It was 22 years ago today that Senate Bill 400 granted a retroactive pension increase to CA state employees that amounted to the largest non-voter-approved issuance of debt in state history. One result has been a nearly 10-fold increase in pension contributions. Another has been a shift of tax revenues from programs to pensions. Unions … Continue reading 22 Years Ago Today
Category: Calls to Action – Citizens
If You Thought The Recall Was Expensive . . .
In June the governor and legislature quietly granted an unwarranted $500 million per year salary increase to state prison guards using a loophole inserted into state code in 1981. Gov. Code Section 19826 deals with “Administration of Salaries,” which this fiscal year will amount to $20 billion. Subsection (c) of Section 19826 requires the state … Continue reading If You Thought The Recall Was Expensive . . .
When Good Legislators Do Bad Things
Sometimes good legislators do bad things. Eg, Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin, pressured by county employees in her district and as a favor to another legislator, recently carried a gut-and-amend bill that we stopped. But we will still support her. That's because generally she is supportive of the public interest when attending to the 29 legal … Continue reading When Good Legislators Do Bad Things
Success
When passed by the State Assembly on May 27, AB 826 was a bill to curb beach erosion, but by June 22 it had become a bill to grant Ventura County special treatment under state pension law. That process is known as “gut-and-amend,” an ugly late stage tactic to avoid full scrutiny. Gut-and-amend bills are … Continue reading Success
Bad Reporting By LA Times
So far in the 2021-22 election cycle, Govern For California’s statewide political committee has made political contributions to 81 Democrats, 11 Republicans and 1 Independent. During the 2019-20 election cycle, the committee made political contributions to 79 Democrats, 18 Republicans and 1 Independent. Yet in an LA Times article yesterday about tech industry political contributors, … Continue reading Bad Reporting By LA Times
We Will Never Withdraw From Sacramento
In a recent essay, former US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan Crocker wrote the following about that country's reluctance to agree to US requests to deny safe havens to the Taliban: The answer I got went like this: “We know you. We know you don’t have patience for the long fight. We know the day will … Continue reading We Will Never Withdraw From Sacramento
Recall Election
A number of you have written seeking advice about the recall election. We don't have any to give. Our focus is the legislature and we must work with whoever sits in the governor's office. If it's helpful, below is a piece I recently published about the subject. https://www.city-journal.org/california-recall-wont-fix-its-governance-problems A Recall Alone Won’t Fix Golden-State Governance … Continue reading Recall Election
Back To School
School employee unions in California weren't always powerful. That started to change in 1975 when they were extended collective bargaining rights but that alone didn't confer their dominance. The other ingredient was the failure of good government organizations to persistently resist their demands. Nearly six million California kids heading back to K-12 schools this week suffer the consequences. Treated more like captives … Continue reading Back To School
1968
Everyone knows 1968 shook the national political landscape but few know that was also the year the California Legislature and Governor Ronald Reagan quietly rolled California's political environment — and not for the better. That's they year they enacted the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act that endowed local and county personnel with the power to bargain collectively with the governments that … Continue reading 1968
1977
When I made San Francisco my home in 1977, little did I know that the California Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown had just made prison guards lords over state politics and policy. That's the year lawmakers enacted the Dills Act, which extended collective bargaining rights to state employees. Since then, CA lawmakers have worked hard to please them, especially … Continue reading 1977