The History and Provisions of the State Spending Limit, and Why It’s Back in Play
What a surprise! According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the long-dormant state spending limit (embedded in Article XIIIB of the California Constitution) could have an impact on the 2017-18 budget now under discussion at the Capitol. “What spending limit?” is the reaction of most observers. The limit, known as the “Gann Limit” after one of […]
Give the Teachers Their Tax Break – On One Big Condition
There are plenty of arguments against a bill in the California legislature that would exempt California teachers from taxes on their salaries. But forget those arguments about the cost, about the fairness of exempting people who make more than the median Californian from taxes, or even about the problem of public employees forgoing paying certain […]
Gorsuch Hearings Not A Bork Re-Play
No one will ever confuse the bland hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch with the rousing intellectual proceedings that occurred when Robert Bork sat before the senate judiciary committee seeking appointment to that court. For four and a half days, Americans were tuned to television and radio broadcasts of the most enlightening judicial give […]
How The Health Care Fiasco Helps California Republicans
The collapse of the House Republican health care plan, and with it probably the effectiveness of Speaker Paul Ryan as well as the first hundred days of the Trump Administration, was a godsend to one group of people: the seven endangered California House Republicans who did not have to vote on a really terrible Obamacare repealer. The bill […]
AB 889 Poses a Liability Threat to the Business Community
Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Mark Stone (D-Santa Cruz) has introduced AB 889, reigniting a debate that first began just over 25 years ago in this state. First proposed by then Senator Bill Lockyer in 1991, SB 711 would have banned the use of protective orders in civil litigation. Governor Wilson vetoed the measure. Other legislative […]
Now California Must Take on the Healthcare-Industrial Complex
California dodged a budgetary bullet last week when Congress elected not to change Medicaid reimbursement rules. With 14 million people covered by Medi-Cal, which is California’s version of Medicaid, the consequences for the state budget of having to pick up more of that cost would’ve been enormous. But that’s just one battle. Medi-Cal is a […]
The Decline And Future Of Healthcare Legislation
The Trump Administration has run into its first major policy buzz-saw—and it is the Republican Party. To quote the old Walter Kelly “Pogo” cartoon, “We have met the enemy and he is us! The GOP repeal and replace health plan has been rejected by its own members and could be delayed indefinitely. This was a […]
Congressman Schiff: Ready for His Close-Up
With Barack Obama keeping a low profile and Bill and Hillary Clinton sidelined, there has been a lot of hand wringing about the lack of fresh Democratic leadership. Now, from the relative obscurity of the California Congressional delegation, a new Democratic “person of the hour” has materialized –Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank). “Before the election of […]
There Ought to Be a Law…That is Ignored
UCLA basketball is facing Kentucky in the Sweet 16 tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. Eyebrows were raised when the trip to Tennessee was justified despite a state law that prohibits California tax-supported individuals from traveling to certain states blackballed because those states passed laws tabbed discriminatory by California politicians. Tennessee has a law that allows therapists […]