With Democratic legislators moving toward passing a bill to move June ballot measures to November, a counter move is being contemplated to mount a referendum against such a bill if it is signed by the governor.

This morning, Jon Fleischman reported on Flash Report that SB 202 is the likely vehicle to receive the "gut-and-amend" treatment and carry the language to move initiatives to November.

I am told by a attorney specializing in the field of election law, if a referendum on the expected legislative action qualifies for the ballot, that would freeze the implementation of the new law and all the initiatives that were due to appear on the June ballot would appear on the ballot. Those measures include both the Stop Special Interest Money initiative and the Amazon tax referendum, which appear to be the target of the public unions and Democratic lawmakers.

At the end of last week, President Barack Obama ordered the
Environmental Protection Agency to defer new, strict standards on ozone
emissions. The lack of job growth brought about the decision. If the need for
jobs trumps the implementation of new environmental regulations for the
president, does the same apply to California and our governor?

While the Obama Administration claimed the decision to hold
off the regulation change was based on a need for updated scientific input,
many commentators could not help noticing the announcement came on the heels of
statistics that showed no job growth. A Wall
Street Journal editorial stated flatly that the zero jobs growth "lies at
the center of this (the regulation deferral) startling and welcome decision."

Governor Jerry Brown has pounded the job creation drum of
late, announcing a new jobs czar. However, he is also conducting the green
energy symphony. Meanwhile, California is due to start rolling out regulations
for greenhouse gas controls in 2012 under AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions
Act.

As
he struggled during an interview on KPCC to
defend his fellow Democrats’ recent assaults on California’s initiative
process, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D – Burbank, Glendale, Silver lake) blurted
out that the conversation with Republican Assemblyman Don Wagner (R – Irvine)
was becoming a "strange segment with a Republican sounding like a Democrat, and
a Democratic representative sounding like a Republican." The insinuation was
that the state’s Republicans have generally dismissed the public’s involvement
at the ballot box, while Democrats have upheld the virtues of initiative and
referendum.

Gatto’s
appraisal is disingenuous, of course: California Democrats have been remarkably consistent over the last several
years in their endeavors to curb participation in the initiative and referendum
system. Several of their current constraining efforts are warmed over ideas
from Democrats past.  I wrote recently on
these pages about
Democratic Senator Ellen Corbett’s attempt to restrict signature gathering to
hourly employees or volunteers – SB 168. 
This was the Democrats’ fourth bite at this apple,
with Corbett’s earlier attempt in 2010 (SB 34) falling to Governor
Schwarzenegger’s pen, then-Senator Debra Bowen’s (now Secretary of State) SB
1047 failing to make it out of committee in 2006, and then-Assemblyman Mark
Leno’s AB 2946 falling to veto that same year.

Cross-posted at NewGeography.

The recent announcement that California’s unemployment again nudged up to 12 percent—second worst in the nation behind its evil twin, Nevada—should have come as a surprise but frankly did not. From the beginning of the recession, the Golden State has been stuck bringing up a humbled nation’s rear and seems mired in that less-than-illustrious position.

What has happened to my adopted home state of over last decade is a tragedy, both for Californians and for America. For most of the past century, California has been "golden" not only in name but in every kind of superlative—a global leader in agriculture, energy, entertainment, technology, and most important of all, human aspiration.

Cross-posted at RonKayeLA.

Longtime Los Angeles Teachers Union leader A.J. Duffy has changed his
mind. He’s fought against charter schools, but now he’s starting his
own; he’s protected tenure but now wants it easier to fire bad teachers,
even to limit the prolonged dismissal process to just 10 days.

The times they really are a-changin’ — something that is long overdue.

Labor Day weekend — the traditional end of summer, the start of the fall
football season, a time for at least a moment’s reflection on America’s
working men and women, and those who are desperate to find work.

The bedrock foundation of the modern labor movement was the demand for "more" — and not just more money.

It’s no secret that the Legislature has been AWOL on pro-growth
and job-creating
legislation.

Some Senate Republicans proposed tying economic development legislation
to tax extensions for the state budget earlier this year. That effort died on
the vine, but the seeds were planted for limited reform of the state’s
regulatory system.

A tender shoot emerged this week with the announcement by Senate Pro Tem
Darrell Steinberg of legislation to add a beefed-up economic impact analysis
requirement for new state regulations.

Teachers’ unions have been described across the political
spectrum as an obstacle to fixing the schools.

So why not
put them in charge of the schools?

You object
– you want to say they’re in charge already. But that’s not really true.
Consider the California Teachers Association. CTA is powerful, easily the most
powerful interest group in the state. But it doesn’t run the schools. It
influences people on behalf of  its
members. There are middlemen – state legislators, governors, school board
members – who don’t always do exactly what CTA would do. Plus, there’s a big
difference between having influence and actually having the responsibility of
official control.

For me, Labor Day is about celebrating and
acknowledging those whose hard work fuels our economy and provides essential
goods and services for all of us.  As we
celebrate Labor Day this weekend, I’m reminded of some of the hardest working
laborers I know, the small businesses owners, independent contractors and other
job creators throughout California.  These dedicated workers serve as the economic
engine for our state. 

Our country became great because of the blood,
sweat and tears of some of America’s finest workers.  Today, their entrepreneurial spirit continues
through the hard work of thousands of small business owners and independent
contractors throughout our country.  That
is why it is particularly troublesome that some in federal and state government
have this sector of the workforce in their cross hairs. 

On Tuesday, August 23rd, California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse joined with legislators to hold a press conference at the State Capitol announcing the results of a voter survey recently done in California. The survey asked votes if lawsuit reform an important part of improving California’s business environment and attracting and keeping good jobs.