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Californians are all connected by disasters, regardless of where they live |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 07/03/2008 01:41 PM
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From the Los Angeles Times | CAPITOL JOURNAL
Californians are all connected by disasters, regardless of where they live
by George Skelton
July 3, 2008
Typically after I write about a natural disaster, e-mails pour in from cranky Californians who assert that anyone who builds in harm's way -- in the woods, along the seashore, on a slide-prone cliff, in a flood plain, on a quake fault -- gets what they deserve when calamity strikes. But that covers just about all of us.
No Californian should be smug. A major quake can occur practically anywhere, except -- knock on wood -- the Sacramento Valley. But flooding is a given in the Sacramento Valley and along the North Coast. Mudslides are a fact of coastal life in Southern California. And fires are everywhere that pines, manzanita and housing developments sprout. |
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Price tag soars for free state health care |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 07/02/2008 08:31 AM
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An Orange County Register Editorial
Price tag soars for free state health care
Some estimates say Kuehl plan will mean a $46 billion deficit in 5 years
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
You can expect to wait to be served if government provides health care. And you can expect ultimately a bureaucrat will decide what health care you receive. But the state's independent Legislative Analyst now says the latest proposal to impose universal health care on Californians would cost far more than even the astronomical prices its advocates originally claimed, and much more than even steep new taxes would raise.
How much more? The state budget is about $17 billion in the red. That's a lot of money. But proposed universal, government-run health care is estimated by Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill to run $26 billion in the red in its first year, 2010-11. That's a substantially greater deficit for the state to provide health care than the already enormous deficit for the state to provide everything it does.
It doesn't stop there. In 2011-2012, the first full year of the government-run system, the deficit would balloon to $42 billion. After five full years of operation, the deficit would increase to a mind-boggling $46 billion. By comparison, a 2005 private study of an almost identical previous bill projected a $29 billion savings over current health care spending, and no deficit. |
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Voters beware: Politicians will lie to kill Proposition 11 |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 07/02/2008 08:23 AM
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This story is taken from Sacbee / Opinion / Daniel Weintraub
Voters beware: Politicians will lie to kill Proposition 11
By Daniel Weintraub - dweintraub@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Californians will get a chance to make history this November, an opportunity to seize control of their government from the politicians, handlers and consultants who have rigged the game to serve their own interests.
Proposition 11 would take from the Legislature its power to draw political boundaries and give that job to an independent bipartisan commission that would operate under strict guidelines designed to ensure fairness for all parties and protect the rights of minorities.
The process now allows the politicians to choose their voters by drawing district lines almost guaranteed to preserve the jobs of incumbents and freeze in place the partisan breakdown in the Legislature. Under Proposition 11, the voters would choose the politicians, which is the way a representative democracy is supposed to work.
But there's one big problem. The insiders in the California Democratic Party oppose the measure. |
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Why the state budget never adds up |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 06/29/2008 05:26 PM
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from the Los Angeles Times | OPINION
Why the state budget never adds up
California needs to introduce honest accounting and accountability into the equation.
By Mark Paul
June 29, 2008
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he wants more than a balanced budget this year. He wants budget reform too.
For a state that has already laced itself into straitjackets of spending mandates and formulas, Schwarzenegger proposes new constitutional chains: a combined rainy-day fund and spending limit, to be added on top of the rainy-day fund and spending limit that voters have already approved separately. His implicit message: The Legislature and I have chosen badly, so please restrict our ability to choose again. |
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State lawmakers - play by the rules |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 06/08/2008 11:19 AM
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from SFgate.com: home of the San Francisco Chronicle
EDITORIAL, Sunday, June 8, 2008
State lawmakers - play by the rules
Karen Bass, sworn in as Assembly speaker less than a month ago, is facing her first big test of leadership. The events of those ignoble three days in May - when the Assembly scrambled to meet a deadline to pass bills it originated - represented an affront to representative democracy.
