Legislation Would Reduce Access to Justice
California’s courts are struggling to accommodate years of budget cuts. The judiciary has absorbed ongoing reductions of more than a half-billion dollars. More than $1 billion in construction projects for courthouses has been diverted to the General Fund to balance the state budget. The consequence of these reductions are reduced access to justice: closing courthouses, […]
Because Gasoline isn’t Expensive Enough
Good news: Mexico is reversing 70 years of direct control over its oil industry and welcoming private investment from abroad. Bad news: the California Legislature is poised to declare California oil refineries “public works,” opening the door to more expensive labor rules and less-trained workers. Mexico has wised-up, after seven decades of iron-fisted state control […]
Yes, Our Economy is Recovering, but Job Growth is Pathetic
California’s economy is slowly recovering, good news especially for Californians along the coast and in the big metro areas. But job growth remains frustratingly slow, bogged down by structural, competitive and – yes – self-inflicted impediments. I haven’t posted these charts for a while, but they show that California’s recovery is lagging about two-and-a-half years […]
Plan for Public Works Before Raising Taxes
Modern and reliable public works are key to California’s economic growth. Indeed, few activities by state and local governments can be more helpful to economic development than ongoing maintenance and expansion of the public infrastructure: roads, water facilities and sewers, and public buildings for schools, colleges, courthouses and jails. (This doesn’t include the privately-financed and […]
Uplifting Political Debate – I’ll Drink to That
Modern political debate has all the nuance of a street fight. Canned talking points serve for wisdom, and empathy for an opposing view is considered weak, if not apostasy. You can’t remove the rough-and-tumble from politics, but how about some gracious acknowledgement of the other side? Even in the bad old segregated South we can […]
New Day for Economic Development in California
Governor Brown executed a political double-play last week: wrapping top priorities for business and labor into a single bill and gaining bi-partisan support for the package. At issue was the future of the once-popular, but recently embattled enterprise zone program. Eliminating that program’s hiring tax incentives had been a priority for the Governor since he […]
Enterprise Zones are Indispensable to a California Recovery
Two decades ago California was recovering from the then-worst economic downturn since the Depression. We needed all the tools we could muster, including tax incentives, infrastructure spending, permit streamlining and aggressive marketing. We also needed a unified voice among our state and local political leadership. I should know: I was privileged to be undersecretary of […]
Legislature Abuses Budget Trailer Bill
The Constitution forbids it. A unanimous Supreme Court slapped their hands. But when it comes to loading up budget bills with extraneous goodies, the Legislature just can’t resist. Bowing to the demands of their allies in organized labor, the Legislature inserted into a budget trailer bill (Section 48 of Assembly Bill 76) substantive language designed […]
Easier Solution to Stem Budget Volatility
Last week I discussed Assembly Speaker Perez’s proposal to create a new “rainy day” budget reserve. He suggests capping the amount of capital gains tax revenues available for deposit in the General Fund. Capital gains revenues above the cap would instead be transferred to a reserve. Once the reserve was filled, excess revenues would be […]
Speaker’s “Rainy Day” Reserve Proposal: Reform or Power Play?
Assembly Speaker John Perez has announced his support for a ballot measure establishing a new “rainy day reserve” for the state budget. Still to be answered: is his proposal more responsible than the measure already on the November, 2014, ballot? In other words, what is the problem with the measure slated for 2014 that the […]