Free Republic

The state's independent Legislative Analyst's Office warns that Gov. Jerry Brown relies on too much money from cap-and-trade taxes to shore up the state's beleaguered budget. In his 2012-13 budget, the governor overestimates how much relief he can expect from businesses forced to buy "credits" beginning in August to permit greenhouse gas emissions. The 2011-12 budget fell billions short of Mr. Brown's projected revenue, despite his boast last year that it was balanced....

In a brazen denial of the obvious, Gov. Jerry Brown now insists the proposed California high-speed rail can be built for much less than its own business plan stipulates, and wants to use anti-global-warming carbon taxes to underwrite the proposal, whose price tag has nearly tripled in the three years since voters approved it. The governor seems intent on demonstrating how California's state government has burdened taxpayers with mounting debt, while overspending to create consecutive years of budget deficits. . .

It is called underground injection, a process that brings up oil by using a rush of steam, water and chemicals from old, depleted wells. And it is getting the ‘go ahead’ from California Governor Jerry Brown, a major supporter of alternative energy.

Despite a huge state budget deficit, Gov. Jerry Brown said last week that he not only intends to increase spending, he also plans to move ahead with California's questionable high-speed rail project, even though multiple critiques conclude it is a waste of tax money. ... The governor's refusal to delay or kill the implausible train project should make taxpayers wary of a bill introduced last week by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-West Hollywood, to allow "public rail transit projects" to avoid rigorous environmental review.

SACRAMENTO -- The state of California targets an "underground economy." Agencies are going after businesses that pay employees in cash, avoiding workers compensation insurance and withholding taxes. The state's going high-tech to crack down on those employers. The Contractors State License Board of California has videotaped numerous sting operations where they catch businesses operating without a license and hiring workers under the table -- meaning those businesses aren't paying payroll taxes, workers compensation insurance or contributing to unemployment benefits like legitimate businesses, and pocketing that money instead. California's underground economy, which includes the landscaping, restaurant, farming and construction industries, is...

If it is built, California’s High-Speed Rail would be the largest public works project in state history. That fact alone appears be intoxicating to state officials, in a perpetual quest to have California be the first state to do anything. Despite the warnings of a nearly $100 billion ballooning price tag, no track laid, no trains running, decreasing legislative support and even opposition from diehard rail advocates, the High-Speed Rail Authority is steaming ahead full throttle with plans to build the most expensive high-speed rail system in history. But there is pushback coming from so many places that it must...

Gov. Jerry Brown sees a modern day message for proponents of solar power in the story of Hanukkah. Speaking at the Capitol Menorah Lighting this morning, the Democratic governor cast the eight-day Jewish holiday, which begins tomorrow, as a good time to reflect on "the whole idea that we're running out of oil so we need a miracle."

Dead Retiree Receives 7.7 Million Dollars in Government Pension Payment  California State Senate aide retired in 1969 at age 56 after 22 years of work with a "super escalator" pension from the state. Almost a decade after his death he is awarded $7.7 million in an additional pension payout.Watch the video... Uploaded by AFPCalifornia on Dec 16, 2011 California State Senate aide retired in 1969 at age 56 after 22 years of work with a "super escalator" pension from the state. Almost a decade after his death he is awarded $7.7 million in an additional pension payout.http://calpensions.com/2011/12/12/bid-to-trim-pension-fails-7-7-million-settl...Ventura County Taxpayer Associationhttp://www.vcta.org/California Common...

SAN FRANCISCO – Gov. Jerry Brown railed Thursday against politicians who doubt climate change, calling them "political lemmings" and the chief obstacle in the fight against global warming. "The main thing we have to deal with in climate change is the skepticism, the denial and the cult-like behavior of the political lemmings that would take us over the cliff," the Democratic governor said at a high-profile conference on climate change at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. At a conference that included Brown's predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, Brown said climate change has...

