Expediting a New Spending Limit Honors the Voters’ Show of Faith
I give credit to California Democratic leaders. Flush with victory, they acknowledge their party’s weakness for fiscal profligacy. In the wake of the first successful voter approval of a statewide tax increase in eight years – after eight straight defeats – Democratic leaders have expressed due caution on returning to old habits: Governor Brown began […]
Lawsuit Seeks to Remove Illegal, Unnecessary Revenue Raising Auction from Cap-and-Trade Market Mechanism
Cost effective implementation of California’s greenhouse gas reduction law, AB 32, not only has been a high priority of the California business community, but is a mandate in the law itself. Nonetheless, when designing the market mechanism to reduce GHG emissions, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) insisted on taking the costliest approach: including a […]
In Defense of Millionaires
Why is Darrell Steinberg still picking on millionaires? On the heels of successfully promoting a new “millionaire’s tax,” Proposition 30, the leader of the State Senate has proposed using his new supermajority legislative power to “alter the initiative process in a way that makes it harder for millionaires to impose their will by spending vast […]
October No-Surprise: Political Journalists Chase the Shiny Object
Political journalists have been chasing a shiny object for the past two weeks, flashed and twinkled by Gov. Brown for his amusement and the reporters’ distraction. The $11 million contribution to a committee* opposing Proposition 30 and supporting Proposition 32 was revealed Monday by the donor to have originated from two familiar organizations allied with […]
Job Creation is Still our Central Challenge
How many times in the last two months have you heard that California is creating jobs faster than the national average? Quite a bit, I would guess. California’s economy is recovering, but it ain’t “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Since California’s economy hit rock bottom in February of 2010, the state has added a half […]
Another Tax Proposal by California’s Air Regulators
Not satisfied with a $60 billion new energy tax, disguised as a cap-and-trade auction and pegged to increase gasoline prices by 70 cents a gallon. Not satisfied with an untested “low-carbon” fuels regulation that will likely reduce refinery capacity in California (and we just saw how well that works out for California). Now, the Air […]
Fingerpointing – to the Left
If Governor Brown’s Proposition 30 loses at the ballot in 25 days, the fingers will be pointing to the left. It’s an odd circumstance in a state with such a long history of anti-tax activism from the right. But by far the main headaches for the Governor have been caused by his co-partisans. The official […]
New Consumer Product Rules Fail the Test of Good Economics
Here we go again. The Legislature passes a vague and open-ended law intended to reduce exposure to hazardous chemicals. A state regulator proposes rules without any consideration of economic impacts or less burdensome alternatives. And predictably the regulator has unleashed a firestorm of criticism over the scope and consequences of the new rule. Allow me […]
Californians Voting with their Feet – Against California
With little notice, and even less concern, California has begun to resemble a Rust Belt state regarding its changing demographics. An important and alarming report by the Manhattan Institute has documented the decades-long trend of domestic out-migration from California which, when coupled with a declining trend in natural population increase (births minus deaths), could result […]
Cap-and-Trade Program Threatens California’s GHG Reduction Goals
In California, the impulse to reduce climate-changing greenhouse gases has been overtaken by the impulse to redistribute and spend massive amounts of money. The likely result: higher than necessary GHG emissions and a less productive California economy. The 2006 legislation regulating GHG emissions, AB 32, established the goal of reducing emissions statewide to 1990 levels […]