For 48 years—since one of my heroes, then-Governor Ronald Reagan, requested it-California has had a waiver from the federal government to clean our own air. If the President thinks he can win this fight, he’s out of his mind.
(Editor’s Note: Bonnie Reiss, former California Secretary of Education, UC Regent, senior advisor to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger , director of USC’s Schwarzenegger Institute and early contributor to Fox and Hounds Daily passed away earlier this week. The following release was issued by Gov. Schwarzenegger.) “Bonnie Reiss was a true treasure to California, the United States, the world, […]
(Editor’s Note: Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has been fighting gerrymandering once again – this time by supporting a case, Gill v. Whitford, that is expected to be heard by the United States Supreme Court this fall. The case is the first purely partisan gerrymandering case to go to trial in 30 years, and seeks to […]
Originally published in the Los Angeles Times It was Richard Nixon who brought me into the Republican fold. He was running for president, and I had recently arrived in California from Austria, which I’d left because the European socialist mentality wasn’t big enough for my dreams. Growing up, I was surrounded by kids whose greatest […]
The people elected me to fix what was broken in Sacramento. Together, we have tackled the big issues, whether it is workers’ compensation, infrastructure, redistricting or the budget.
Now, we have a historic opportunity to reform another broken system and help unleash a new wave of prosperity across our state.
California’s tax system was created nearly 100 years ago, before the Great Depression. It is outdated and antiquated, and no longer works in our technology and information-based economy.
That’s why last October, I joined Democrat and Republican leaders to form a bipartisan Commission on the 21st Century Economy.
Composed of economic experts from all political stripes, its mission was to study California’s tax code and propose reforms to make the system more stable, more fair, more simple and more conducive to economic growth.
I will not give the traditional State of the State address today, because the reality is that our state is incapacitated until we resolve the budget crisis. The truth is that California is in a state of emergency. Addressing this emergency is the first and greatest thing we must do for the people. The 42 billion dollar deficit is a rock upon our chest and we cannot breathe until we get it off.
It doesn’t make any sense to talk about education, infrastructure, water, health care reform and all these things when we have this huge budget deficit. I will talk about my vision for all of these things… and more… as soon as we get the budget done.
The legislature is currently in the midst of serious and good faith negotiations to resolve the crisis, negotiations that are being conducted in the knowledge we have no alternative but to find agreement.
This year, we have heard Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature talk about our budget system, but the time for talk is over – it is time for everyone to compromise and get this done.
Republicans must step out of their ideological corner on the right and Democrats must step out of their corner on the left. It is time for us to meet in the middle and compromise so we can move on with other vital business for all Californians.
That’s why yesterday I announced a compromise budget proposal that addresses our $15.2 billion deficit, makes additional spending cuts, increases revenues, and most importantly reforms our broken budget system.
There are elements of this proposal that both parties in the Legislature must compromise on. Democrats must compromise on spending cuts and limits on future spending in exchange for a budget that includes a revenue increase to meet their priorities. Republicans must compromise to allow a temporary sales tax increase that decreases after three years in exchange for a long term fix that solves our systemic budget problems. I have compromised too.