Hours after Gov. Jerry Brown issued a spirited attack on politicians who doubt the significance of climate change, Brown's predecessor -- former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- praised Brown but urged a spirit of inclusiveness. "To me, it made no difference if a Democrat had a great idea or a Republican had a great idea, or if someone from the outside had a great idea, or if someone from within the office had a great idea," Schwarzenegger said this afternoon at Brown's conference on climate change at the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. "The more inclusive you are about...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gov. Jerry Brown railed this morning against politicians who doubt climate change, calling "political lemmings" the chief obstacle in combating global warming. "The main thing we have to deal with in climate change is the skepticism, the denial and the cult-like behavior of the political lemmings that would take us over the cliff," Brown said at a high-profile conference on climate change at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The Democratic governor said climate change has lengthened the state's fire season and quickened its snowmelt, affecting agriculture and taxing public infrastructure. He acknowledged that Californians...

Governor Brown wants to raise rates on the highest earners, who already pay nearly half of all income taxes and whose incomes can fluctuate wildly. California's budget is in a constant state of peril or, perhaps more accurately, a budgetary inferno, because of, as Gov. Jerry Brown accurately noted in his recent Open Letter to the People of California, "years of failing to match spending with tax revenues as budget gimmicks instead of honest budgeting became the norm." Ironically Brown's new proposal to raise tax revenue employs same old approach to extract additional dollars from Californians rather than make tough,...

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday proposed a ballot initiative that would ask Californians to raise taxes on themselves. Facing huge deficits despite $10 billion in budget cuts last year, California needs new tax dollars in order to avoid catastrophic cuts to schools and government services for the elderly, Governor Brown said.

Gov. Jerry Brown has formally proposed a $7 billion a year increase in sales and income taxes to close the state's chronic budget deficit. Whether it will be the only tax increase on the November ballot is uncertain. Several others are in the works, and if they reach the ballot as well, voter confusion could doom all. But assuming that Brown's stands alone, how would the campaign shape up? By next year, he presumably will have pulled the spending cut "triggers" built into the 2011-12 budget because revenues are not meeting its extremely optimistic levels, which would mean schools, colleges...

Gov. Jerry Brown is now advocating a new 1–2 percent increase in the top income tax rates in California, which I think would put them at or over 12 percent. If it is true, as often reported, that 2,000–3,000 residents are leaving California per week, and that many of them are top earners, will the additional taxes entice them back, or do we simply wish them, and many of the jobs they create, good riddance? This year there were all sorts of sensational news stories in California — some state workers earning over $500,000, mandates for schools to teach gay...

he pro-train constituency has not been derailed by a state report this month that found the cost of the bullet train tripling to $98 billion for a project that would not be finished until 2033, by news that Republicans in Congress are close to eliminating federal high-speed rail financing this year, by opposition from California farmers and landowners upset about tracks tearing through their communities or by questions about how much the state or private businesses will be able to contribute. The project has been mocked by editorial boards across the country — “Somebody please stop this train,” The Washington...

YUCCA VALLEY — Governors from the country’s Western states will meet Dec. 7 in the Yucca Valley Community Center. Creating jobs and economic development in small, rural communities will be one of the main topics of discussion. They also will hear from experts and young people about getting more families and kids connected to the outdoors. Two open sessions will be held between 10:30 a.m. and noon, followed by lunch at the community center. Residents may attend the sessions and lunch. There is a $30 registration fee, and seating is limited. Pre-register online at www.westgov.org by Wednesday.

Gov. Jerry Brown has left the state for parts unknown. Brown's office announced this afternoon that the Democratic governor had left the state, but it declined to say where Brown is going or for how long.

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday morning that proponents of Proposition 8 — the voter initiative in 2008 that amended the state constitution to say “only marriage between a man and a woman” is valid in California — have legal standing to defend the measure in court. That means the matter can proceed to the Ninth District Court of Appeals for a ruling on the merits of the measure. The legal question before the Supreme Court was procedural and unrelated to the substantive question of the constitutional validity of Prop. 8. It only assessed whether proponents of the measure can...

