Ben
Franklin once said nothing in this world is certain
except death and taxes. People in Los Angeles County might offer two other
certainties: traffic
gridlock and air pollution.

It doesn’t have to be this way. By engaging 15
specific but sensible strategies, the region can rid itself of routine gridlock
and reduce its air pollution. Solving these problems will help improve the
region’s economic outlook, and increase Angelenos’ quality of life.

The strategies are laid out in Vision
Los Angeles, a 30-year action plan-jointly  developed by Environmental Defense Fund and
the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation-to achieve clearer
roads and clearer skies in the county sooner than convention seems to offer.
Its solutions were developed after much discussion and research by a team of
top-notch consultants. The plan has been supported by a broad volunteer
advisory group representing business, local government and the non-profit community.

Small businesses are the engines that drive California – and the U.S. – economy. Contrary to popular belief, it is the independents, the small business and minority owned firms that serve as the barometer for the state’s economic prosperity. Fortune 500 companies are definitely important job pillars, to be sure, but 70 percent of new jobs are created by small businesses and many of these businesses lean on relationships with big business to grow and innovate. But let’s be clear, small businesses are leading the charge to economic recovery and fueling California ‘s revenue base. Governor Brown recognized this in designating May as California’s Small Business Month.

It’s critically important that public policies support, rather than hinder, small businesses development. Ninety-nine percent of companies in California are small businesses, and small businesses provide over 52 percent of all private sector jobs.

But the road to success for any small business is far from certain. Two Bounty Hunter Clause Cripples Small Businesses out of every five small business ventures fail after only two years. If the road to success is difficult for the average small business, the statistics are downright sobering among Latino-owned businesses.

For Jerry Brown, it’s time to put up or shut up.

As far back as last September, Brown promised voters that if he were elected, he’d put together a no-gimmicks, forward-looking spending plan, "an honest budget without the smoke and mirrors."

Well, sometime today the governor is expected to receive a budget with more smoke than a Texas barbecue and enough mirrors to fill a carnival funhouse.

And Brown will have to decide what to do with it.

You wouldn’t think it would be a hard choice. After all, in his remarks when he introduced his budget in January, Brown complained that "for 10 years this state has put together its budget with gimmicks and tricks and unrealistic expectations" and vowed it wasn’t going to happen again.

The Legislature debates the state budget today, appropriate since today is the budget deadline. A handful of determined Senate Republicans have offered a path to an election on tax extensions, contingent on Democrats agreeing to changes in laws that cramp business investment and hinder fiscal solvency.

Some may question the relevance of the business climate changes to the state’s fiscal health. I offer this: while Californian workers and even government employees have suffered under the chill of the recession, state regulatory agencies have been on a hiring binge.

My two-year-old son loves his tricycle. But his legs are too short to reach the pedals. So he propels himself by pushing off the ground with his feet -the same way Barney Rubble drove his prehistoric car in the Flintstones. This method of propulsion limits my son’s tricycle range to two blocks.

Which would be enough to take him through three Assembly districts — if the new redistricting commission maps are adopted.

It turns out my family lives in one of those neighborhoods – we’re apartment dwellers in Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile — that would be divided up multiple ways by the new maps.

Here’s how life at the seams of three districts would work, if the preliminary maps released last week become finalized.

On June 10th, CALA released a report titled, "Ulterior Motives, How Abuse Lawsuits in California’s Central Valley Suppresses Job Growth in an Already Depressed Economy." You can read the report here. The report illustrates how abusive lawsuits are robbing the Central Valley of economic opportunities. These lawsuits are being used to shut down, delay and otherwise obstruct business growth in the economically depressed Central Valley.

California is one of the most litigious states in the country with more than one million lawsuits filed every year. For a region that has already been hit pretty hard, these lawsuits are only costing more jobs and slowing the economy even further.

As legislators and the governor see the budget deadline
before them, Democrats are reportedly patching
together a budget that will not require tax increases, relying on budget
gimmicks from the past.  If that kind of
budget passes, expect Brown to get Republican votes to put taxes on a fall
ballot as long as reforms are included.

However, in a role reversal, reforms could become the hurdle
to a special election if public employee unions object.

At a news conference yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown urged
Republicans in the legislature not to be led by talk radio hosts, bloggers or
Washington ideologues. He did not say public employee unions should not lead
Democrats.

It’s important to know where the unions are on the overall
deal Brown has been trying to hammer out with some Republicans to put both tax
extensions and reforms on the ballot.

The San Francisco Bar Pilots
know how to lobby Sacramento, witness AB 907.  As a result this
homogenized monopoly of 55 men and one woman hold exclusive state licenses
which allow them to drive ships in, out and around the San Francisco Bay, and
this license comes with some great benefits.

They have a great pension.  As the only non-public
employees with a publicly mandated defined benefit pension system in California,
they don’t have to contribute a penny towards their own retirement.  This
small perk costs somewhere between $250 million and $650 million, depending on
who you ask.  Either way, pilots are receiving annual retirements of over
$260,000.     

They have great work
schedules.  In 2010 each
pilot actually piloted about 140 times, that’s a job on average once every 2
and a half days.  And many of those jobs, like the ships moving from sea
to the Port of Oakland are completed in 3 or 4 hours.

It has been said that the first step of solving any problem
is to admit that a problem actually exists. 
Ignoring or denying the problem only makes it worse in the
long-run. 

In California, we clearly have a jobs problem as we have the
nation’s second-highest unemployment rate at 11.9 percent.  At the same time, we also pay one of the heaviest
tax burdens in the nation, including the highest sales and gas taxes and the top
business income tax rate in the West. 
Respected publications such as Forbes
and Chief Executive have also ranked
the not-so Golden State as one of the worst places to do business.

Now comes a new report from the
Virginia-based Mercatus Center at George Mason University that confirms the
obvious: California is one of the least friendly states for freedom in the
nation.  We rank 48^th out of
50 states for having policies and laws that restrict the ability of people to
pursue their dreams.  I believe it is
this lack of freedom that makes it harder for us to attract the investment and
jobs we need to turn our state’s economy around.