State Budget
Commentary
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
Commentary
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Business & Economics
Good tort system a budget key
The deteriorating economy has pushed many state budgets into deficit, including Alabama’s, but the problem is not uniform. Indeed, a new study by the National Conference of State Legislatures examines the revenue and expenditure situation in the 50 U.S. states for the current fiscal year and next. Sixteen states face ...
Business & Economics
California Budget Revision Proves It: You Can’t Trust the State With Health Care
As California struggles to get control of its budget deficit, Governor Schwarzenegger (who as recently as January collaborated with Democrats to almost wrangle a $15 billion health care tax and spending increase through the legislature) has been forced to propose cutting $2 billion (5 percent) from the state budget for ...
Business & Economics
New speaker’s agenda
SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, sounds as if she wants to continue the good working relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger forged by outgoing Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat. Bass, who takes office Tuesday, said at a news conference today that Schwarzenegger has talked to ...
Commentary
A more primitive life might be required
Some readers recoiled at my depiction last year of Gov. Bill Ritter’s Climate Action Plan as a “faith-based document” that barely hints at the “grueling acrobatics” needed to reach its goals of a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. How dare I suggest ...
California
Governor has good plans for uninsured
In the wake of the Massachusetts health reform and California’s recent attempt at an overhaul, more states are jumping on the bandwagon to “cover the uninsured.” That can be a tricky matter, like health reform in general. Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2008-09 budget includes a few costly reforms including expanded coverage ...
Commentary
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. In his January 2008 State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger touted his intention to be the first governor to use “powers ...
Commentary
More Scrutiny for CIRM and Big-Government Health Care
State Senator Sheila Kuehl, California’s leading partisan of government monopoly health care, has assumed the role of consumer watchdog. Her new measure, SB 1565, “Stem Cell Research – Public Accountability and Access,” targets problems with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Some may wonder if the senator should be ...
Commentary
Teachers unions are the big problem
TEACHERS are in a never-ending Groundhog’s Day situation when they rely on the same old union strong-arm tactics to get a few extra crumbs from the Legislature. The citizens of West Virginia have always honored teachers and willingly allowed their elected representatives to pay teachers the maximum the state can ...
AB 32 is a breath of foul air for taxpayers, businesses
California is in the midst of economic turmoil. Headlines shout daily about the plummeting dollar and home values, disappearing jobs, soaring fuel and food costs, and a growing massive state budget deficit. Apparently oblivious to the strain on California households, some state legislators are trying to rush implementation of a ...
Today’s Commentary on the News – CA SB 1313
Today’s Commentary on the News As if things aren’t expensive enough… Let’s regulate cooking utensils, food packaging and more… Good grief! Trying to write about particularly stupid legislation that is moving forward in the State Legislature is a sport akin to shooting fish in a barrel (see the video). That ...
Good tort system a budget key
The deteriorating economy has pushed many state budgets into deficit, including Alabama’s, but the problem is not uniform. Indeed, a new study by the National Conference of State Legislatures examines the revenue and expenditure situation in the 50 U.S. states for the current fiscal year and next. Sixteen states face ...
California Budget Revision Proves It: You Can’t Trust the State With Health Care
As California struggles to get control of its budget deficit, Governor Schwarzenegger (who as recently as January collaborated with Democrats to almost wrangle a $15 billion health care tax and spending increase through the legislature) has been forced to propose cutting $2 billion (5 percent) from the state budget for ...
New speaker’s agenda
SACRAMENTO — Assembly Speaker-elect Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, sounds as if she wants to continue the good working relationship with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger forged by outgoing Speaker Fabian Nunez, also a Los Angeles Democrat. Bass, who takes office Tuesday, said at a news conference today that Schwarzenegger has talked to ...
A more primitive life might be required
Some readers recoiled at my depiction last year of Gov. Bill Ritter’s Climate Action Plan as a “faith-based document” that barely hints at the “grueling acrobatics” needed to reach its goals of a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. How dare I suggest ...
Governor has good plans for uninsured
In the wake of the Massachusetts health reform and California’s recent attempt at an overhaul, more states are jumping on the bandwagon to “cover the uninsured.” That can be a tricky matter, like health reform in general. Gov. Charlie Crist’s 2008-09 budget includes a few costly reforms including expanded coverage ...
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. In his January 2008 State of the State speech, Schwarzenegger touted his intention to be the first governor to use “powers ...
More Scrutiny for CIRM and Big-Government Health Care
State Senator Sheila Kuehl, California’s leading partisan of government monopoly health care, has assumed the role of consumer watchdog. Her new measure, SB 1565, “Stem Cell Research – Public Accountability and Access,” targets problems with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Some may wonder if the senator should be ...
Teachers unions are the big problem
TEACHERS are in a never-ending Groundhog’s Day situation when they rely on the same old union strong-arm tactics to get a few extra crumbs from the Legislature. The citizens of West Virginia have always honored teachers and willingly allowed their elected representatives to pay teachers the maximum the state can ...
