State Budget
Blog
CalChamber “Job Killer” List Is One of the Few Watchdogs for Small Business
Most of the California business community is at the mercy of California’s progressive state legislature. It is easy to forget, especially with Silicon Valley pumping out inflated IPOs, that small businesses are the backbone of the economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration counts four million small business that call California ...
Charter Schools
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the ...
Blog
Should We Be Rebuilding the State Capitol As State Faces Massive Recession?
An unusual hearing took place at the State Capitol last week. Members of the Joint Rules Committee gathered to hear presentations on plans to tear down the existing State Capitol annex and replace it with a new, modern building. Three different building design models were reviewed. A design decision will ...
Blog
Dem “Stimulus Plan” Victim of Last Night of Session Hijinks
Much has been written about perhaps the wildest last night of the legislative session ever. For those who weren’t paying attention, all but one Republican senator was quarantined when Sen. Brian Jones tested positive for COVID-19 a few days prior, forced to vote remotely. This prolonged the Senate’s work on ...
Business & Economics
States Should Think Long-Term When Addressing Their Short-Term Fiscal Crises
Just prior to the pandemic, many states were finally recovering from the fiscal crises created by the 2007-09 recession. But, as with so many things, the pandemic has derailed these gains. If history is a guide, no matter how long the current recession lasts, the fiscal crises facing the states ...
Blackouts
Newsom and Davis Have a Lot More in Common Than You Might Imagine
The images of mass power outages across the state during our recent run of extreme temperatures evoked images in many Californians of the last time the state faced mass power blackouts. The year was 2001, when then-Governor Gray Davis bungled the state’s controversial electricity restructuring plan and allowed the state’s ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS – Defending Equity: Newsom Defunds Students So Students Sue
DOWNLOAD THE PDF As if they didn’t have enough to shocks in their lives already, Californians recently woke up to find that Governor Newsom and the Legislature had defunded schoolchildren in the state budget. But the children are now fighting back and suing the state to demand their fair share ...
Blog
Next Tax Increases on the Docket: Two Proposed Tax Hikes on the Rich
When the 2020-21 state budget was enacted a few months back, I made the case that the majority party’s spending plan essentially sets the stage for an upcoming battle over tax increases. Back in 2011, former Gov. Jerry Brown pushed a budget plan that was heavily reliant on “trigger cuts,” ...
Commentary
Mourning The Many Foibles Of Medicare And Medicaid At 55
Today, Medicare and Medicaid both mark their 55th birthdays. But hold the cake. There’s not much to celebrate on this anniversary. You’d be hard pressed to find two more wasteful, fraud-ridden programs than Medicare and Medicaid. They grow less fiscally sustainable with each passing year. And they routinely deliver subpar care that, ...
Blog
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
CalChamber “Job Killer” List Is One of the Few Watchdogs for Small Business
Most of the California business community is at the mercy of California’s progressive state legislature. It is easy to forget, especially with Silicon Valley pumping out inflated IPOs, that small businesses are the backbone of the economy. The U.S. Small Business Administration counts four million small business that call California ...
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the ...
Should We Be Rebuilding the State Capitol As State Faces Massive Recession?
An unusual hearing took place at the State Capitol last week. Members of the Joint Rules Committee gathered to hear presentations on plans to tear down the existing State Capitol annex and replace it with a new, modern building. Three different building design models were reviewed. A design decision will ...
Dem “Stimulus Plan” Victim of Last Night of Session Hijinks
Much has been written about perhaps the wildest last night of the legislative session ever. For those who weren’t paying attention, all but one Republican senator was quarantined when Sen. Brian Jones tested positive for COVID-19 a few days prior, forced to vote remotely. This prolonged the Senate’s work on ...
States Should Think Long-Term When Addressing Their Short-Term Fiscal Crises
Just prior to the pandemic, many states were finally recovering from the fiscal crises created by the 2007-09 recession. But, as with so many things, the pandemic has derailed these gains. If history is a guide, no matter how long the current recession lasts, the fiscal crises facing the states ...
Newsom and Davis Have a Lot More in Common Than You Might Imagine
The images of mass power outages across the state during our recent run of extreme temperatures evoked images in many Californians of the last time the state faced mass power blackouts. The year was 2001, when then-Governor Gray Davis bungled the state’s controversial electricity restructuring plan and allowed the state’s ...
CAPITAL IDEAS – Defending Equity: Newsom Defunds Students So Students Sue
DOWNLOAD THE PDF As if they didn’t have enough to shocks in their lives already, Californians recently woke up to find that Governor Newsom and the Legislature had defunded schoolchildren in the state budget. But the children are now fighting back and suing the state to demand their fair share ...
Next Tax Increases on the Docket: Two Proposed Tax Hikes on the Rich
When the 2020-21 state budget was enacted a few months back, I made the case that the majority party’s spending plan essentially sets the stage for an upcoming battle over tax increases. Back in 2011, former Gov. Jerry Brown pushed a budget plan that was heavily reliant on “trigger cuts,” ...
Mourning The Many Foibles Of Medicare And Medicaid At 55
Today, Medicare and Medicaid both mark their 55th birthdays. But hold the cake. There’s not much to celebrate on this anniversary. You’d be hard pressed to find two more wasteful, fraud-ridden programs than Medicare and Medicaid. They grow less fiscally sustainable with each passing year. And they routinely deliver subpar care that, ...
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
