Sen. Steinberg Answers the Prop 13 Question – Sort of
At his press conference yesterday, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg got the expected Prop 13 question, as in: now that you and the Democrats have legislative supermajorities are you going to mess with Prop 13? Steinberg jokingly responded: remind me what Prop 13 is. Gladly senator. It ‘s that ballot measure that the voters […]
What will the “New” Legislature Bring?
Senators and Assembly members are sworn in today for the new legislative term and while much has been made about the Democrats supermajority, there is no certainty about what we will get from the new legislature. Veteran legislators have already made it known that they want to change the two-thirds vote requirement for some taxes. […]
Governors Wilson and Davis on Prop 30 and the “Fiscal Cliff”
Fox Business News anchor Neil Cavuto yesterday explored with former governors Pete Wilson and Gray Davis if by passing Prop 30 California’s action could represent a remedy for Washington’s “Fiscal Cliff” – the scheduled automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax increases if no alternative budget solution is found. Cavuto noted that California has cut spending […]
Initiative Reform: Been There, Didn’t Do That
I served on three state commissions that dealt either in whole or in part with initiative reform, so when Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said after the election – with supermajorities in hand in both legislative houses – that he would pursue initiative reform, he certainly attracted my interest. Two reforms that he suggested […]
Will Prop 30 Replace the Lottery as the “School Funding Solution”?
Members of the education establishment tell us that despite the success of Proposition 30 at the polls, the issue of school funding has hardly been resolved. They argue that the Prop 30 funds do little more than maintain a status quo that must be improved. Translation: more money for education is needed to fulfill the […]
Thoughts from Post Election Conferences
I participated in a couple of post election conferences last week, one sponsored by the California Chamber of Commerce and the other by the Pat Brown Institute at Cal State LA. The Cal Chamber panel was on November’s initiatives; the Pat Brown Institute panel discussed the top-two primary and redistricting reform. On the governor’s success […]
Business Community Should have Before – and Should Now – Consider Supporting a Referendum on Taxes
This is an I-told-you-so column. I’m sure we can dig up a number of columns where my projections were wrong, but today, given the results of the election, I’m bringing back a column from July 7, 2011. I urged the business community to consider seeking a change in the state constitution to allow referendums on […]
Charles Munger, Jr.: ‘No Plans to Run More Initiatives’
Charles Munger, Jr. who spent more that $35-million in the recent election initiative campaigns told the California Chamber of Commerce Post-Election Public Affairs Council Meeting yesterday that he has no plans to support any California initiative campaigns soon. Munger, a physicist by profession who served as the conference’s keynote speaker, said he would spend time […]
End of the Proposition 13 Era?
Tuesday’s election results were not even in print when questions arose whether the Proposition 13 era in California history had come to an end. Tax-resisting California began a generation ago in 1978 when the famous tax cutting measure was overwhelmingly passed by the voters. The Mercury News claimed in a post-election story that the passage […]
Salute our Veterans and Military on Veteran’s Day
Today is Veteran’s Day, an opportunity for us to pause and salute those who stand up to protect our country. Three years ago, I wrote a piece on Fox and Hounds on Veteran’s Day titled, Politics as Usual—A Veteran’s Day Tribute. It told the story of my father, Harry Fox, a decorated World War II […]