I missed this during my travel to BlogCon 2011 in Denver, which I reached by airline travel — an economical and safe choice on a route served by multiple carriers and requiring little government subsidy to use. The competition for this route falls short of that for the Los Angeles-San Francisco route, though, where more than a half-dozen carriers offer flights between California’s two largest metropolises, complete with choices of departure and arrival airports on either end. Despite the lack of need for fast and reliable transportation between the two cities, Governor Jerry Brown told the LA Times editorial board...

Will Arnold be back? Do you think news of Arnold Schwarzenegger's love child will hurt his plans to return to the big screen? Absolutely. He's toxic right now. No way. He'll bounce back. I'm strongly ambivalent.

Earlier Thursday Brown said told county leaders he is considering an all-cuts budget -- taking out another $12.6 billion -- to show how devastated the state will be if he cannot get Republicans to allow consideration of continuing tax increases that will shortly lapse. State Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said that intensifying conversations with Republicans are growing more specific. The handful of Senate Republicans negotiating with Brown and Democratic leaders "recognize that we are coming to the critical point where (they) need to make some decisions about ultimately what they want to do," he said. They also recognize that $26.6...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s strong statements in support of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement raise an interesting question: Does she, then, oppose the preferential treatment her son received at the hand of the financial industry? Pelosi’s son, Paul Pelosi, Jr., was protected from a round of layoffs when he was a mortgage broker for Countrywide, according to “Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon,” a 2011 book by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson. “Paul Pelosi, Jr., the son of Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, worked as a mortgage...

When the dust settled on Gov. Jerry Brown's first legislative session in nearly three decades, no group had won more than organized labor, which heralded its largest string of victories in nearly a decade. ... Those unions and others helped bankroll Brown's campaign last year. Brown has long compared governing to steering a canoe — you paddle a little on the left, he says, and a little on the right. And indeed, he signed some measures desired by key interest groups this year while vetoing others. Labor was no exception: He rejected a proposal to unionize tens of thousands of...

by John HillStand With Arizona Party and ideological divisions are roiling America. Battles over the budget, taxes, jobs and energy have crippled Washington. But there is one issue that people across the political spectrum agree on: they oppose giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens. According to the latest poll numbers, 69% of Americans oppose subsidizing those here illegally with in-state tuitions rates. 73% of Republicans oppose it - as one would expect. An even stronger 74% of Independents oppose it. But the same position resonates across ideological and ethnic lines too. 58% of Democrats oppose it too, as do...

by John HillStand With Arizona It is hard to overstate the stunning embrace of lawlessness represented by three bills signed by California Governor Jerry Brown this past weekend. Brown on Saturday signed three bills that directly champion illegal aliens. Together, they put the state so far on the side of illegals (and against legal taxpayers), that California now has no legitimate rival for the title of "The Sanctuary State", and should consider changing their official motto accordingly. Facing a midnight deadline for sign several controversial bills, Brown avoided a public signing ceremony for these unpopular bills. He waited until the...

In a huge victory for organized labor, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday restricting California ballot initiatives to November elections, when turnout is higher and more advantageous for Democrats.

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed controversial legislation to greatly expand the rights of minors to obtain preventive treatment for sexually transmitted diseases without parental consent, including an HPV immunization for cervical cancer. Brown did not explain his reasoning in the announcement Sunday afternoon. Assembly Bill 499 was carried by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. She said the legislation addresses a gap in the law that forbids prevention steps by doctors but allows minors under 18 to undergo abortions and post-infection treatment for sexually transmitted diseases without the approval of parents or a guardian. Critics counter the measure is an unwarranted...

Anyone know of any recall Jerry Brown movements? Facebook? Blogs? etc. Thank you.

LOS ANGELES — Facing an unprecedented order from the Supreme Court to decrease its inmate population by 11,000 over the next three months and by 34,000 over the next two years, California prisons last week began to shift inmates to county jails and probation officers, starting what many believe will be a fundamental and far-reaching change in the nation’s largest corrections system. Last spring, the Supreme Court ruled that overcrowding and poor conditions in state prisons violated inmates’ constitutional rights and, in a first, ordered a state to rapidly decrease its inmate population. Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature approved...

