Any day now, Republicans in the California State Assembly will be given the opportunity to score an historic victory for private property rights. Governor Jerry Brown has proposed eliminating the state’s more than 400 redevelopment agencies, which have abused their eminent domain powers to terrorize Golden State property owners for decades. Now is the time for GOP Assemblymen and Senators to seize the occasion by casting off partisan concerns and focusing on doing what is right to end the abuse of public power for private gain.

California Republicans must stand up for Carlos Barragan, Jr., whose Community Youth Athletic Center uses boxing to train at-risk kids how to succeed in the ring, in school and in life. The National City Community Development Commission declared Barragan’s gym—along with almost 700 nearby properties—a “blight” on the community. If the blight label is allowed to remain, each of these properties could be the subject to eminent domain for private development for years to come.

The GOP in California must stand up for Ahmad Mesdaq, who was forced to close the doors of his upscale cigar store and café after San Diego redevelopment officials decided it stood in the way of their preferred upscale development. Mesdaq’s shop was impressive enough to be featured in Cigar Aficionado magazine and included former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger among its clientele, but it was ultimately destroyed and turned into a parking lot.

According to a report released by the American Petroleum Institute, 2011 could go down as the first year since 1957 that there has not been A SINGLE offshore lease sale. Moreover, 85 percent of our nation’s offshore resources continue to be off-limits to development. This is despite the increased uncertainty in world oil markets and a rising worldwide demand for crude oil (think China, India, and eventually Japan).

Keep in mind that not only will increased domestic oil and gas production fuel our economy by lowering energy costs, while also creating good paying private sector jobs…more oil production in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) would also result in tens of billions of new tax revenue for state and local governments, including right here in California, and in Santa Barbara County where the budget deficits for FY 2011/2012 are $24 billion, and $43 million respectively.

President Obama delivered a speech on energy where he suggested that all is pretty well with our nation’s domestic energy production…I.e., energy crisis? What energy crisis? He even went so far as to boast that under his Administration 2009 saw an increase in domestic oil production. Well, below are some examle of how the Obama Administration is handling our nation’s domestic energy needs (Source: API):

What California needs are a few politicians.

Oh, the state’s got plenty of people who are in politics, holding office, casting votes, giving speeches and collecting their per diems in the Legislature. What we’re short of, though, are real politicians, men and women who pride themselves not so much on getting elected, but on getting things done, things they believe will leave California a better place.

There are plenty of names out there, mostly drawn from years gone by: Democrats like Jesse Unruh, Willie Brown and, more recently, Darrell Steinberg. Or Republicans like Bill Campbell, Ken Maddy and Jim Brulte. Any Sacramento veteran could probably come up with another dozen names or more.

This isn’t some misty walk down Memory Lane, yearning for some Golden Age of bipartisanship – or post-partisanship — that never was and never should be. No, the best politicians are strong partisans who aren’t afraid to work with strong partisans on the other side, each looking to make the absolute best deal for their side.

So
much for campaign promises and listening to the voting public! 

We’re
now almost three months into Governor Jerry Brown’s reign as the state’s chief
problem solver.  The Democrats control
both houses of the Legislature and it now takes a simple majority to pass a
budget.  Yet, gridlock remains.  The status quo, meaning the annual budget
stalemate and finger-pointing war between Republicans and Democrats, is uglier
than ever…and it’s not even summer in Sacramento. 

Gov.
Brown, who optimistically boasted of his experience to get things done last
fall, has taken to YouTube to plead his case with
California voters…his latest, filmed after the Governor called a halt to
negotiations, clearly shows a frustrated state chief executive.  Lately, Gov. Brown has pledged to take his
budget frustration show on the road to venues throughout the state, as if a few
rallies attended by his supporters or press conferences railing against
Republicans will convince GOP legislators to change their minds.  What’s interesting is that in his
"frustrated" YouTube video, and news reports following the budget collapse, Gov.
Brown drops any pretense of accommodation and adopts a hard-core Democrat Party
line – basically, accept his plan; a failure to do so is not democratic.

At the California Retailers Association, we believe the first step to economic recovery is creating a positive environment for businesses. In this economic crisis, we need our legislators to focus on ways to encourage businesses to move to California and to expand and grow in this state.

Today legislation by Senator Juan Vargas (Senate Bill 469) will be heard in the Senate Governance and Finance Committee that will severely hamper businesses that generate thousands of jobs across the state. This legislation is bad for our state and bad for business.

First, our state is facing a massive fiscal crisis with an over 12 percent unemployment rate and an estimated $24.5 billion deficit. So we all need to be working together to create economic opportunity and new jobs which will then lead to increased revenues for the state. We do not need legislation that will actually discourage businesses from expanding in our state and adding jobs. Just one new large store opening leads to hundreds of local jobs and more sales tax revenues. That’s exactly what our state needs right now.

About 200 local agencies in California have
increased pension benefits this year, as noted in pensiontsunami.com. 
How these benefits are eventually paid is a concern to California voters. 
As an actuary who has worked on pension formulas for forty years, I know that
actuaries are the key figures in making that decision.

The pension plan advisors and actuaries should be
held to a higher standard than in the past.  Responsible public
disclosure from actuaries should indicate (in advance) the financial consequences
on public pension plans for decisions made on benefit changes. Lack of such
transparency has put our current pension system in jeopardy.

Here are three ideas for change:

1.    Employers
should be held to a standard that promises (benefits) must be paid for (funded)
during the period that employees provide services.

The guys over at Calbuzz (Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine) went
on a rant in support of raising taxes yesterday claiming the way to save
California is to tax the rich and tax businesses. Tax the rich because higher
income taxes really don’t cause people to move, they say; tax corporations
because they are greedy. Furthermore, they cheered Jerry Brown taking his case
to the people on tax extensions, advising him to conduct a populist campaign
like he did when running for president in 1992.

Well, I’ll agree with them on one point: Brown should
campaign like he did in 1992 — and advocate for a flat tax like he did then. More
on that in a moment.

Taxing the rich will not be the savior of California’s
fiscal mess. People do change their behavior in response to tax increases,
especially the rich. Relying on a higher income tax will make the California’s
volatile tax system worse.

A new Field Poll on federal health reform has found that Californians support the law by almost exactly the same margin as they did on the day it passed more than a year ago: 52 to 37. Despite a vigorous debate before and after the bill’s passage, a federal election that centered on the issue, and two federal court ruling finding parts of the law unconstitutional, public opinion here is pretty much frozen in place.

One big reason for that is that peoples’ opinion about the law seem to have as much to do with who they are than what the law would do. Democrats and ethnic minorities – both more numerous in California than elsewhere – support the law in large numbers. Republicans oppose it.

It probably is not a surprise that people who say they have benefitted from the parts of the law that have already been implemented like the law the most. But strangely, those who say they have benefitted are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans.

Recession? Check. Record state budget deficit? Check. More spending on favored special interests? Unchecked!

Like water rising to its own level, legislative Democrats find a way to spend money on new programs. Even as the budget deficit tops $15 billion, the Legislature passed SB 1 in the first special session, which appropriates $8 million a year in utility ratepayer charges to provide career education subsidies for “clean technology and renewable energy job training” programs. The money would be used by schools to set up Partnership Academies to train prospective workers in, among other occupations, energy audits, retrofitting and weatherization activities, and installing energy-efficient household appliances, windows, doors, insulation, lighting and water and energy conservation technologies.