase in the sales tax, making it 9.5 percent starting on July 1. On election night, the sales tax increase was barely ahead of the two-thirds vote needed for passage, but then it carried 73 percent of the 283,029 late-absentee and provisional ballots counted later, one-third of […]
Unscrambling the Housing Crisis
California’s housing crisis is the biggest issue for the business community, low-income residents and middle class workers according to a disparate group of panelists taking part in a session sponsored by the California Association of Realtors’ Center for California Real Estate on Tuesday. The Los Angeles event included Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business […]