What Happened to the Spending Limit?
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a record breaking $213.5 billion budget, $4.5 billion larger than he proposed in January. The state’s got $21.5 billion surplus money to spend and $16.5 billion stashed away in the “rainy day” fund. California’s treasury is bursting with money. Does anyone remember that the state’s voters asked for budget discipline by […]
Close Ballot Measure Committee Loophole With Public Financing
Recent news reports focus on a so-called “loophole” in campaign finance in California—specifically, that politicians can accept donations of any amount by setting up political committees to support or oppose a ballot measure. This continues to be seen as a problem—a way to bribe politicians with big donations, and get around campaign finance limits. But […]
High Speed Rail is Good—But Not This One
TRANSDEF.org, the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, is a small transit advocacy non-profit. We have long been supporters of high-speed rail (HSR) as the low-pollution way to connect the regions of our large state. The private sector has wanted to invest in passenger rail in California, but has been blocked by politicians promoting California’s […]
5 Takeaways from Newsom’s Revised Budget Plan
Buoyed by California’s strong economy, Gov. Gavin Newsom sent state lawmakers a revised budget on Thursday that boosts his already-hefty January proposal to $213.6 billion. Ka-ching! Public schools will reap most of the gains if the Democratic-controlled Legislature rolls with him. Newsom also upped his ante on the housing crisis with a proposed $1 billion […]
Our Suicidal Elite
The French nobility, observed Tocqueville in The Ancient Regime and The Revolution, supported many of the writers whose essays and observations ended up threatening “their own rights and even their existence.” Today we see much the same farce repeated, as the world’s richest people line up behind causes that, in the end, could relieve them […]