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation allowing illegal immigrants to apply for state-funded college financial aid, the second chapter of a package known as the California Dream Act. “Going to college is a dream that promises intellectual excitement and creative thinking," Brown said on Saturday. "The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives of all of us." In July, Brown signed the first part that permits undocumented students to apply for private financial aid. Assembly Bills 131 and 130, respectively, were authored by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles. Currently,...

Brown signed the second part of the California Dream Act, after approving the first half in July. Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill allowing illegal immigrant students applying to state universities to receive state-funded scholarships and financial aid. AB131 by Democratic Assemblyman Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles is the second half of the California Dream Act. Brown, a Democrat, signed the first part in July, which approved private scholarships and loans for illegal immigrant students. The bill requires the immigrant students to meet the same requirements as others but specifies they would only qualify for financial aid after all...

Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday vetoed a major labor-backed bill that would have allowed child care workers, including family members, to unionize. The measure was pushed by Democratic leaders in the Legislature and introduced in the final days of the session. In vetoing the child care worker bill, AB101, Brown wrote to lawmakers that maintaining quality and affordable child care, along with ensuring fair working conditions are important goals. "Balancing these objectives, however, as this bill attempts to do, is not easy or free from dispute," the governor wrote in his veto message. "Today, California, like the nation itself is...

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that would enable the developer behind a $1.2 billion plan to build a football stadium in downtown Los Angeles to move forward while avoiding long court battles, Huffington Post reports. Brown signed the bill at a Los Angeles Convention Center ceremony with executives from Anschutz Entertainment Group, the developer of a proposed 72,000-seat stadium next door. Calling the move a way to create jobs now, Brown said, "We're going to protect the environment. But there are too many damn regulations. I've got some power now. Let's cut the barriers and regulations and move ahead."...

Republican legislators in Sacramento are crying foul over an eleventh-hour push to limit future initiatives to November general elections. But the idea behind the union-backed legislation doesn't seem so bad to a majority of GOP voters, according to a new Field Poll. Registered Republicans supported the proposed change by a 15-point margin, 52 percent to 37 percent. Overall, 56 percent of voters back the proposal, which was approved by the Legislature and is now awaiting action by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

When it was built in 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was a Depression-era project that put scores of Americans to work. When its $6.3 billion replacement opens in two years, it will be an international affair from the bottom up, an example of massive outsourcing that has drawn both praise and criticism. Half a dozen countries contributed expertise or materials, none more so than China. "China was immensely helpful to getting this project built," says California Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Ney. "They were able to turn the steel around and work directly with our own inspectors to make...

Angry at the failure of his tax and jobs plan to gain enough support in the state legislature, California’s Governor Jerry Brown (D) tore into Republicans for what he termed their “unconstitutional delegation of power.” Brown said that several Republican state senators told him they would like to vote for his package, but wouldn’t for fear of voter disapproval. “Since when do voters have the right to intimidate legislators on how to vote?” Brown asked. “The State Constitution clearly grants the decision on tax bills to members of the legislature. Republicans shouldn’t be using such a lame excuse and voters...

The state has warned nearly 3,300 California state workers this year that their positions may disappear as the government grinds through a slow-motion layoff process that aims to shrink government over the next few years. The notices, overwhelmingly concentrated in the Sacramento area so far, represent the initial wave of warnings that eventually will lead to several thousand state jobs lost. Of the State Restriction of Appointment notices issued, 2,024 went to employees working in Sacramento County. Los Angeles County accounted for the next-highest number of potential layoffs with 800 notices going to workers there. More are coming. Many departments...

Welcome to the People’s Republic of California. Famous for “California Gurls,” the Orange County and Beverly Hills Housewives, labor unions, and corrupt politicians, the Golden State welcomes you to chaos, superficiality, and exorbitant spending! Hate the Tea Party? Party it up in Maxine Waters’ hellish district! Hate wealthy people and believe in high taxes? Lavishly dine at Nancy Pelosi’s Napa Valley winery! California’s current economic and cultural conditions should frighten all Americans. Make no mistake: it is on the verge of collapse. The most populous state in the union is also recognized as the world's eighth largest economy. Firms like...

