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Gov. Newsom’s Dirty Laundry – CPC Newsletter

Gov. Newsom’s dirty laundry: California political news was dominated this week by Gov. Newsom’s recent dinner at the $350-a-plate Napa restaurant French Laundry for the 50th birthday bash of lobbyist and Democratic fixer Jason Kinney. Newsom’s hypocrisy is especially galling given that state public health officials told Californians this week to cancel their Thanksgiving plans. Rule number one of crisis communications...

By Jordan Bruneau

Billions in Local Taxes and Borrowing & The Dangers of Direct Democracy – CPC Newsletter

California voters approve billions in local taxes and borrowing: In his latest analysis, CPC contributor Edward Ring summarizes the results of California’s local tax and bond proposals on last week’s ballot. He highlights how the broad support for local tax and bond measures contrasts with the opposition to similar measures in the March 2020 election, which...

By Jordan Bruneau

California Voters Approve Billions in Local Taxes and Borrowing

In March 2020, for the first time in a generation, Californians did not approve the overwhelming majority of new tax and bond proposals that were put before them. Out of 125 proposed local bonds, only 31 percent passed; out of 111 proposed local tax increases, only 41 percent passed. Early returns from the November 2020 ballot show Californians...

By Edward Ring

Will the Prop 15 Victory Survive the Ballot Harvest? – CPC’s Weekly Newsletter

Will California’s Election Day victories survive the ballot harvest? Californians seem to have rejected Proposition 15, a massive property tax increase on Golden State employers that would make many low-margin small businesses unprofitable, reduce job opportunities when they’re needed most, and raise consumer prices when so many are struggling to get by. The tax would force...

By Jordan Bruneau

California’s One-Party State, the Blue Wave Machine

As the electorates in political battlegrounds across America endure what may be weeks of turmoil, in California the post-election environment is that of a mature one-party state. The population is quiescent, having at last count rejected President Trump by a more than two-to-one margin. In California, it doesn’t matter that only 11.5 million votes have been reported, when 21 million...

By Edward Ring

How Much do California’s State Workers Make?

Californians pay the highest overall taxes in the United States, with more to come. The Democratic supermajority in the state legislature is considering AB 1253 that would raise the top income tax rate to 16.8 percent, and AB 2088 that would impose an annual 0.4 percent tax on any California resident’s net worth in excess of $30 million. On...

By Edward Ring

Open Letter to Gov. Newsom: ‘Don’t Make it Easy to Leave the State We Love’

Editor’s note: A Southern California businessman copied us on his open letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Given his reasonable fear of political retribution – from state tax investigators, for instance, or regulators – we honored his request to remain anonymous. Dear Gov. Newsom, I am writing as a lifelong resident of California. I was born...

By California Policy Center

How to Save California’s Forests

For about twenty million years, California’s forests endured countless droughts, some lasting over a century. Natural fires, started by lightning and very frequent in the Sierras, were essential to keep forest ecosystems healthy. In Yosemite, for example, meadows used to cover most of the valley floor, because while forests constantly encroached, fires would periodically wipe...

By Edward Ring

Why I’m Driving my Kids from Pasadena to Orange to go to School

By Michael Davis This school year, my family will be joining the throng of Southern Californians making long commutes, but for us it will be for the sake of our children’s education. We live in Pasadena, but our kids will be going to Orange County Classical Academy, a new charter school in the City of...

By California Policy Center

Indoctrifornia

While California’s ethnic studies mandate for k-12ers is dead for now, there is still much in the works to be concerned about. California governor Gavin Newsom is a force of nature. He leads a state which has record homelessness, rising crime and exploding pension debt. But wait, there is so much more! Ruling more like...

By Larry Sand

How to Realign California Politics

The working class, which still constitutes a supermajority of California’s voters, is being destroyed by the policies enacted by California’s government. This is why political realignment in California can happen fast. In three fundamental areas, public education, land use, and energy infrastructure, California’s current policies are destroying lives, livelihoods, and land. And in all three...

By Edward Ring

BART’s ‘Superpower’ is the Ability of Its Board to Ignore Financial Reality

COVID-19 has throat-punched the American transportation industry. United, Delta and American airlines are cutting staff through furloughs, layoffs and buyouts. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing is pursuing voluntary layoffs so aggressively that business reporters are starting to put quotes around the word “voluntary.” The company that provides school bus service to the San Francisco Unified School District furloughed its 260 drivers until classrooms...

By Will Swaim

Why Can’t Sacramento’s Financial Reporting Match Private Sector Standards?

If you want current financial information on California’s state government, you won’t find it. The most recent consolidated annual financial report for California’s state agencies is for the fiscal year ended 6/30/2018. That’s over two years, or nine quarters ago. To put this in perspective, America’s publicly traded multinational corporations, with operations spread all over the globe, are...

By Edward Ring

Cultural Marxism for the Kids

The left’s plan to disfigure America is moving right along. The results of a survey released last week revealed that two-thirds of 18-39 year-old Americans do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. One-half of the respondents could not name a single concentration camp. One-fourth said the holocaust was a myth...

By Larry Sand