In one documented case, a member of the leadership team, Assemblyman Kevin de León of Los Angeles, hit the voting switch of a fellow Democrat, Mary Hayashi of Castro Valley, while she was elsewhere in the Capitol. That would have violated Assembly rules even if she had agreed with the vote. She did not. |
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Six political lessons Tuesday's California primary |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 06/05/2008 03:33 PM
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From the Los Angeles Times |CALIFORNIA | LOCAL | CAPITOL JOURNAL
Six political lessons Tuesday's California primary
BY George Skelton
June 5, 2008
SACRAMENTO — Here's a quick and simple postmortem for Tuesday's scarcely noticed California primary.
First, what did it all mean -- especially for the November general election? What's the overarching message from voters?
"It doesn't mean much, if anything," says Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the California Target Book, which chronicles congressional and legislative races.
"It wasn't an election with any kind of strong currents," adds veteran Democratic consultant Bill Carrick.
Agreed.
But there were some old lessons re-taught and maybe one or two new ones learned. |
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No burden too great |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 05/31/2008 11:20 PM
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from the San Diego Union Tribune | EDITORIAL
No burden too great
Paid sick leave bill latest assault on business
May 31, 2008
Few pronouncements should chill California business owners more than this: “I'm a San Francisco Democrat, and I know what's best for you.” On legislation large and small, Bay Area Democrats never see any burden as too onerous for businesses to bear.
Now – with a measure requiring paid sick leave for any employee who works as few as seven days a year – this view is again on display. And this time it's got a grossly dishonest overlay. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, the bill's sponsor, and Assemblyman Mark Leno, one of its loudest advocates, make the ludicrous argument that one reason they want the measure enacted is to help businesses' bottom lines. |
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California Budget 101: What went wrong, when |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 05/26/2008 05:56 PM
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This story is taken from Sacbee / Opinion.
California Budget 101: What went wrong, when
By Daniel Weintraub - dweintraub@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Sunday, May 25, 2008
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state budget last summer, he all but declared "mission accomplished" in his administration's biggest battle. The spending plan not only eliminated the state's perpetual deficit, he said, it also boasted a record $4 billion reserve. The state was fully funding education and public safety and repaying debt earlier than required, all without raising taxes.
"I applaud the Republicans for pushing us to take the operating deficit down to zero this year," Schwarzenegger said as he signed the document after a seven-week stalemate. "And I applaud the Democrats for being willing to compromise while sticking to their principles to get the budget done. It was a difficult process, but in the end, this is a good budget for California." |
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Mysterious things happening behind CalPERS' curtain of secrecy |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 05/12/2008 12:42 PM
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This story is taken from Sacbee / Politics / Dan Walters.
Mysterious things happening behind CalPERS' curtain of secrecy
By Dan Walters - dwalters@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, May 12, 2008
Something is happening at the nation's largest pension fund, the Sacramento-based California Public Employees' Retirement System, which has nearly a quarter-trillion dollars in investments ranging from real estate to stocks.
With that much money and a governing board dominated by politicians and union representatives, there have been hints that factors other than pure fiduciary responsibility often drive decisions.
Some of those other motives have been advertised – investment in low-income housing or environmentally pure ventures, for instance – while others have been all but virtually impossible to divine, since CalPERS has been a very tight-lipped shop. |
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Conservative flat tax idea could serve liberal ends |
Posted by: mturnipseed on 05/08/2008 04:12 PM
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This story is taken from Sacbee / Opinion / Daniel Weintraub
Conservative flat tax idea could serve liberal ends
By Daniel Weintraub - dweintraub@sacbee.com
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, May 8, 2008
Facing a shortfall that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has estimated at $20 billion, Democratic lawmakers in the Capitol are looking for a way to raise tax revenue. They might want to adopt and modify an idea advocated by a conservative think tank – and increase tax revenue while lowering tax rates.
California's tax rates currently top out at 10.3 percent for individuals and 8.84 percent on corporate profits. But a report by the Pacific Research Institute says a flat, 3 percent rate would collect the same amount if the state also eliminated all of the deductions that now riddle the income tax code. |
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