California Gov. Jerry Brown has some campaign advice for President Barack Obama: He’ll need to be “authentic” and “powerful” in 2012 in the face of Republican attacks. “I would say that the Republicans are gearing up to destroy the president, that the president will have to respond in a very powerful way and the result for the country could be calamitous,” Brown, a Democrat, said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I just think [Obama] has to dig down into his own soul and connect with the people of America at this hour of peril,”...

I notice that many of you complain he doesn't do enough full three hour shows lately. He did have some apparent contract disputes recently (but on a recent show, he said that he had a new contract). However, I also remember back to an ‘09 show where he went ballistic on an idiot caller and had to go to a doctor afterwards because of a shooting pain in his neck. IMO, that event may have had a pretty significant impact on him and perhaps he’s reduced his workload a bit out of concern he’s going to give himself a stroke...

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Tuesday nominated University of California law professor Goodwin Liu to sit on the state Supreme Court.

California's plan to teach children to accept and appreciate homosexuality is on hold. Last week Governor Jerry Brown signed into law SB 48, which requires public schools -- kindergarten through 12th-grade -- to teach about homosexual role models in history and sociology. It requires "a selective treatment of history by requiring that only events that reflect positively on people in the LGBT community may be discussed." Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute has received a stay blocking introduction of the curriculum this fall. Pacific Justice Institute has filed a referendum to go on a future ballot that would repeal...

<p>Conservative commentator Bill Bennett says that anyone looking for democracy, good government, business and job growth, the best medical care, a lower cost of living and taxes should look to Texas as the model and to Rick Perry as the model governor.</p>

<p>California has become the first state in the nation to require public schools to add lessons about gay history to social studies classes, after Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the landmark bill on Thursday.</p> <p>The Democratic-majority Legislature passed the bill last week on a largely party-line vote.</p>

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a controversial bill to include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans in California's public school textbooks. After the governor signed the bill introduced by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, he released a statement that said, "History should be honest. This bill revises existing laws that prohibit discrimination in education and ensures that the important contributions of Americans from all backgrounds and walks of life are included in our history books. It represents an important step forward for our state, and I thank Sen. Leno for his hard work on this historic legislation."

7-14-2011 SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. announced today that he has signed the following bill: • SB 48 by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) – Pupil instruction: prohibition of discriminatory content.

The job-killing internet sales tax law just signed by Governor Jerry Brown will only accelerate the decline of our most populous state.Consider the facts.  Already, on the recent ranking of states on the basis of their tax climates done by the Tax Foundation, California is almost at the bottom at #49.  On the ranking of states for economic freedom done by the Mercatus Center, it stands at a risible #48.Moreover, as business relocation consultant Joe Vranich reports, California has seen a rapidly increasing business flight.  California was averaging one "disinvestment event" (read: a business either relocating an existing facility...

In what can best be described as a "drop dead" message to the state's Republican minority, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law last week that could essentially deal the death blow to four new and struggling Riverside County cities, including two in Southwest County. Brown's office actually seems proud that politics played a role in his decision to sign Senate Bill 89, which eliminates a vital source of funding for newly incorporated cities such as Menifee and Wildomar. The state's Republicans have refused to allow him to ask voters to renew a series of temporary tax increases, demanding...

States: California Gov. Jerry Brown thought he'd found a honey pot of revenues by taxing Amazon's Internet sales. He obviously didn't realize whom he was picking a fight with. As Brown was signing the law, which aims to tax out-of-state Internet sales, online retailing giant Amazon was sending letters to thousands of California website owners terminating its affiliate marketing program so as to avoid paying that tax. As a result, the law that Brown thinks will raise $200 million a year and that local retailers claim will bring fairness to the retailing world will do neither. The Amazons of the...