Strange Initiative Strategy Indicates Prop 5 Could Be in Trouble
In an unusual move in the world of California’s direct democracy, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) filed a new initiative for the 2020 ballot to achieve a goal similar to the initiative they already qualified for 2018. One conclusion: polling must be weak on Proposition 5, the measure on the November 2018 ballot. Proposition […]
Home Stretch: Employer Mandates and Environmental Overreach Dominate End of Session
Although many in Sacramento cite selective statistics to claim California’s business climate is great—such as our current 5th largest GDP in the world—small business owners understand the reality that California’s ever-increasing cost of doing business is strangling small businesses from expanding and forcing many others to leave the state. In a survey released just last […]
Local Governments Continue Spending Tax Dollars on Political Campaigns
When Los Angeles County supervisors voted last month to place a parcel tax on the November ballot, they also approved adding $2 million to a contract for “public outreach and education,” bringing the county’s total outreach spending to $11.2 million. Savvy observers already knew that “outreach and education” is code for thinly disguised campaign materials […]
Is The Republican Story About Repealing the Gas Tax Hike too Good to be True?
California Republicans say that drivers can have smoother roads, more reliable public transit—and lower taxes. In November, voters will get the chance to repeal a recent increase in the state gas tax and assorted vehicle fees. That tax hike—an extra 12 cents per gallon of gasoline, 20 cents per gallon of diesel, and two new […]