Let’s Make Housing Scarcity Worse!
You know what really irks me? It’s the fact that people keep acknowledging that housing is a “crisis” in California, then doing things to make it worse. Just last fall, the legislature passed statewide rent control, limiting increases for rental buildings more than 15 years old. While it is an understandable impulse to try to […]
Sacramento Billboard Calls Out CA Trial Attorneys
The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) will launch a mobile billboard in Sacramento today calling out trial attorneys who are getting rich from the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). This harmful law on the books in California allows unscrupulous attorneys to target the state’s businesses unfairly. The digital billboard will be displayed on a […]
Sending a Message on Taxes
There’s something happening here What it is ain’t exactly clear There’s a man with a TAX over there Telling me I got to beware (With apologies to Buffalo Springfield) There is something happening here in California on the bread-and-butter issue of taxes, a possible shift in the state’s political orbit for it seems that voter […]
Predictable Scheduling Law Not Justified in California
This year, there is another effort to enact a “predictable scheduling” mandate on California employers, SB 850 (Leyva), which many believe would impose an unfair, one-size-fits-all, scheduling mandate on retail and food employers that penalizes these employers with “additional pay” for making changes to their employees’ schedule. Some of the concerns with such a scheduling […]
Coronavirus Will Scramble California’s Economy & Lifestyle
I’m covering the coronavirus outbreak extensively mostly because of the economic impact on California and thus the state budget and not to spread panic. It is also consuming Governor Gavin Newsom‘s administration only weeks after a State of the State focused on housing and homelessness. The two aren’t necessarily silos, as there is growing concern […]
New California Bills Empower Regional Economic Sustainability
In a state as large and diverse as California, a one-size-fits-all economic strategy is a tough sell. The state’s distinct regions better understand the strategies that best fit their local needs, assets and opportunities. At the same time, state government can provide the tools and capabilities to help regional leaders work together, put those tactics […]
Kamala Harris for VP?
As I watched results from Super Tuesday’s elections come in, I remembered that California’s junior Senator Kamala Harris had not endorsed in the presidential race after dropping out like some of her competitors did. Good move for her, I thought, because it puts her in a place that she could be called on as the […]
Gavin Gives Sacramento What It Wants
In his state of the state speech, Gov. Newsom gave Sacramento exactly what it wants: focus. And still, the capital elites criticize him. Newsom, after being widely criticized for a lack of focus, focused his speech on homelessness. Of course, homelessness connects to other problems, like housing and jobs and healthcare, so he got into […]
Protect Consumers from Double Taxation
As the world grapples with the economic impact of the spreading coronavirus, the Trump Administration is mulling over whether to seek another round of tax cuts. Given the extreme polarization in Congress, it remains to be seen whether the Democrats and Republicans will be able to agree on any tax measure in this election year. […]