Uncategorized | California Policy Center

Commentators Question Value, Motivations of California Legislature’s Far Left Political Agenda

The 2015-16 Legislative Session is in the books but some high-profile commentators are questioning what appears to be a far leftward drift in the policy agenda of the liberal California Democrat Legislature that has forgotten about the state’s middle class and the need to grow our economy. The dust has not even settled on the end of session battles, and there is...

By David Kersten

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

CEQA remains immune to reform By Editorial Staff, September 6, 2016, OCRegister The California Environmental Quality Act was adopted in 1970 to ensure that new developments would not cause unacceptable damage to the environment, but too often it has been used as a cudgel to prevent perfectly sound projects for reasons that have nothing to...

By Sean O’Striker

Long Beach Resident Alleges City is Paying for Political Campaigns

Editor’s Note: The following was mailed to the California Policy Center office. It address the issue of release time in Long Beach, and is particularly interesting because it is from a retired LAPD chief of police, Stephen Downing. “Good day, The attached will be published as a column in the Long Beach Beachcomber this Friday. I...

By Stephen Downing

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

California Farmworker Overtime Changes Cheered By Union By Drew Bollea, August 29, 2016, CBS Sacramento Statewide rules regarding farmworkers’ overtime pay passed in the legislature on Monday. Assembly Bill 1066 reshapes the pay structure for farm laborers. While many farmworkers are celebrating a victory, others, including politicians, farmers, and farmworkers aren’t so sure. “We’re asking for...

By Sean O’Striker

How Government Unions are Hypocrites that Betray the Public

Government unions are not unions in any traditional sense of the word. They elect the bosses they “negotiate” with. They are paid through compulsory taxes rather than via a company that has to earn a profit in the competitive market. And they operate the machinery of government which allows them extraordinary latitude to intimidate any...

By Edward Ring

CTA’s New Gambit to Cheat Taxpayers Annually

A bill, near passage, would require you and me to pay for union indoctrination sessions in California. California is a fabulous place. Fantastic weather, fertile fields, glorious mountains and a thousand mile coastline have long beckoned many to the Golden State. And then there is the state legislature. This law-making body is very far from...

By Larry Sand

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

California Senate Bill Benefits Taxpayer-Financed Union Slush Fund By Katy Grimes, August 23, 2016, Canada Free Press The Labor-Management Cooperation Act of 1978 is rearing its ugly head once again in the California Legislature, as it roars to the end of the 2015-16 session. Senate Bill 954 by Sen. Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, would redefine...

By Sean O’Striker

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

In Show of Force, Fight for 15 Plots Its Political Path By Justin Miller, August 16, 2016, San Francisco Chronicle The Fight for 15’s first-ever national convention convened in Richmond, Virginia, this past weekend attracted diverse groups of low-wage workers from across the country in a stunning demonstration of the movement’s continued strength and ambition....

By Sean O’Striker

An Attempt to Get Public Financing of Campaigns Through the Back Door

Sen. Ben Allen’s SB 1107 wants to allow public funding of campaigns, something voters prohibited years ago. A long time acquaintance of mine, David Keating who now runs the Center for Competitive Politics in Washington, D.C. had an opinion piece in yesterday’s Orange County Register blasting the attempt by Sen. Allen to overturn a vote of...

By Joel Fox

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

Bill limiting campaign money to tax board amended to call for study By Patrick McGreevy, August 9, 2016, Los Angeles Times Faced with strong opposition from a member of the Board of Equalization, state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) has for a second time amended a bill that would have imposed tough new campaign contribution...

By Sean O’Striker

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

California’s Ed Reform Wars By Rachel M. Cohen, August 2, 2016, The American Prospect This past April, the California Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the controversial Vergara v. California decision, in which a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled that five longstanding teacher protections—including a two-year probationary period for new teachers and a...

By Sean O’Striker

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

Raising Minimum Starting Wages to $15 per Hour Would Eliminate Seven Million Jobs By James Sherk, July 26, 2016, Democracy Now Prominent Members of Congress have proposed raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, more than doubling the federal minimum wage. States with lower costs of living would see an even greater real increase....

By Sean O’Striker

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

Diablo Canyon Settlement May Hinge on Cost Allocation By Patrick Ferguson, July 19, 2016, JD Supra On June 21, 2016, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”) announced a plan to close down the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant, the 2.3 gigawatt Diablo Canyon plant near San Luis Obispo, by 2026. Diablo Canyon currently produces...

By Sean O’Striker

Union In The News – Weekly Highlights

Transparency measure won’t be on ballot By David Garrick, July 12, 2016, San Diego Union Tribune A proposal to increase government transparency in the city of San Diego suffered a setback this week when the City Council decided not to place it on the November ballot. The proposal would have made city business conducted by employees...

By Sean O’Striker