State Budget

Blog

Proposed Water Tax Dropped in State Budget Deal

Sacramento has been trying for some time now to add a 95-cents-a-month tax on drinking water to pay for “secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure.” Those dreams of more taxes were delayed last week, though, ...
Commentary

The State’s Dangerous Flirtation with Drug Rationing

Massachusetts may soon stop paying for some of the lifesaving medicines its poorest residents count on. State officials recently requested permission from the federal government to restructure MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. If their waiver is approved, a small group of state bureaucrats will determine which drugs are off limits ...
Commentary

State Study of Single-Payer Care Wastes $100,000

Washington is the latest state to contemplate a government takeover of its health care system. The Evergreen State’s legislature just allocated $100,000 for a “study of single-payer and universal coverage health care systems.” They may as well have lit that money on fire. Several other states have explored implementing single-payer ...
Commentary

States Can’t Afford Medicaid Expansion — Neither Can Patients

This fall’s midterm election ballot just got a little longer in Utah. In mid-April, progressive activists announced that they’d gathered enough signatures to force a November referendum on Medicaid expansion. Utah isn’t the only red state flirting with extending free government health insurance to able-bodied, childless adults. Within weeks, activists in Idaho ...
California

Connie Conway – She’s Back! Former Assembly Republican Leader Takes On Sacramento’s Hot Topics

Former Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway always has an opinion about something.  She joins us to discuss the hot issues on the agenda in Sacramento, including taxes, water storage, the state budget, and health care.
Blog

Today is California Tax Freedom Day

“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot.  It’s especially cruel for Californians because today, April 23, is the day when California taxpayers have collectively earned enough money to pay their federal, state, and local tax bill for the year, according to the Tax Foundation. After working for nearly four ...
Commentary

Are Electric Car Subsidies Just Giveaways To The Wealthy?

Gov. Jerry Brown and some California lawmakers are pushing Golden State drivers to the fast lane of an all-electric car future. For example, San Francisco Democrat Phil Ting has introduced legislation to outlaw the sale of traditional gas-powered cars by the year 2040. My colleague Kerry Jackson has called this idea “a ...
Blog

Herding Cats and Moving the Ball Forward

Tim Anaya interviews Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Over the years, I had the opportunity to work for 9 consecutive Assembly Republican Leaders.  To say that leading the minority party in California is a great challenge is an understatement. Transitioning from being one Senator ...
California

Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates – The View from Under the Dome

Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates joins us as she celebrates her one-year anniversary as Leader to discuss the top issues on the agenda at the State Capitol – poverty, health care reform, transportation, the state budget, taxes, and her caucus’ priorities for 2018.
Commentary

Put Medicaid Back to Work Helping the Truly Unfortunate

Some Americans may soon have to punch a time clock to qualify for Medicaid. Last month, the Trump administration announced that states could seek federal permission to require people to work, attend school, or otherwise contribute to the community in order to receive Medicaid benefits. Kentucky’s plan to mandate 80 ...
Blog

Proposed Water Tax Dropped in State Budget Deal

Sacramento has been trying for some time now to add a 95-cents-a-month tax on drinking water to pay for “secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure.” Those dreams of more taxes were delayed last week, though, ...
Commentary

The State’s Dangerous Flirtation with Drug Rationing

Massachusetts may soon stop paying for some of the lifesaving medicines its poorest residents count on. State officials recently requested permission from the federal government to restructure MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program. If their waiver is approved, a small group of state bureaucrats will determine which drugs are off limits ...
Commentary

State Study of Single-Payer Care Wastes $100,000

Washington is the latest state to contemplate a government takeover of its health care system. The Evergreen State’s legislature just allocated $100,000 for a “study of single-payer and universal coverage health care systems.” They may as well have lit that money on fire. Several other states have explored implementing single-payer ...
Commentary

States Can’t Afford Medicaid Expansion — Neither Can Patients

This fall’s midterm election ballot just got a little longer in Utah. In mid-April, progressive activists announced that they’d gathered enough signatures to force a November referendum on Medicaid expansion. Utah isn’t the only red state flirting with extending free government health insurance to able-bodied, childless adults. Within weeks, activists in Idaho ...
California

Connie Conway – She’s Back! Former Assembly Republican Leader Takes On Sacramento’s Hot Topics

Former Assembly Republican Leader Connie Conway always has an opinion about something.  She joins us to discuss the hot issues on the agenda in Sacramento, including taxes, water storage, the state budget, and health care.
Blog

Today is California Tax Freedom Day

“April is the cruelest month,” wrote T.S. Eliot.  It’s especially cruel for Californians because today, April 23, is the day when California taxpayers have collectively earned enough money to pay their federal, state, and local tax bill for the year, according to the Tax Foundation. After working for nearly four ...
Commentary

Are Electric Car Subsidies Just Giveaways To The Wealthy?

Gov. Jerry Brown and some California lawmakers are pushing Golden State drivers to the fast lane of an all-electric car future. For example, San Francisco Democrat Phil Ting has introduced legislation to outlaw the sale of traditional gas-powered cars by the year 2040. My colleague Kerry Jackson has called this idea “a ...
Blog

Herding Cats and Moving the Ball Forward

Tim Anaya interviews Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Over the years, I had the opportunity to work for 9 consecutive Assembly Republican Leaders.  To say that leading the minority party in California is a great challenge is an understatement. Transitioning from being one Senator ...
California

Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates – The View from Under the Dome

Senate Republican Leader Patricia Bates joins us as she celebrates her one-year anniversary as Leader to discuss the top issues on the agenda at the State Capitol – poverty, health care reform, transportation, the state budget, taxes, and her caucus’ priorities for 2018.
Commentary

Put Medicaid Back to Work Helping the Truly Unfortunate

Some Americans may soon have to punch a time clock to qualify for Medicaid. Last month, the Trump administration announced that states could seek federal permission to require people to work, attend school, or otherwise contribute to the community in order to receive Medicaid benefits. Kentucky’s plan to mandate 80 ...
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